Calendar of Events

Aram Demirjian, conductor
Bella Hristova, violin

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica” or “Heroic” will resound in the concert hall, celebrating his 250th year. “Eroica” is the first time Beethoven pushes the boundaries of the symphonic form, as the first two symphonies were more traditional and classical – similar to Haydn & Mozart. Two underrepresented but essential American composers comprise the first half of the program. George Walker was the first African American to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996. His searingly emotional elegy, “Lyric for Strings,” will open the program, followed by Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Knoxville audiences will remember violinist Bella Hristova from her 2017 Knoxville performance. Bella Hristova is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including a 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant and First Prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.

Each concert includes a 30-minute pre-concert chat at 6:30 p.m. with conductor and guest artist, allowing an up-close Q&A session, insights and background to the music. Thursday and Friday evenings at 7:30 PM at the Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Tickets and information: 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

An NEH-funded Symposium hosted by The UT Humanities Center

“In a Speculative Light: The Arts of James Baldwin and Beauford Delaney”
Location of Event: UT Student Union, Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville

A scholarly symposium free to UT faculty, students, and staff. Plenary sessions will be live-streamed at this website. The keynote lecture by Fred Moten is free and open to the public as part of the UT Humanities Center’s Distinguished Visiting Lectures series.

3:30-5:00 Keynote Lecture
Student Union Auditorium, Room 180
Fred Moten, NYU
“Blue(s) as Cymbal: Beauford Delaney (Elvin Jones) James Baldwin”
https://baldwindelaney.org/ or 865-974-4222

Professor of Performance Studies
Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

Fred Moten was invited to the University of Tennessee by Amy Elias (Department of English/UTHC).

Because only speakers with exception records of publication and research activity are eligible to receive a nomination as a visiting scholar, the program brings to campus some of the most cutting-edge and prolific intellectuals in the humanities today. Public parking is available by the stadium for our off-campus visitors. Everyone is welcome!

Student Union Auditorium - Room 180
https://uthumanitiesctr.utk.edu/public/visiting.php

Joseph, Thursday, February 20, 2020, 8:00 PM
Bijou Theatre
Knoxville, TN

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information/tickets: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com, www.ticketmaster.com

All music performances are in the Clayton Performing Arts Center and are free and open to the public.

KJYO WITH BILL CARROTHERS

The Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra, under the direction of Tom Lundberg, will perform a concert featuring jazz pianist Bill Carrothers. An acclaimed educator, performer and recording artist, Carrothers has worked with many notable artists including Dave Douglas, Gary Peacock and Bill Stewart. He currently serves on the faculty of Lawrence University in Wisconsin.

This event is made possible with support from the Mark Hulsether McKee Memorial Jazz Endowment Fund. Mark McKee played in the KJYO as a high school student and later studied jazz with our guest, Bill Carrothers. Through this endowment, Mark’s family and friends hope to provide an annual enrichment experience for students discovering a passion for jazz in the KJYO.

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

Creative collisions happen when makers, artisans, small-scale manufacturers, and entrepreneurs get together!
Come one, come all! Maker Meetups are open to artists, makers, and anyone interested in the local maker movement. Connect with other makers and local creatives and learn more about the exciting work being done in our area!

Dogwood Arts and Monsters Made With Love present an exhibition of ‘perfectly imperfect monsters’ curated by local artist Laurie Kay! The exhibition will include 30 local artists and makers whose fleece monsters are paired with a unique piece of art created in their individual styles and mediums. This Meetup will also feature the unveiling of Dogwood Arts' limited edition print!

Participating Artists:
Kelly Sullivan, Connie Gaertner, Ashton Ludden, Susan Alexander, Stacy Monday, Vicki May, Melinda Sims, Gabrielle Kay, Issac Merkle, Andrew Messersmith, Laurie Kay, Christal Yost, Cheri Pollack, Kelly Hider, Hannah Isosaki, Tracy Homer, Jessica Gregory, Rebecca Warren, Matt Parnell, Amanda Humphreys, Nicholas Stawinski, Bryan Wilkerson, Michelle Compton, Preston Farabow, Forrest Kirpatrick, Barron Hall, Sean Simoneau, Nancy Rowland-Engle, Savanna Hoover, Victoria Wheelock

The monsters will be a part of an online auction throughout the month of February. Proceeds will benefit youth art programs provided by Dogwood Arts + Monsters Made With Love.

Auction link coming soon!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/maker-meetup-dogwood-arts-monsters-made-with-love-tickets-90715651957

Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-637-4561, https://www.dogwoodarts.com

Have you ever wanted to create a more sustainable landscape but don’t know how to start? This question and more will be addressed during the program, “Free from Herbicides: Creating a Healthy Landscape” on Thursday, February 20th at the UT Arboretum Auditorium, 901 S. Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Andy Linville, owner of OBED Forest Gardens, will discuss practical solutions that create stable ecosystems. He will also address plant selection, placement, soil health, native ecosystems, and designed disturbance. With extensive experience in designing and maintaining sustainable landscapes, Linville assisted with the design and maintenance of the UT Arboretum Rain Garden.

