Calendar of Events

The Sacred, the Secular, and the Space In Between: African-American Vernacular Art from the Collection of Michael D. Hill

This exhibit showcases the work of self-taught African American artists who examine the intersections of spirituality and material culture. Guided by a compulsion, in some cases even what might be seen as a divine calling, to create, they produced paintings, sculpture, and utilitarian objects that are startlingly powerful in both their aesthetic forms and the life force they channel. Among the artists featured in this exhibit are Mose Tolliver, David Butler, Lonnie Holley, and Mary T. Smith. Their work may also be found in such prominent collections as the High Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Guided gallery tours by Michael D. Hill will be held throughout the month. For more information, please contact Bryan Wilkerson at 865-354-3000 x4788 or by email at wilkersonbs@roanestate.edu.

O'Brien Art Gallery at Roane State Community College, OBrien Building room 276 Patton Lane Harriman, TN 37748
http://academics.roanestate.edu/art/gallery/

Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers: 2020-21 Season

FREE screening available for 4 days including Q&A with filmmaker.

The Hawaiian island of Kauai is seen as a paradise of leisure and pristine natural beauty, but these escapist fantasies obscure the colonial displacement, hyper-exploitation of workers, and destructive environmental extraction that have actually shaped life on the island for the last 250 years.

Cane Fire critically examines the island’s history—and the various strategies by which Hollywood has represented it—through four generations of director Anthony Banua-Simon’s family, who first immigrated to Kauai from the Phillipines to work on the sugar plantations. Assembled from a diverse array of sources—from Banua-Simon’s observational footage, to amateur YouTube travelogues, to epic Hollywood dance sequences—Cane Fire offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast indigenous and working-class residents as “extras” in their own story.

https://www.claytonartscenter.com/event/cane-fire-documentary/?instance_id=8707

This production will be live streamed - tickets will be available for purchase beginning January 25 on the Knoxville Symphony website.

Aram Demirjian, conductor
Marble City Opera, Directed by James Marvel
KSO Principal Quartet
Narrated by Kathryn Frady
Choreography by Lisa Hall McKee

The story of L'histoire is a Faustian tale of a young soldier who makes a deal with the Devil. Walking down a lonely road, the soldier stops to play his fiddle, and the Devil (in disguise) listens. Approaching the young soldier, the Devil offers him a trade: the fiddle for a book that can tell the future.

This performance features a staged performance of Stravinsky’s neoclassical theatre piece “The Soldier’s Tale” with a seven-piece orchestra on stage. Musicians will be joined on stage by Knoxville’s Marble City Opera performers as they relate the story through narration and dance. This charming cautionary tale tells the story of a soldier who trades his fiddle to the devil for fame and fortune (reminiscent of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”!) allowing audiences to join in the story through live storytelling set to music. This program also includes Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 featuring the KSO Principal Quartet.

STRAVINSKY: The Soldier’s Tale
MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, op. 80

https://knoxvillesymphony.com/concert/the-soldiers-tale/

The award winning Israeli television series Shtisel which also streams on Netflix has enjoyed international popularity. The show follows the lives of a family of ultra-Orthodox Jews (in Hebrew, haredi) living in Jerusalem. The show’s universal themes – family dynamics, love, and loss – are in part responsible for its popularity.

Meet the show creator: Yehonatan Indursky, one of the show’s co-creators, was raised in an ultra-Orthodox family in Jerusalem. Award-winning writer and director, Yehonatan Indursky wrote and created, with Ori Elon, the esteemed drama series Shtisel, which won 17 Israeli Academy of Television awards. The series is currently an international hit on Netflix. His full-length documentary Ponevezh Time, was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the Israeli Academy Awards. Driver (2018), his first full-length film, won the Israeli Critics Award. Indursky wrote and directed the series Autonomies, which received rave reviews and won Reflet d'Or for "Best International Television Series" in Geneva International Film Festival. Autonomies imagines an ultra-Orthodox autonomy in Jerusalem that is surrounded by a wall, and operates strictly in accordance with Halachic laws. Indursky's short film The Cantor and the Sea, won best director in the Jerusalem Film Festival 2015.

