Calendar of Events

Our Art Auction goes live online! From July 28th through the start of the Celebration at Lakeshore Park, you can bid on over forty (!) items from local artists.

https://communitydc.org/lakeshore/

Tri-Star Arts announces the next exhibition at their gallery in the historic Candoro Marble Building. A solo show, Mondegreen, features new work by artist Pete Hoffecker Mejía (Salem, Oregon).

Public receptions will be held on Friday, July 16 from 5:00- 8:00 pm (artist in attendance) and Friday, September 3 from 5:00- 8:00 pm. An in-person artist talk will be held on Friday, July 16 at 3:30 pm.

Pete Hoffecker Mejía states: “This work is engaged with the negotiation of multiform cultural identities. I am expressly concerned with exploring the intersection of contrasting cultural information, hierarchies of representation, and conflation in the expression of otherness.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, of indigenous ancestry, adopted by a multiracial family, and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, I have created a studio practice that serves as a space for mediation of the resulting geographic and cultural estrangement. Cut and reassembled serape blankets, mochila pattern, molas, and other fragments of a whole speak to cultural and geographic discontinuity. Interrogating the themes of European geometric abstraction and Indigenous art forms allows me to create a sculptural narrative of contemporary Latin-American and Indigenous cultural hybridity, with acknowledgment of the postcolonial landscape.

High art and low, the historical and the ahistorical, the found and the fabricated, caricature and the sincere, all collide and collude. In this way, I explore the blurred points of contact resulting from estrangement, while touching on the obstacles in mediating self through distorted representations of the other in mass culture.”

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. Social distancing is encouraged.

Tri-Star Arts at Candoro Marble Building, 4450 Candora Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Tue-Sat 11 AM - 5 PM. Information: https://tristararts.org/

They say, "into every life, rain must fall," and while that is true, some individuals defy that logic and always deal with a light hand and a joy that defies the trials and tribulations of life. Hugh Bailey was one of those rare individuals. He experienced the sorrows of life as we all do, but chose a brighter side. Hugh saw, painted, sculpted, printed, and related stories of joy. He created objects that were "joy filled" and shared them with those lucky enough to cross his path. This show will be an echo of that joy and his legacy to all who knew him.

Hugh was an ambassador for the clay arts especially. A founding member of Foothills Craft Guild and an active member of Southern Highlands Craft Guild, an instructor in our program and others for many years, and an active demonstrator of clay arts throughout the region, Hugh was gracious with his time and talents sharing both with curious individuals of all ages. All of his work was imbued with his quick wit, amazing sense of humor and delightful sense of whimsy. In fact, Hugh was an advocate of playful experimentation in all media. These aspects to his work are readily apparent and will bring many memories to those who knew him and inspire those who did not have that privilege. The objects displayed in this exhibition will be shared with the Art Center from his many collectors in homage.

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

7:30 PM Thursday-Sunday, July 8 - August 8
2 PM Matinees: Sunday, July 18th (Twelfth Night) & Sunday, July 25th (The Tempest)
ADMISSION: Reservations & in-person tickets will be $15, with a four-pack for families offered a 15% discount.

The Tennessee Stage Company presents its 31st Summer Shakespeare Festival, now performing at Ijams Nature Center! The natural hillside boasts the space for the audience to spread out & observe proper social distancing while enjoying the outdoor performances, which will feature two of Shakespeare’s most renowned plays: the comedy Twelfth Night & the romance of The Tempest. This season is being produced in cooperation with Ijams Nature Center. Twelfth Night opens the festival on Thursday, July 8th. It continues through August 7th, alternating performances with The Tempest, which opens on Friday, July 9th, & plays through August 8th. There is an indoor space at Ijams Nature Center where performances will move in case of rain. In order to be prepared for the ever-changing landscape of 2021, we will play this season in the open field in front of the Visitors Center of Ijams Nature Center, located at 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920, just a short drive from downtown. The Tennessee Stage Company encourages our audiences to spend an evening at Ijams Nature Center. Walk the splendor of the trails, check out the gift shop, have dinner at a food truck, see the show & enjoy the beverages from the Beer Garden. Come early & sample the many pleasures to be found at Ijams Nature Center.

