Calendar of Events

KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD
with ALLY VENABLE
TUESDAY, FEB 15 • 7:30PM

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

Pianist Kwan Yi of East Carolina University has appeared as a soloist with the Russian National Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Brevard Festival Orchestra under the batons of Hans Graf, Julian Kuerti, and Mikhail Tartanikov. A recipient of many honors and prizes, Yi’s awards include Mieczyslaw Munz Prize, National Federation of Music Clubs Award, and prizes in the Sendai International Piano Competition.

February 15 at 5:30 p.m.
Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall, Natalie L. Haslam Music Center

UT School of Music: Unless otherwise noted, concerts are FREE and open to the public. The Alumni Memorial Building located at 1408 Middle Drive on the UT campus. (The James R. Cox Auditorium is located in the Alumni Memorial Building.) The Natalie Haslam Music Center is located at 1741 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus. In-person events that take place in the Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall, or the James R. Cox Auditorium, also have livestream options. So if you're not able to be with us in-person for those events, you can still join: https://music.utk.edu/events/live.php

*For individual or small group performances, please check the web site or call the day of the event for updates or cancellations: 865-974-5678, www.music.utk.edu/events

There were three Urban Renewal projects in Knoxville that disproportionately affected the Black community. In Knoxville like many cities, Urban Renewal was dubbed Urban Removal. Much of the heritage of the Black community was erased from the map by the time the destruction of Urban Renewal ended in 1974.

There is no way to know the full ramifications of Urban Renewal on the Black community in Knoxville. The statistics tell us about businesses and churches that couldn't survive the move. But we will never know the full effects of the mental anguish that these projects caused in displacing citizens. While the devastating effects of urban renewal can never be undone, knowing history empowers us to consider how Knoxville can learn from this experience and ensure that we do not repeat this destruction of the community.

Join us for a short film on the history of Knoxville's Urban Renewal Projects and join in the discussion of its impact on the Black community.

This event will be a hybrid event with limited in-person seating at Beck and streaming on FaceBook Live. Strict Covid protocols will be in place for the safety of all. Stay tuned for Registration details.

Beck Cultural Exchange Center: 1927 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37915. Information: 865-524-8461, www.beckcenter.net

At Next Level Brewing Company, 700 North Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917

Knoxville songwriters, musicians, and singers--come play a song! Come try out your new songs and creative works-in-progress, connect with other Knoxville creatives, and enjoy a tasty brew from Next Level Brewing. As a bonus, anyone who performs has a chance to win the "lottery tip jar," at the end of the night!

Signups start at 6pm. Open mic from 7-9pm. 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.
Feb 1, Feb 15, Mar 1, Mar 15, Apr 5, Apr 19, May 3, May 17, Jun 7

Hosted by Travis Tench of Tinca Tinca: https://linktr.ee/TincaTinca

As a bonus, anyone who performs has a chance to win the "lottery tip jar," at the end of the night!
https://www.facebook.com/events/491771298963920/

Justin Chance, Cameron Cameron, Tristan Higganbotham
Serendipity Trail
opens February 12, up through March 27

BAD WATER, 320 E. Churchwell Ave, Knoxville, TN. Open during receptions & by appointment. Info: writetobadwater@gmail.com, https://instagram.com/bad__water, or https://badwater.gallery/

n February 2022, thousands of people will celebrate Douglass Day, an annual event held to celebrate the birthday of Frederick Douglass. Members of the public are invited to join this celebration by joining us at the University of Tennessee for a series of events to honor Douglass and to contribute to Black literary history!

Our plenary address by Professor Gabrielle Foreman will be "Frederick Douglass and the Politics of Trust: Black Organizing, Black Wealth, and the Failure of the Freedman's Bank," on Thursday, February 10, 3:30 PM in Student Union 270 or via Zoom.

The main event will be the Frederick Douglass Day Celebration and Transcribe-a-thon on Monday, February 14, 12 PM - 3 PM, Student Union Room 262 and via Zoom. We will be logging on to DouglassDay.org to help transcribe records from a little-known chapter of African American history called the Colored Conventions. It’s a way to celebrate Black History Month with a digital twist!

Sponsored by UT Departments of English, History, and Africana Studies; UT Humanities Center, UT Libraries, UT Special Collections, Division of Diversity and Engagement, and Council for Diversity and Inclusion.

https://english.utk.edu/events/fdd.php

Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity, scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating "hysteria" in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. Adjacent to the doctor's laboratory, his young and energetic wife Catherine wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new "hysterical" patient and her husband bring a wet nurse and their own complicated relationship into the doctor's home, Dr. and Mrs. Givings must examine the nature of their own marriage, and what it truly means to love someone.

We love this play for its humor, honesty, and magical healing.

*Production contains sexual content and partial nudity.

Preview: Feb. 9
Performances: Feb. 10-13, Feb. 18-20, 24-27

River & Rail Theatre, 111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-407-0727, www.riverandrailtheatre.com

Beginning Monday, Feb. 7, The Arts at Pellissippi State presents Muriel Condon: Fabric Print and Quilt in the Bagwell Center for Media Art Gallery. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays.

Condon, a printmaker who is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Tennessee, curated a fabric quilt print exchange with fellow printmakers from across the United States in 2021. Each printmaker, including Knoxville’s own Jake Ingram, contributed works on 12-inch by 12-inch fabric quilt squares, which Condon then pieced together.

“The overall installation touches on the tension between collaborative and individual art, two-dimensional vs. three-dimensional art, fine art vs. craft and objects that we use,” said Pellissippi State Professor Herb Rieth.