Register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Sunday, February 7 at 2:00pm to 4:10pm
https://calendar.utk.edu/event/shtisel_meet_the_creator#.YBhEluhKjcu

This year's theme is "On the Bright Side". Open to women artists of any medium!

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

The online-only retrospective exhibition titled “STAYING CONNECTED: The Valentines of Jim Balderes, Jr.” will be available for viewing from Saturday February 6 through Sunday February 28, 2021 at the Greeneville Arts Council website greenevilleartscouncil.org under the Mason House Gallery Online: Current Exhibit section.

Balderes has been sharing valentines of his own creation with friends and family for nearly forty years. The first was produced in a darkroom during his senior year at Cornell University where he earned a BS degree in Design and Environmental Analysis. Since then he’s seen Valentine’s Day as a regular opportunity to reach out at a time of year when family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and former colleagues could all use a bit of “handmade” warmth and whimsy.

During a two-decade career in corporate interior design and project management in New York City, both his mailing list and the variety of media for the yearly missive grew – thanks, in part, to a few classes at the School of Visual Arts and the significant transformation in digital media during those years. The various media for his valentines have included drawing, painting, photography, sculpture and digital art. Some of the greeting cards (primarily postcards) involved the use of custom-made tools and materials such as rubber stamps, die-cuts, candies and even scratch-and-sniff stickers.

Coincidentally, this year’s mailing is Balderes’ fourteenth since moving to East Tennessee. It becomes more important to him each year to send a tangible, physical greeting card when social media and email messages seem to be a step too removed. “Not only am I proudly supporting the ever-important U.S. Postal Service, but people would have a really hard time sticking a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter post to the refrigerator,” says Balderes. Balderes with the valentines he sent in 2007, his first after moving to Greene County. “And especially now, as we continue to contend with a worldwide pandemic, ‘Staying Connected’ safely is paramount. It is with that sentiment in mind, and as an expression of unceasing appreciation for all of our healthcare workers, that I made this year’s valentine.”

For information on Greeneville Arts Council exhibits, please contact Til Green, director of exhibitions, at 423-329-5366 or tilgreen724@yahoo.com.

Planning for the fifth annual Tennessee Pirate Fest is underway. This family-fun event will come to life with new dates--the last two weekends in May, plus Memorial Day. The rustic outdoor event site is located in Harriman, about 30 miles west of Turkey Creek. All are invited to escape to the pirate haven of Barataria, south of New Orleans, circa 1814.

“Our storyline is based on The Buccaneer, a 1958 movie starring Yul Brynner,” said Barrie Paulson, VP/Director. “Pirate Captain Jean Lafitte, King of Barataria, is showing his French hospitality by hosting a grand festival, as he hatches a plan to survive the War of 1812. Come see British red coats, New Orleans socialites, and ‘good’ and bad pirates all in one place. Enjoy hours of family fun and Get Yer Pirate On!” Eight acres of interactive entertainment will include comedy, music, and dance stage shows; costumed street characters; craft, food, and beverage vendors; and a variety of games. Activities will include patron costume contests, gong shows, pirate school, and Trail of Doom. New this year--live mermaids for photo opportunities.

Auditions for local street characters will be held by video by on Saturday, February 6, from 2-5pm ET; or by appointment before 2/13. Adults with theatrical experience and a friendly outgoing personality are encouraged to audition. Talented mature teens will also be considered if they have reliable transportation or will be accompanied by a participating adult. The audition consists of speaking in a British, French, and/or pirate accent; singing a short song; and reading from scripts posted on the website. Wearing a costume to audition is optional. For those cast, video call backs are scheduled for February 13. Weekly Saturday rehearsals will be held online and in small groups from Feb 20-May 15. To apply, please visit the website www.TNPirateFest.com under the audition tab.

