Calendar of Events

Our New Play Festival is getting a makeover this year! This year’s Festival will be comprised of 5 Virtual readings of new plays, done with Zoom Webinars. Featuring 30+ performers, each performance will be followed by a talkback with the playwright, cast, and crew to help these stories grow. Audience members will be able (and encouraged!) to submit questions through the chat function. Each webinar will be free to attend but will require previous registration. Follow this link to our All-In-One registration page and click the dates you would like to attend: https://tinyurl.com/REGISTERNewPlayFest

While each performance is free, donations are always encouraged.

Fridays at 7:30 PM

Mar 19, 2021 07:30 PM WHITE DRESS/RED BANDANA by Susan M. Steadman
Mar 26, 2021 07:30 PM A Graveyard in Madrid by Paul Leeper
Apr 2, 2021 07:30 PM Thinly Veiled by Shawn Samuelson Henry
Apr 9, 2021 07:30 PM High Ground by Greg Congleton
Apr 16, 2021 07:30 PM Transisters by Jay Huling

For more information on Tennessee Stage Company and our New Play Festival:
http://tennesseestage.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TNStageCo

Spring is almost here and it will soon be time to plant your yard. If you want to buy plants to enhance your garden this spring, but want to avoid crowds, visit the UT Arboretum Society’s Annual Spring Plant Sale which will be held online with sales from March 19th to April 3rd with pick-up dates April 9th and 10th at the UT Arboretum. Our plant sales are some of our biggest fundraisers of the year and help support the Arboretum’s community education, trail improvements such as our Nature Book Trail, and children’s programs.

For two weeks, you can browse the selections of perennials, trees, and shrubs available from our vendors Tennessee Naturescapes, Riverdale Nursery and East Fork Nursery of Sevierville. The three vendors offer a wonderful selection of plants including unique conifers, both evergreen and native azaleas, hydrangeas, milkweed, beauty berry, and a wide variety of native pollinator plants to name just a few! Quantities are limited so we suggest early shopping! Beginning March 19th at 5:00 p.m., log on to https://utas-plant-sale.square.site/ to shop and make payment. Sales will end on April 3rd at 5:00 p.m. All payments must be made by credit card online in advance. No sales or payments on the pick-up days are possible.

Upon ordering, you will be provided a link to choose a pick-up time on either Friday, April 9th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. or Saturday, April 10th, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the UT Arboretum, 901 S. Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge. You must schedule a pick-up time on these two days. Arboretum Society members will have your plant orders ready for pick-up. This is a no contact pick-up system. When you arrive at your scheduled time, you will come to designated pick up spots and your order will be brought to your car.

This is an amazing opportunity which allows the public to shop for an extended period of time without gathering in large groups on one day. People will also have access to a wonderful selection of plants from three outstanding nurseries all at one online site.

To learn more about the Arboretum Society, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org. For more information on the plant sale, contact mcampani@utk.edu.

Join Us for our Spring Fundraiser and Add Beauty to Your Home and Garden!

We know a number of you like to garden and we could not resist this new fundraiser. Flower Power is giving us 50% of your order price now through April 30th, if you order anything with them through our link http://ORAC.fpfundraising.com.

This comes just in time for the Spring planting season and the end of the last frost. Orders will begin shipping at the end of March so you will have them to work in as the season progresses. Orders ship safely and directly to your doorstep so you can garden without running to the store. Please check out the link and feel free to share it with your friends!

Once planted and blooming we would love to see photos of your beautiful landscape art too. This is a great opportunity to support your local non-profit Art Center without having to leave your home.

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

Spring is the perfect time to enjoy Farragut’s unique history while strolling through the heart of town. Pick up a Farragut History Walk map from the brochure holder on the Heritage Trail sign located at the turnaround at Founders Park at Campbell Station and learn more about the town’s interesting past. A PDF version of the map is available at https://visitfarragut.org/attractions/

The walk includes four educational sites: the Heritage Trail with interpretive signage at Founders Park, the Campbell Station Inn and Mayor Ralph McGill Plaza, the Farragut Museum/Admiral Farragut Plaza and Pleasant Forest Cemetery. Parking along the trail is available at Founders Park, the Farragut Community Center or Farragut Town Hall.