July 8, 10, 16, 18, 22, 24, 30; August 1, 5, 7 at 7:30 pm; July 18 at 2:00 pm
TWELFTH NIGHT

July 9, 11, 15, 17, 23, 25 29, 31; August 6, 8 at 7:30 PM; July 25 at 2:00 pm
THE TEMPEST

For more information about the Tennessee Stage Company, Shakespeare 'Off' The Square, or its support guild, Buddies of the Bard
(BoB), call 865-546-4280 or e-mail TennesseeStage@Comcast.net. Tickets: www.Ijams.org/shakespeare. Up to three students (K-12) may attend for one penny with paying adult!

Bliss & Tori Mason Shoes is excited to host local artist Kara Lockmiller for First Friday as Downtown Knoxville starts to return to normalcy amid more reopening activities since the pandemic shutdown.

Kara will be at Bliss & Tori Mason Shoes at 445 S. Gay St. in downtown Knoxville from 6 – 9 PM on Friday, July 2nd for an in person meet and greet where snacks and drinks will be served.

Kara Lockmiller is a Knoxville artist who specializes in painting in shadow hues. She is known as a chromesthete, which means she sees a vast array of real colors in her mind when she listens to music. Kara paints musical artists ranging from Dolly Parton to Billy Joel and accepts custom commissioned requests. She has displayed her work at several venues throughout Knoxville over the years and has received many creative awards.

Bliss & Tori Mason Shoes is a women's clothing and gift store located on Gay St. in downtown Knoxville and has been a downtown Knoxville mainstay since its start in 2003. Bliss prides itself on offering an alternative to the standard retail experience and often carries pieces you won't find anywhere else. Husband and Wife team Scott Schimmel and Lisa Sorensen own Bliss, along with four other Bliss stores throughout TN and KY including another women's boutique in West Town Mall, and three furniture stores (Bliss Home) located in Knoxville and Nashville, TN and Louisville, KY. For more information on Kara Lockmiller, please visit her website at www.klockmillerart.com or follower her on social media @klockmillerart

For more information on Bliss, please visit their website at www.shopinbliss.com or contact Molly Hanley at 865-219-2703 or marketing@shopinbliss.com

The WDVX Blue Plate Special® is a live performance radio show held at noon, with your host Red Hickey, Monday through Thursday at the Knoxville Visitor Center. On Fridays WDVX takes the Blue Plate Special to Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria for “The Big Plate”, then back to the Visitor Center on Saturday with your host Evie Andrus.

It’s always free to join in, so please don’t be shy. Make yourself at home as part of the WDVX family. From blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, folk to funk, rockabilly to hillbilly, local to international, it all part of the live music experience on the WDVX Blue Plate Special. You’re welcome to bring your lunch.

Just like at your favorite meat n’ three, the WDVX Blue Plate Special® is served up piping hot. This fresh and free daily helping of live music during the lunchtime hour that features performers from all over the world and right here in Knoxville has put WDVX on the map as East Tennessee’s Own community supported radio.

Previous performing artists include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Old Crowe Medicine Show, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Nickel Creek, Red Stick Ramblers, Rodney Crowell, String Cheese Incident, The Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien, Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, Claire Lynch Band, Brett Dennen, Tommy Emmanuel, Uncle Earl, The Infamous Stringdusters, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne, John Oats, Mary Gauthier, Darrell Scott, and many many more! There’s plenty of great music to go around! http://wdvx.com/program/blue-plate-special/

Free 2-hour visitor parking located next door to the Knoxville Visitor Center. One Vision Plaza, 301 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-544-1029, http://www.wdvx.com

Details TBA

Gallery 1010, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 114, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Reception Fri 5-7 PM, Sat 10 AM – 1 PM, or by appointment. Information: https://gallery1010.utk.edu/

https://www.arrowmont.org/visit/galleries/exhibition-schedule/

Every Saturday, May 1 – November 20, 2021
9 am – 10 am, dedicated hour of shopping for the elderly and immunocompromised
10 am – 1 pm, hours of shopping for the general public

NO MARKET SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2021 – THANKSGIVING BREAK
Every Saturday, December 4 – December 18, 2021
10 am – 11 am, dedicated hour of shopping for the elderly and immunocompromised
11 am – 1 pm, hours of shopping for the general public

Location:
Mary Costa Plaza, outdoors at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum
500 Howard Baker Jr. Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37915

The Market at Mary Costa Plaza is the temporary location of the Saturday Market Square Farmers’ Market during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Market at Mary Costa Plaza will continue to operate during the scheduled 2021 Market Square Farmers’ Market season (May 1 – December 18, 2021) until a return to Market Square is deemed safe by the City of Knoxville and Nourish Knoxville.