Most of the professional stage acts have been cast. But for future consideration, acts are encouraged to email their show details with a video link to DarkhorseLLC@comcast.net.

The Tennessee Pirate Fest is planned for May 22-23, 29-30-31, 2021, from 11a-6p ET, at 550 Fiske Road, Harriman, TN. Festival organizers are staying abreast of health regulations regarding Covid-19. Safety protocols, such as wearing masks, checking temperatures, social distancing, and regularly wiping down often touched surfaces will be in place. For more information, please visit www.TNPirateFest.com and sign up for updates. Like and follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Tennesseepiratefest/.

FEB 6, 5-7 PM and FEB 7, 12:45-3 PM
Pick up your food curbside this year!

Church of the Immaculate Conception (Knoxville, Tennessee)
414 W. Vine Ave, 37902

Join us for our 2021 Drive up Mardi Gras Feast to benefit our friends at St Francis Xavier School in Fond Des Blancs, Haiti. Please RSVP in the event! Cant wait to see you all and thank you in advance for your support of our efforts! Stay tuned for updates as we get closer to GO TIME!
https://www.facebook.com/KnoxvilleHaitiFest

Rala is preparing for our February First Friday show, with featured artist Cynthia Markert. The opening reception will be from 6-8 on February 5th. All paintings are one of a kind and make the perfect gifts for Valentine's Day! Cynthia's work will remain on display from February 5th - March 31st.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/753165832032219
Artwork: https://shoprala.com/collections/cynthia-markert

Cynthia Markert's art-deco paintings of women have long been a staple in the Knoxville art scene and have become symbolic of the city's artistic community. A long-time Knoxvillian, Cynthia was a Studio Art major at the University of Tennessee with a minor in Women's Studies. Since then, she's created these gilded, glowing, and brooding works that Tennesseans have come to adore and collect. Cynthia began developing her iconic style by painting plywood panels on empty buildings around downtown in 1994. Back then downtown was, as Cynthia puts it, a "ghost town", so the boarded up buildings provided plenty of the wooden canvas that would become indicative of her work.

"I would go walking past these big gorgeous pieces of plywood nailed to doors and I would start to see a face or a body. On Saturday mornings I would fill a baggie with pencils or pastels and return to draw"

Fun Fact: Markert's work is included in the archives of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.

Due to the ongoing pandemic and Knox County safety guidelines, we will be limiting customer capacity and requiring that masks be worn inside at all times. Rala: Regional and Local Artisans, 112 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-525-7888, https://shoprala.com. Instagram: @ShopRala

"Art Thru The Window #3" Broadway Studios and Gallery. Featuring our resident artists. View the Art Show and Sale safely through the glass. Purchase info will be listed on the window!

Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-556-8676, www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021, 6:00 TO 9:00 PM · REGISTRATION CLOSES JANUARY 28 BY 5PM
Enrollment Cost: $65 (includes shipping)
Materials provided and kits to to be mailed out one week in advance.

CUT IT UP! · KELLY HIDER
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2021, 6:00 TO 9:00 PM · REGISTRATION CLOSES FEBRUARY 3 BY 5PM

STITCH AT HOME: INTRODUCTION TO EMBROIDERY · NICK DEFORD
https://www.arrowmont.org/workshops-classes/adult-classes/

FEB 5 - 7 All Day - Remote Area Medical will have a clinic at the Jacob Building in Chilhowee Park offering Free dental, vision, and medical services provided on a first-come, first-serve basis. Due to time constraints, be prepared to choose between DENTAL and VISION services. Medical services are offered to every patient attending the clinic. The patient parking lot will open no later than 12:01 a.m. (midnight) on the first night of the event. As patients arrive at the parking lot, they will be provided with additional information regarding clinic opening processes and next steps. Clinic doors typically open at 6 a.m. This process will repeat throughout the clinic days. Patients will be required to wear a face-covering and must undergo a COVID-19 screening before entering the clinic. All services are free and open to the public. No ID required. For more info visit https://www.ramusa.org/clinic-schedule/