This is a free program offered by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society but donations are gratefully accepted. No registration is required. The program is co-sponsored by the UT Arboretum Society. For more information on this program or the UT Arboretum Society, call 865-483-7277. To learn more about the Arboretum Society, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org.

Thursday, Feb. 20, 6:30 pm at Maple Hall at 414 S. Gay Street

It may surprise a lot of folks that in five years as a local historical organization, we’ve never had a single program about Cas Walker. Now that there’s a good book about him, we have to acknowledge that he belongs to the ages, and is, like it or not, an elemental part of Knoxville’s history. Perhaps no Knoxvillian since Parson Brownlow has been so loved and hated at once. First a successful grocer, then a colorful radio personality, then a politician who was either a working-class hero or a reactionary demagog, depending on your point of view. As a pioneer in the use of both radio and television, he probably made his most durable mark on the development of country music; as an impresario on WROL and later other radio and TV stations, he celebrated bluegrass, discouraged the Everly Brothers, and encouraged the teenaged Dolly Parton. He was seen as both a friend and enemy to the civil-rights movement.

Everybody has a different take on him, and the new UT Press book, Cas Walker: Stories on his Life and Legend is at heart an oral history that looks at this complicated character from multiple sides. The book was a labor of love for young scholar Josh Hodge, who was stricken with cancer while researching it; he lived to obtain his Ph.D., but not to see his book published. We’ll have copies of it for purchase. Professor Freeberg, chairman of UT’s history department, is a nationally known author who worked closely with Hodge, and helped with completing the Cas book. Freeberg has a bit of Cas cred, himself, considering that he lives in Cas’s old house in northeast Knoxville. A public discussion will follow the presentation.

Free program. Bar food and drinks available to purchase.

Knoxville History Project, 516 West Vine Avenue #8, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-300-4559, www.Knoxvillehistoryproject.org

PechaKucha Night Knoxville Volume 34

INTERNATIONAL PECHAKUCHA NIGHT
20 SLIDES FOR 20 SECONDS ON 02.20.2020
CITIES AROUND THE WORLD WILL BE ON STAGE ON THE SAME DAY

At The Mill & Mine, 227 W Depot Ave, Knoxville
Doors open | 6:30 Presentations | 7:20
Check out our website for up-to-date information here & Facebook event page.
https://www.pechakucha.com/cities/knoxville
https://www.facebook.com/events/834761400304007/

// Tako Taco is open for dining before or after the event.
// $5 donation recommended at the door.
// Poster Design: Maranda Vandergriff

Erin Bicknese
Bonnie Casamassima
Daniel Clay
Kaitlin Desselle
Tod Sheley
Dale Mackey
Allison Stanely
Ellen Zavisca

Now in its second year, Take Action! Big and Small Ways to Save the Planet is a four-week conservation series that focuses on the many different ways you can have a positive impact on the planet. Classes, workshops and other activities will show you how to conserve natural resources and reduce your carbon footprint. Cleanup events and volunteer workdays will help you care for the place we all call home. This year’s lineup is going to be fun!

February 15 Volunteer Workday: Invasive Plant Removal (Noon-3 p.m.)
February 16 Conservation Conversations: Docuseries and Discussion (2-5 p.m.)
February 21 Parents’ Night Out (6:30-8 p.m.)
February 22 Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Event (10 a.m.-1 p.m.)
February 25 Sustainable Adulting: Sew It, Don’t Throw it! (6-8 p.m.)
February 29 Fifth Annual Weed Wrangle Knoxville (9 a.m.-Noon)
February 29 Family Hootenanny (6-9 p.m.)
March 7 Outdoor Gear Swap and Bike Collection Event (9 a.m.-Noon)
March 7 Citizen Science Kick-Off (1-5 p.m.)
March 8 Slow Foods Potluck: On the Local Level (5-8 p.m.)
March 10 Sustainable Adulting: Everything You Thought You Knew About Recycling (6-7:30 p.m.)
March 14 Volunteer Workday: Grayson Subaru Preserve (Noon-3 p.m.)
March 15 Ijams Seed Swap (1-4 p.m.)
March 15 Family Pollinator Garden Workshop (1:30- 2:30 p.m.)

Details on each event at https://ijams.org/take-action-big-and-small-ways-to-save-the-planet/

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

In the Galleries
February 8 through March 22, 2020

Artists Reception: Saturday, February 8, from 7 to 9 PM
Gallery Talk: 6:30 PM

The event is free and open to the public.

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

First Friday Reception: February 7, 5:30 – 9 p.m.

Step out for love and paint the town crimson. Come and discover gift ideas various members of The Art Market Gallery created in wild and glorious red.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-6, Su 1-6. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net