Incorporated in 1980, the Town of Farragut has top schools, safe neighborhoods and high development standards, making it one of the best places to live in the Southeast. More info: 865-966-7057

Jack Gress is a familiar face to Ijams visitors thanks to his former work with the Natural Resource Management team, but did you know he also is a Knoxville-based artist specializing in event coverage, street, nature and mountain bike photography? See his wonderful work in March!

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. www.ijams.org

Tri-Star Arts is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition in their new gallery at the historic Candoro Marble Building. A solo show featuring works by artist Althea Murphy-Price (Knoxville, TN) will open on Tuesday, March 9, and run through Saturday, May 8, 2021. A closing reception will be held on the evening of Friday, May 7 from 5:00 pm until 9:00 pm.

Althea Murphy-Price uses deception, desire, and ornamentation to form questions on the topics of truth, fascination, and attraction — often using manufactured hair (both synthetic and human) to exercise its role as embellishment and as a signifier of racial identity. In this work, hair functions as both subject and material and represents both assimilation and individuality. This body of her work consists of a variety of approaches to printmaking and sculpture to create works that are inspired by surface and texture. Her lithographic work is made to capture the realistic appearance of hair while screen-printed elements suggest object-like forms. Most recently, Murphy-Price has created 3D printed forms suggestive of wearable hair accessories.

This exhibition will be open to the public, alongside iconic spaces within the Candoro Marble Building, regularly from Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 am until 5:00 pm going forward. Masks and social distancing (6 feet apart) is required. The gallery occupancy is limited to a maximum of 10 persons at a time.

In addition to the exhibition, five Knoxville-based artists have moved into the Tri-Star Arts studios at Candoro and begun their work. The studio artists are Jing Qin, Risa Hricovsky, Casey Fletcher, Jillian Hirsch, and Rachel Sevier Dallery.

Built in 1923, the Candoro Marble Building originally served as the offices and showroom for the Candoro Marble Company. The Aslan Foundation has just completed a restoration of the building. In partnership with the Aslan Foundation, Tri-Star Arts oversees programming at the site.

Candoro Marble Building, 4450 Candora Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Tue-Sat 11-5. Information: https://tristararts.org/visit

Art created while quarantined

First Friday reception on Mar 5, with artists' talk 5-7 PM

Hours: Tue-Sat 11 AM - 6 PM, Sun 1-6 PM.
Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net, www.Facebook.com/ArtMarketGallery

Oil painter Debbie Toney is the Art Guild’s Featured Artist for March, 2021 and she will be honored at the Fun and Wine Friday Reception on March 5th from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at the Plateau Creative Arts Center (PCAC), 451 Lakeview Drive in Fairfield Glade. Debbie’s paintings will be on display along with the monthly members’ gallery artwork exhibit. The public is invited to come and enjoy a glass of wine or non-alcoholic beverage, meet Debbie and other artists, and view a wonderful variety of artwork.

A southerner by heart and a yankee by birth, Debbie Toney brings 30 years of creative experience to her impressionistic/realistic style art. Life on a farm with four children in rural Tennessee and growing up in coastal Connecticut developed a love of the outdoors and the simple beauty of the landscape she paints. Her medium is oils. Her still life paintings reflect a simple time and place of elegance and serenity. She has traveled and studied with many well-known accomplished artists and participated in painting events throughout the country. Debbie is a member of the Art Guild at Fairfield Glade and has shared her love of painting by teaching several classes in the PCAC studio. She is a also a member of Knoxville’s plein aire group, “Tuesday Painters” and has discovered the excitement and challenge of Plein Aire painting, which translates to painting outdoors. She is a member of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Knoxville; her works have hung in the Emporium. She has participated in Artsclamation, Artist On Location, and Plein Aire South in Apalachicola, Florida. For the past ten years, Debbie has traveled in the east Tennessee area participating in juried shows receiving awards and recognition. A passion for gardening, travel and photography makes for many painting opportunities. Debbie now paints on a daily basis with enthusiasm for and respect of this gift called art.