Condon received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Montana State University in Printmaking and Painting in 2016 and has studied and served at Frogman’s Print Workshops in Omaha, Nebraska; the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia; and Whiteaker Printmakers in Eugene, Oregon. Before moving to Knoxville, she also participated in the Print Arts Northwest’s Emerging Printmaker residency and was an instructional assistant for screen printing at Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon.

Muriel Condon: Fabric Print and Quilt will be on display until Friday, March 4. The Bagwell Gallery is on Pellissippi State’s Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville.

Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

Reception Friday, February 11, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Artists’ talks at 6:30 pm.

What: REFLECTED NARRATIVES
Works by graduate students, faculty and staff from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Printmaking Program. Free and open to the public!

This exhibition presents prints and related works by graduate students, staff and faculty from the University of Tennessee Printmaking Program. The Printmaking Program in the UT School of Art has been ranked among the top graduate programs by US News and World Report for more than 20 years. Courses included intaglio, lithography, relief, monotype, book arts, and screen print. The program encourages students to work with the entire printmaking toolbox, from traditional to digital processes. Emphasize is placed on the importance of making work with processes and materials that inform and develop conceptual ideas.

Our program is enriched by the diversity of backgrounds and educational experiences as reflected in the listing below:
Zoe Brester-Pennings, 2nd Year Graduate Student (BFA, Sonoma State University)
Danqi Cai, 2nd Year Graduate Student, (BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art)
Gino Castellanos, 1st Year Graduate Student (BFA, Florida Atlantic University)
Muriel Condon, 3rd Year Graduate Student (BFA, Montana State University)
Anthony Huang, 1st Year Graduate Student (MFA, Savannah College of Art and Design)
Noah Lagle, 2nd Year Graduate Student (BFA, University of Vermont)
Beauvais Lyons, Professor of Art (MFA, Arizona State University)
Elysia Mann, Printshop Technician (MFA, University of Tennessee)
Althea Murphy-Price, Professor of Art (MFA, Temple University)
Haley Takahashi, 2nd Year Graduate Student (BFA, University of Colorado, Boulder)
Chloe Wack, 1st Year Graduate Student, (BFA, Towson University)
Koichi Yamamoto, Professor of Art (MFA, University of Alberta)

More information about the artists in this exhibition may be found on the UT School of Art website (https://art.utk.edu).

Gallery hours: 10-4 Monday, 10-3 Tuesday and Wednesday. Ring doorbell to enter. Masks required.
Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919

The WordPlayers of Knoxville will tour an original production, The Ends We Seek, to schools, community colleges, and churches during February. This one-act play with music by Ethan Norman, is a work of historical fiction, which moves between actual events in the 19th and 20th centuries. The play vividly and powerfully illustrates how major historical events -- Lincoln's election and Emancipation Proclamation, as well as the movement for civil rights inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- impacted the lives of ordinary individuals and families. With sharp dialogue, inspired by true stories, and with captivating musical interludes, The Ends We Seek personalizes and humanizes the experience of ordinary people swept up in the events of history.

Supported by an Arts Builds Communities Grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission through the Arts and Culture Alliance, The WordPlayers' 15th Annual Black History Show Tour will have 14 performances in 12 different venues across 8 TN counties.

Schedule of Free, Public Performances:

Feb. 6, One Life Church, 2900 Knoxville Center Dr., Knoxville, 4:00 PM
Feb. 8, Roane State – Harriman, O’Brien Theatre, 276 Patton Ln., Harriman, TN, 11:00 AM
Feb. 9, Central Baptist Bearden, 6300 Deane Hill Dr., Knoxville, 6:00 PM
Feb. 16, Walters State – Claiborne County, Auditorium, 1325 Claiborne St., Tazewell, TN, 2:00 PM
Feb. 17, Walters State – Morristown, Lyceum, 500 S. Davy Crockett Pkwy., Morristown, TN, 6:10 PM
Feb. 19, Oak Valley Baptist, 194 Hampton Rd., Oak Ridge, 4:00 PM
Feb. 20, Fifth Avenue Baptist, 2500 E. 5th Avenue, Knoxville, 4:00 PM
Feb. 21, Walters State – Greeneville, Lyceum, 221 N. College St., Greeneville, TN, 6:10 PM
Feb. 22, Walters State – Sevier County, CAPE 104, 1720 Old Newport Hwy., Sevierville, TN, 4:00 PM

Info: www.wordplayers.org, call 865-539-2490 or email wordplayers@comcast.net.

The Ebony Imagery Series began in 1984 with the showing of a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian service which carried the same title. It was curated by David Driscoll, noted Art and Art History Professor at the University of Maryland, who came to the Art Center to speak about the art and artists during the original showing. Along with the Smithsonian exhibition, the Art Center mounted a collection of work by local African American Artists which by all accounts was as compelling as those from the national art scene. We reprised the exhibition in 1989 and held it annually for a few years before settling on a biennial exhibition.

The 2022 exhibition is the nineteenth in the Series. During that time we have seen many wonderful artists whose work moved us. Some are still with the exhibition today, some have passed away and their voices are sorely missed, and new artists to the series add new perspectives. We expect wide range of both two and three dimensional media that will include some traditional forms like drawing on paper, clay sculpture, and oil on canvas to more contemporary media that utilizes new products or traditional products in new ways. Regardless of the technique, sometimes in spite of the technique, these artists bring us fresh, emotionally charged perspectives that move us.

We hope to host a closing reception March 19th from 2 to 4 PM and hope to see you there.

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

Opening reception Friday Feb 4th, 5-8
Show will be up till March 12th

214 Magnolia, 214 W. Magnolia Ave, Knoxville, TN 37917. Friday 5-8, Saturday 12-5, and by appointment, via IG button, during the week: https://www.instagram.com/214magnolia/. 865-337-7106 or https://www.214magnolia.com/