The Market at Mary Costa Plaza will consist of local farm, food, and craft vendors from the Market Square Farmers’ Market. https://www.nourishknoxville.org/mary-costa/

Portraits were the “social media posts” of the American colonial and antebellum periods. Today, social media allows users to not only visually document and share life’s moments but also curate how others see themselves. Early Tennessee portraits afforded the sitter the same duality. “They are,” as one art historian puts it, “the rhetoric–not the record–of self-representation.” As viewers two centuries removed, how are we to understand early portraiture in East Tennessee? Is it history, fiction, or perhaps a bit of both? This exhibition of works by Samuel M. Shaver, East Tennessee’s first native-born artist, provides interesting examples for discussion.

About Samuel M. Shaver (1816-1878)
Samuel Moore Shaver was the youngest or next to youngest child born to David and Catherine Barringer Shaver on Reedy Creek (near present-day Kingsport) in 1816. Little is known about his formative years. He may have studied at Jefferson Academy in Blountville; a Leonidas Shaver is listed as a teacher there, and his older brother David, Jr., operated a tavern nearby. In 1833, William Harrison Scarborough (1812-1871), a traveling portrait painter from Middle Tennessee, visited Sullivan County. What impact did Scarborough’s stay have on 17-year-old Shaver? Did he watch Scarborough paint the portraits of his neighbors? Or did he simply benefit by imitating the works Scarborough left behind? Whether by native talent, with formal instruction, or both, Shaver possessed the skill set to begin producing competently done portraits by the late 1830s.

Shaver: An Artist of Rare Merit traces the artist's maturation through the 19 portraits held by the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library. The exhibition is organized on the occasion of three recent Shaver acquisitions, making the East Tennessee History Center the largest repository of the artist's works.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

For the past twelve years, the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville and the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (McGhee Tyson Airport) have partnered to present a biannual exhibition entitled “Arts in the Airport”. This juried exhibition was developed to allow regional artists to compete and display work in the most visited site in the area. The selected art features contemporary 2- and 3-dimensional artwork and will be displayed through October 18, 2021. View works at https://www.knoxalliance.store/product-category/airport-24/.

Exhibiting artists include: Gabrielle Barnhart, Lynda Best, Meredith Boatman, Orel Brodt, Jan Burleson, Nancy S. Campbell, Tina Curry, Barbara Enloe, Casey Field, Brian Horais, David Johnson, Judy Kelley Jorden, Anne Kinggard, Judy Lavoie, Peggy Kretchmar Leland, Ilana Lilienthal, Bill Long, Ling Lu, Siobhan McAuley, Steven McQuilkin, Brian Melton, Amalia Fotini Mermingas, Allen Monsarrat, Chico Osten, Amber Patty, Carrie Pendergrass, Mera Ragsdale, Ted Richards, Adam Rowe, Mary Ruden, Pamela Salyer, Gayla D. Seale, Renee C. Suich, W. James Taylor, Marilyn Avery Turner, Gena Tussey, Rick Whitehead, Carl Whitten, Marcy Wielfaert, Anne Wilkerson, and Marianne Woodside.

We’ve opened our new Clayton Family Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Campus.

We Dare You to Enter! The new, state-of-the-art Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Campus is ready for you! Come explore 12,000 square feet of rare, venomous, beautiful and mysterious snakes, tortoises, frogs, and Cuban crocs. You might see Joe the sloth overhead, too!

The ARC is our commitment to animal conservation, where we will protect 85 species—38 of which are endangered. We can’t wait for you to experience this and help our mission of saving animals from extinction.

Tickets: https://store.zooknoxville.org/WebStore/Shop/ViewItems.aspx

Zoo Knoxville, 3500 Knoxville Zoo Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914. Open every day except Christmas. Information: 865-637-5331, www.zooknoxville.org