Hours: Mon-Sat 10 AM - 2 PM. Art Guild at Fairfield Glade at the Plateau Creative Arts Center, 451 Lakeview Drive, Fairfield Glade, TN 38558. Information: 931-707-7249, www.artguildfairfieldglade.net

Opens March First Friday (March 5) at the UT Downtown Gallery from 5-8pm. The exhibition is the complete suite of woodblock prints created by Dali to illustrate each of the 100 cantos in Dante's 3 part poem, The Divine Comedy. This exhibition is in commemoration of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death. The collection of prints is in the Ewing Gallery permanent collection and was a gift of UT alum, Gary Johnson.

In 1957, the Italian government commissioned Dali to create a complete set of illustrations for Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the author’s birth. Dali began the arduous task of selecting imagery and creating a watercolor painting for each of the 100 cantos of the poem. Shortly after Dali started the project, the Italian government withdrew its commission. Italian citizens had been outraged that a Spanish artist had been selected for this undertaking, instead of inviting an Italian artist to honor one of Italy’s greatest authors. However, it was very fitting that one of the leading artists in the Surrealist movement would be chosen to interpret the bizarre punishments of Inferno and Purgatorio and the fantastical images of Paradiso that Dante created – drawing inspiration from classical and biblical imagery, as well as his own imagination.

Events and exhibitions at the UT Downtown Gallery are free and open to the public. As always, please wear a mask and practice social distancing when you visit the UT Downtown Gallery. Please do not come if you are feeling sick.

Open Wednesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturdays from 10am - 3pm. UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

We have a new show starting this week at 214 magnolia, Michelle Barillaro. This show will run through the whole month of March. Opens First Friday, March 5.

Friday 5-8, Saturday 12-5. By appointment, via IG button, during the week
https://www.instagram.com/214magnolia/

214 Magnolia, 214 W. Magnolia Ave, Knoxville, TN 37917. 865-337-7106 or https://www.214magnolia.com/

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 5-26, 2021. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, March 5, from 5:00-8:00 PM. All visitors to the Emporium are required to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing guidelines. Most of the works will be for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store.

Beauty can be both resplendent and macabre. I see the goodness of the world, but I also see the darkness. Tragedy and beauty are complimentary enigmas. I hearken back to the Gothic and Italian Renaissance eras of art history for my creations. In some of my paintings, I create works inspired by the tiny pages of illuminated manuscripts on a large scale. Other pieces are more straightforward and symbolic. By breathing life into the illuminated pages of the ancient past, I find inspiration to explore the realms of my imagination. Times long gone by are as familiar as the present.

My work explores themes of injustice, impermanence, and depravity, but also passion, joy, and what is beautiful beyond words. In the end, my works are an extension of myself and how I see the world around me.

Charlotte Brindley was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and recently moved to the Knoxville area. She received her B.A. in Art History and M.A. in Folk Studies/Historic Preservation from Western Kentucky University. A love for art, history, architecture, and cultural heritage prompted Charlotte to pursue her multiple degrees. She has worked at museums such as the Kentucky Museum in Bowling Green, the Hermitage in Nashville, and now Rose Center Council for the Arts in Morristown. A person with various interests, on a day off you’ll find Brindley exploring abandoned old houses, reading about ancient cultures, making historical costumes, watching old movies and historical dramas, hiking in the Smoky Mountains, or trying teas from around the world. For more information:

www.instagram.com/charlotte.artist.lady
www.facebook.com/charlotte.brindley.artist
https://charlottejbrindley.wixsite.com/artist

The exhibitions are on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 5-26, 2021. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, March 5, from 5:00-8:00 PM. All visitors to the Emporium are required to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing guidelines. Most of the works will be for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store.

Adam Rowe: Knot Theories: An Exploration of Partial-dimensional Geometry
Knots are continuous lines twisted in such a way to give the illusion of lines overlapping in the same plane. Using a formalized system of knot creation, the artwork here represents knots in multiple "in-between" dimensions in three categories, each based on a partial dimension:

1) unicursal, self-contained lines which appear to overlap on two-dimensional surfaces

2) tiled surfaces of regular polyhedra

3) elements of non-orientable surface segments

Adam Rowe is a Knoxville native with a background in print and screen design. He enjoys looking at art in terms of visual problem solving, with a fine arts approach to graphic design. For more information:

www.adamrowe.com
www.instagram.com/adamrowemusic
www.facebook.com/adamrowemusic
https://ello.co/adamrowe

The exhibitions are on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.