Calendar of Events

Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artist Kimberlee Rose Smith Friday, Mar 4, from 6-8 pm.

Kimberlee is a landscape painter living in Knoxville, TN. Her life and art are fueled by ministering to souls and reflecting God’s stunning creation on canvas. “I pray to always be a vessel of joy, peace, hope, and beauty in painting pine trees, misty mountains, crashing waves, billowing clouds, babbling brooks, still lakes, grassy hillsides, wildflowers, and more. Filled to the brim with gratitude to share my work.”

Please join us for some amazing art, light refreshments, and of course great coffee!

Awaken Coffee, 125 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-951-0427 or https://www.facebook.com/awakencoffeeoldcity/

March 4 - 27, 2021
First Friday, March 4, 5-9pm

Big Ears is collaborating with The Public Cinema for screenings of four exemplary films about female artists: Peter Glushanok’s 1957 A Dancer’s World documents modern dance pioneer Martha Graham; Chantal Akerman’s documentary One Day Pina Asked … focuses on the wildly inventive German choreographer Pina Bausch; Claire Denis’ documentary Towards Mathilde follows French choreographer Mathilde Monnier into the studio for collaborations with philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy and musician P.J. Harvey; and Amram Nowak and Meredith Monk’s Quarry is the newly restored film version of Monk’s 1976 Obie-winning performance of the same name. Each of these films will show daily at the UT Downtown Gallery (106 S. Gay St.) starting on March 4 and running through the festival.

The UT Downtown Gallery is open W-F 11am - 6pm and Saturdays from 10am-3pm. The gallery will have extended hours during the Big Ears festival weekend.

In addition, during Big Ears 2022, we’ll screen three films with a connection to themes running through the festival. On Thursday and Friday we’ll show a pair of Lily Keber’s New Orleans films: Bayou Maharajah, a documentary about the life and music of New Orleans piano legend James Booker, and Buckjumping, Keber’s documentary about social dance—from second line to Mardi Gras Indians to bounce—in the Crescent City. Finally, on Friday we’ll screen the world premiere of Ned Sublette’s Tierra Sagrada (Sacred Ground) which documents a rarely seen series of bembés and rumbas in west-central Cuba; the film will have a command showing on Saturday.

All UT Downtown Gallery events are free and open to the public. Masking is strongly encouraged.
106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, March 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Partners in Rhyme (Cal and Richard). 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.

This exhibition comprises a series of mixed-media collages portraying icons of the music world. These epic figures have been canonized into a church of my own making – a “Communion of Saints” – based on their worship status in the public eye as well as my own. Like a faithful friend, music has accompanied me in my countless hours as a visual artist. It has given me inspiration and connection to something untouchable, yet deeply felt. It continues to take me away and lead me back home. Patron Saints of Rock is a church that spans many genres and is my attempt to share with others my admiration for the creators of that music which has stirred my soul. It is my attempt to evoke in static, two dimensions, what is inherently linear, dynamic and fleeting – what is fundamentally fixed to a time signature. It is also my hope to honor the legacy of these artists’ contributions. Artists that have moved mountains.

Robert Felker was born in Knoxville and grew up in Nashville. He has a BFA in Media Arts from the School of Visual Arts, NYC where he studied painting and illustration. After several years as a freelance illustrator, he worked in graphic design for more than 25 years while continuing to paint and make collages. His Patron Saints of Rock series started as a labor of love and has evolved into a promising project with some commercial success. He also paints landscapes en plein air and in studio as well as public art, having painted the Cormac McCarthy Firefly Mural on Clinch Avenue, the Bijou Theatre’s 111th Anniversary Commemorative Mural and “East Tennessee Sunrise," a mural collaboration with R.B. Morris, inspired by the poetry of President Jimmy Carter and located at the Knoxville Habitat for Humanity headquarters.

https://www.robertfelker.com/patron-saints-of-rock

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, March 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Partners in Rhyme (Cal and Richard). 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.

Jessica Burleson is a Panamanian-American artist and recent Knoxville transplant. Her artistic career began in 2005 when she received an Honorable Mention Award in the Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She was then invited to participate in the Scholastics National Student Show in New York, where she was awarded the 2005 American Vision Award. This achievement secured her calling in the arts, leading her to receive a BFA and study art abroad in Florence, Italy. Throughout her artistic career she received numerous awards, publications, and grants while also contributing to group shows and festivals. Her debut solo exhibition, Don’t Touch, speaks to her experience of femininity and nature through the materiality and objectivity of paint. This collection of acrylic paintings is created from acrylic skins and impasto cake decorating techniques to form a painterly collage of textures and control. Burleson manipulates the material to exist beyond its presumed physicality to acknowledge its presences and natural abilities – a voyeuristic gaze into femininity as deliciously unattainable and sacral.

The consumption of divine femininity, nature and art is my inspiration in creating. My works are both material and delicate with savory textures – a reflection of the embodiment of femininity and nature that is met by the world with an all-consuming hunger. I compose impossibly thick, icing-like, touch-worthy feminine floral elements, a visual delicacy one can only hope to resist the temptation to touch. I speak to the exploitation of femininity as a pound of flesh to be devoured. My work lives in a world where worth is not of the body but within one’s essence, where femininity is allowed to remain sacred and untouched by burden, blooming into its full potential – living beyond objectification and allowed to accept our full spectrum of self.

www.JessicaBurlesonArt.com
Instagram: @jess_burleson

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, March 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Partners in Rhyme (Cal and Richard). 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.

