Calendar of Events

Ijams Nature Center will host in-person and virtual open houses for families interested in fall 2022 enrollment for the full-time Ijams Nature Preschool and part-time Ijams Nature Play Club.

Virtual open houses are Feb. 22 and 24, March 17, and April 28 from 6-7 p.m. Virtual events will take place via Zoom.

In-person open houses are Feb. 27, March 20, and May 1 from 1-3 p.m. at the Ijams Miller Education Building, 2915 Island Home Ave. In-person events will follow COVID-19 safety protocols, including wearing masks inside the building, to ensure everyone stays safe.

More information and registration is available on the Ijams Calendar of Events at www.Ijams.org/calendar-of-events.

Fall classes start Monday, Aug. 8. The Ijams Nature Preschool meets Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and focuses on child-led, age-appropriate, experiential learning. Children ages 3-5 spend more than 50% of their time outdoors.

The Ijams Nature Play Club follows the same model, but is 100% outdoors. There are two, two-day sessions, Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday. Both sessions meet from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

The Ijams Nature Preschool and Play Club programs blend traditional education standards with the opportunity to learn about and explore the natural world. Children spend the majority of their time outdoors, where they learn through play, discovery and inquiry. Activities focus on sensory experiences with live animals, natural objects, artifacts and art materials. The programs encourage curiosity, cognitive growth and motor skills through unstructured, child-led outdoor adventures. Children build problem-solving, math and engineering skills through hands-on experiences, and cultivate social skills through group play and opportunities for cooperative learning.

For more information about the Ijams Nature Preschool and Ijams Nature Play Club, visit www.Ijams.org/nature-preschool or www.Ijams.org/nature-play-club. Additional questions may be directed to Abby Branstetter at 865-679-5491, or via email at preschool@ijams.org or playclub@ijams.org.

Each year, Church Street offers a series of presentations by a diverse collection of musical storytellers.

With Edie Johnson (organ), Sean Claire (violin) & Katie Johnson-Webb (horn)

900 Henley St, Knoxville, TN 37902
https://www.churchstreetumc.org/music/

February 22nd, 6p

This seminar is so popular we're offering it again! Unless you look closely, you may never know all the wonders that lie hidden in the miniature world of mosses. Join Dr. Budke of the UTK Herbarium to explore the diversity of mosses that live in our lawns, between the sidewalk cracks, and in our local forests. You will gain identification skills, learn how these tiny plants are important players in our native ecosystems, and go on a photographic adventure to explore mosses from around the world.
http://knoxgarden.org/calendar/mysteriousmosses22/

“AMERICAN CHESTNUT RESTORATION IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS” VIRTUAL PROGRAM TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

American Chestnut trees in the Eastern United States were once up to one hundred feet tall and nine feet around, much like the Redwoods in California, before the chestnut blight destroyed four million of these magnificent trees. Join the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society for a virtual program on Zoom Tuesday, February 22nd at 7 p.m. as we learn from Stacy Clark, a research forester with the USDA Forest Service, about the latest efforts to restore the American Chestnut.

The UT Arboretum has a trail named “The Lost Chestnut Trail” with American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) stumps that sprout shoots but these die at five to seven feet due to the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) which destroyed the majority of the American Chestnut trees in the Eastern United States. These magnificent and ancient trees even had nuts that were edible.

Clark is an adjunct assistant professor at UT. Her research interests span the life cycle of the oak tree from the acorn to old growth to the whiskey barrel. She currently leads research projects on American chestnut restoration and artificial regeneration of upland oak.

This program, co-sponsored by Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning will be on Zoom and recorded for those that cannot tune in on February 22nd. The recording will be sent to all who register. Closed captions are available. Please contact UT Arboretum Education Coordinator, Michelle Campanis, with any registration issues at mcampani@utk.edu
Due to continued concerns regarding Covid 19, our programs are currently being presented online. Though the UT Arboretum Society’s educational programs are not on-site activities, the UT Arboretum Society is pleased to bring the public some great online options. To learn more about the Arboretum Society or for questions on this program, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 AT 7:30 PM

Join us at The Corner Lounge on February 22nd for a hilarious night of local comics trying out new material. Hosted by the wonderful Brandi Augustus.