Bruce Bunting is a retired engineer who spent his career working in the automotive industry. He has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and worked at several machine shops. About ten years ago he became attracted to papermaking because it combined art, chemistry, materials, and equipment. One of his first motivators included working on a biofuels project with a paper mill and realizing he was more interested in the paper technology than in the fuels. He started making paper in a hotel room when on a one-year remote assignment, using a blender and a craft store papermaking kit. His first outputs were paper earrings and assemblies of small paper castings. When he retired, he built a papermaking studio at his Knoxville home and fabricated all the equipment needed. Since then, he has written articles for paper arts magazines, presented to a university paper arts class, and attended training classes at several studios. He continues on with paper exploration, including materials, equipment, and techniques and considers himself fortunate to have the time and independence to follow his heart.

For this exhibition, Bunting plans to showcase 36 new works in paper. I am calling these works “sculptural collages”: collages, because they are assembled from paper with glue, and sculptural, because the works have depth and the paper has thickness and texture. I made the paper for these pieces in my studio. I’m working more toward a sculptural approach, rather than flat work, as I want the paper itself to be the art and not just a backdrop for another media.

www.brucebuntingart.com

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, March 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Partners in Rhyme (Cal and Richard). 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.

CAW is an idea that Coral and Amos fabricated more than ten years ago and is finally coming to fruition. This exhibition will be their first step toward collaborating together.

Coral's work had utilized more illustrations in the past compared with the natural elements she currently uses in her hand screen printed fabric. These images all started as a photograph on her phone that she took while in nature, which she then separated by hand into several layers. Registration is used to create a repeat pattern, and there are random printed elements on each piece of linen yardage.
www.coralgraceturner.com/art.html
Instagram: @cgraceturn

Amos's work is a mix of images from life and abstract scenarios, intended as screen shots from inner space. He draws inspiration from the endless and teeming variety of life on planet Earth with a particular focus on humor, absurdity, and small pleasures.

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, March 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Partners in Rhyme (Cal and Richard). 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.

In response to recent interest, I’ve put together a collection of realistic portraits - or whimsically, “Pawtraits” - that exhibit my ability to capture the essence or soul of our furry family members: a cat who’s claimed an antique chair as his own or a dachshund who sees herself as a much larger dog. I love painting animals in classical poses looking regal or making funny faces. For most of these works, rather than stretch my watercolor paper, I mount it onto cradled wooden panels normally used to paint on with oils. After the painting is completed I seal it with cold wax medium thereby eliminating the need for a frame and glass. It can then be displayed more like an oil without any interference between viewer and art. https://www.facebook.com/PetPortraitsbyStephenThomasBrayfield/

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

The Appalachian Arts Craft Center (AACC) located in Clinton, TN will hold its Spring Porch Sale March 4 - 18. The Porch Sale held each year features work from juried and non juried members of the AACC. It’s an excellent time to shop for discounted artwork! The Porch Sale provides local artisans the opportunity to replenish their artwork for the new year ahead.

Appalachian Arts Craft Center: 2716 Andersonville Highway, Clinton, TN. Hours: M-Sa 10-6, Su 1-5. Information: 865-494-9854, www.appalachianarts.net

Synergy showcases gifted K-12 art students alongside their teachers and current art interns/student-teachers from East Tennessee. See the results of the artistic student-teacher synergy that happens every day in our schools! Awards and scholarships are presented to encourage further development of these art students’ artistic aptitude.

A Closing Reception and Awards Ceremony will be held at the Clayton Center for the Arts (502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804) on Wednesday, March 23rd from 5:30-7:30 PM. All artists, families, and friends are encouraged to attend this wonderful celebration. Artwork will be available for pick-up at the end of the reception.

Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

Charlotte Rollman Artist Statement
All of these paintings are plein-air (painted outside and on-site). You may notice all of the seasons are represented here, as I try to paint all year long. The two largest paintings are from my backyard and all of the work is from East Tennessee. I paint often, and particularly enjoy my weekly meet-up with the Tuesday Painters group. We are a lucky bunch. We mostly share our work, painting ideas, studio tips and discuss art events, and over lunch we share our lives outside of painting. We discuss abstract things like color, contrast, value, reflections and the weather. The wind joins us too and is not usually my friend, but it does chase away the bugs. I like to paint in the early morning light but I am not always the first person to our destination for the day. Sometimes I am distracted driving to our painting destination on Tuesday mornings and see other places I would like to stop and paint, but I don’t because I would miss the others if I did.

Debbie Whelan Artist Statement
I’m a dancer who makes pots. The human body and the clay body both have form and shape, both seek to fill the space with dynamic design, movement and meaning, and the color on the pot is like the music to the dance. The dancer informs the potter, and the potter informs the dancer, culminating in a lovely duet!

Westminister Presbyterian Church, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-R 9-4 and Sundays. Info: (865) 584-3957 or www.wpcknox.org

Quilting is an important part of our heritage. Our purpose is to promote and encourage the unique art of quilt making and to instill an appreciation and pride in preserving our heritage. We build individual skills through fellowship with other quilters.

https://www.smokymountains.org/events/foothills-quilt-guild-exhibit-12724/

UT School of Art students are joining with students from Tennessee State University and Fisk University for the 2022 juried student exhibition and exchange on the theme Light of Truth.

In an 1892 speech, Ida B. Wells told her audience, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” She lived these words, determinedly and vocally confronting every social inequity she encountered.

Students have responded with artwork that sheds light on truths. As artists they illuminate their surroundings through leadership, activism, community building and sharing perspectives.

The Art Exhibition will take place in Nashville from January 18 to February 12, 2022 and at UT in the Student U from February 25 to March 26, 2022. Student Union, Gallery, 1502 Cumberland Ave. Knoxville, TN 37996
https://art.utk.edu/light-of-truth-2022-juried-student-exhibition-and-exchange/