Free show • donations accepted • 7:30
https://www.facebook.com/events/297811495658910/

The 29th Alfred & Julia Hill Lecture Presents Believing Science in an Age of Denial
Tuesday, February 22, 8 PM
UT Strong Hall Auditorium, Room 101
1621 West Cumberland Avenue

Michael Specter, science writer for The New Yorker and winner of eight international awards for his work, will present “Believing Science in an Age of Denial” for the 29th annual Alfred & Julia Hill Lecture.

Since joining The New Yorker in 1998, Specter has written often on public health and science. Among his subjects have been the global AIDS epidemic, as well as several other pandemics ranging from avian influenza to covid. His profile subjects include Anthony Fauci; Ingrid Newkirk, founder of PETA; Richard Branson, aerospace entrepreneur; Peter Singer, animal rights philosopher; Mehmet Oz, celebrity doctor; and many others.

Specter is also the author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives and the audiobook Fauci.

The 29th Annual Alfred & Julia Hill Lecture featuring Michael Specter will take place Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 8 p.m. in the Strong Hall Auditorium, Room 101, located at 1621 West Cumberland Avenue on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus.

Free parking is available in the parking terrace across the street from Strong Hall on the north side of White Avenue. More parking can be found on the streets near Strong Hall. Refreshments will be served before and after the lecture.

The event is free and open to the public. The annual Alfred & Julia Hill Lecture series brings distinguished science journalists to campus to share their thoughts on science, society, and the mass media. For more information, please contact Mark Littmann, Professor, Hill Chair of Excellence in Science Writing, School of Journalism & Electronic Media, 865-974-8156.

Told largely in Pauli’s own words, My Name is Pauli Murray is a candid recounting of that unique and extraordinary journey. Fifteen years before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat, a full decade before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned separate-but-equal legislation, Pauli Murray was already knee-deep fighting for social justice. A pioneering attorney, activist and dedicated memoirist, Murray shaped landmark litigation—and consciousness— around race and gender equity. As an African American youth raised in the segregated South—who was also wrestling with broader notions of gender identity—Pauli understood, intrinsically, what it was to exist beyond previously accepted categories and cultural norms. Both Pauli’s personal path and tireless advocacy foreshadowed some of the most politically consequential issues of our time.

February 20-23, 2022: Online screening followed by a conversation with the filmmaker(s).
Screening Partner: Clayton Center for the Arts - Maryville
https://www.southarts.org/events/my-name-pauli-murray-2022-02-20

Tri-Star Arts invites you to the First Friday reception for "From Wonder To Wonder" feat. Carl E. Moore and David Jon Walker (images 1-2 above) and "The Gallery of the Thieves: Recto / Verso" by Andrew Scott Ross (image 3 above) at the historic Candoro Marble Building, Friday, April 1 from 5:00- 8:00pm. (photos: Bruce Cole)

The Tri-Star Arts gallery and studios are located in the historic Candoro Marble Building, 5 minutes from downtown Knoxville at the corner of Maryville Pike and Candora Avenue. Parking spaces are limited and visitors may park along Candora Avenue as needed.

This exhibition is open to the public regularly from Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 am until 5:00 pm, alongside iconic spaces within the Candoro Marble Building ~ located in the Vestal neighborhood of Knoxville. (photo: Bruce Cole)

Tri-Star Arts at Candoro Marble Building, 4450 Candora Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920. https://tristararts.org/the-gallery

February 17th Class (Learning Series - The Camera) 6PM-8PM - The Camera will teach you all about analog shooting. Topics covered will be: selecting a camera, camera functions, operating in that mysterious "Manual" mode, metering your subject, lens selection, and more.

February 21st Class (Learning Series - The Negative) 6PM-8PM - The Negative will take you inside The Darkroom where you will learn to load and process your film.

February 25th Class (Learning Series - The Print) 6PM-8PM - The Print will take you inside The Darkroom where you will learn the basics of enlarger use, burning and dodging and developing finished prints. For this class, you must bring your developed film and B&W photo paper. We suggest buying film and paper locally from F32 near West Town Mall.

Pricing for individual class is $60 and is limited to 3 participants. https://www.theknoxvillecommunitydarkroom.org/workshops

The Knoxville Community Darkroom, 126 Jennings Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. www.theknoxvillecommunitydarkroom.org

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/

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