Calendar of Events

Opens FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2022 AT 6 PM – 8 PM

Rala presents The Fortune Teller's Sister & Other Portraits, a show by Cynthia Markert. All paintings are one of a kind originals.
Please join us for the show opening from 6 to 8pm. Visit our online gallery: https://shoprala.com/collections/art-originals

Cynthia Markert is a staple artist and local treasure within Knoxville's arts community and has long been creating timeless paintings of women on wooden panels. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we prefer that masks be worn inside the store. Thank you for helping us stay safe!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1611720295850859/

Rala: Regional and Local Artisans, 112 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-6, Su 11-5. Information: 865-525-7888, https://shoprala.com or www.instagram.com/ShopRala

First Friday Reception: April 1st, 5:30 – 9:00 pm

April Featured Artists: Anna Burton – Jewelry and Curt Imerman – Drawing

Anna Burton, Jewelry
Anna Burton is a self-trained bead embroidery and weaving artist. She has a love for color and nature and challenges herself to bring contemporary and fun style to the artform. Her background as a professionally trained musician influences how her pieces take shape and flow. Her affinity for bright color combinations, nature, and a desire to continually explore new avenues with her medium is evidenced in each finished piece. Her passion is bead embroidery and dreaming up new ways to make an already 3D art form even more 3-dimensional. Anna began working with beads right out of college when employed at a bead store. What began as a necessity (the bead store was in need of someone to teach their classes), quickly grew into a love and a passion. She has entered several international competitions, most notably, Battle of the Beadsmith (2013, 2014, 2015). She has also served as a member of CABO (Capital Area Bead Organization) in Raleigh, NC, as project coordinator. She is currently a member of the EGA (Embroiderers’ Guild of America).

Curt Imerman, Drawing
I began making pencil drawings at a young age. I have been drawing in pen and ink since the 1980s. I was juried into the Art Market Gallery in September 2020. I submitted several of my barn drawings to the jury. I have since expanded my artistic work by adding slight accent colors to enhance my barn drawings. I also broadened the subject matter I draw (birds, mushrooms, butterflies, etc.). However, barns are still very strong in my mind and heart.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-6, Su 1-6. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net, www.Facebook.com/ArtMarketGallery

April 1 - 30, 2022

Knoxville’s iconic Dogwood Trails date back to 1955 and today cover more than 85 miles in 12 neighborhoods throughout the city. Take a drive, a walk, or a bike ride and enjoy the scenic natural beauty of our region!

History: In 1947, New York newspaper reporter John Gunther came into town, checked out the area, then returned to New York and wrote “Knoxville is the ugliest city I ever saw in America, with the possible exception of some mill towns in New England. Its main street is called Gay Street; this seemed to me to be a misnomer.” Thus, in 1955, members of the Knoxville Garden Club, led by Betsey Creekmore, Martha Ashe and Betsy Goodson, along with a group of concerned citizens with a vision began a civic beautification project–the Dogwood Trails..

Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

1st Friday 4/1/22 Reception 5pm-9pm

Judy Brater, Tina Curry, Brenda Fieser, LeAann Lewis, and Marion Schlauch

Mighty Mud, 126 and 127 Jennings Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Hours: Tu-F 11-6, Sat 9-5. Open studio time on Thu 6-9. Information: 865-595-1900, www.mightymudclay.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from April 1-30, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, April 1, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features jazz music inside the Emporium by Taber Gable and Friends and an outdoor concert by Knoxville Opera musicians. 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.

Richardson Turner presents an autobiographical series of prints using images he has created over the last three years. They represent memories of the pursuit of a certain muse during a ten-year period from 1964 through 1974. The works are made starting with a black lithograph key drawing followed by screen printed color layers.

I look for visual images that express an initial intuitive understanding and recognition of an idea or thought. I wrote text to accompany this work, which was an integral part of creating the compositions and remembering dream-like details.

Originally from New York City, Marilyn Avery Turner received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1966. Her mediums were painting and collage, but in the past 30 years, she has concentrated on printmaking (monoprinting and screen printing). She taught art for over 20 years in a variety of settings and has been involved, since its inception in 1982, in the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville. She exhibits in solo and group shows and participates in juried exhibitions throughout the U.S. In the last ten years, she has exhibited work in over one-third of the states in the U.S. and has received awards in national exhibitions in Alabama, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.

The long, horizontal shape, which I think of as a mini-mural, has been one of my preferred formats for over fifty years. It is only in recent years that I have been using it to explore monochromatic, non-representational images. In these works, I start at one end and continue until I get to the other end. It is the forward movement that interests me; the progression of one piece leading to another. It feels like walking in color and at the end looking back to see if there are any missteps, which I can then go back and alter. In a sense, these works are metaphors for time and its forward thrust. My other preferred shape is the square. These works use figurative imagery in an abstract format. The figurative elements draw mainly from childhood influences, which were shaped by my early years of living in Mexico and California. The designs and images from Pre-Colombian cultures have been an important source of inspiration for me, as have the Western motifs. My interest is in archetypal ideas, as described by C.G. Jung, and images from both these sources feel like fitting representations of these ideas. All of the pictorial elements are derived from monotypes, a form of printmaking wherein a painted image is run through a press to make a unique impression, which I then collage to create the monotype/chine colle works in this exhibit.
http://marilynaveryturner.com/

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED SAT APR 9 AND FRI APR 15 - BUT OPEN SUN APR 10, 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from April 1-30, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, April 1, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features jazz music inside the Emporium by Taber Gable and Friends and an outdoor concert by Knoxville Opera musicians. 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.

Time is fundamental to all of life. In every aspect, time is considered as the duration, cycles, periods, changes, and/or transitions that mark one’s existence. From the rising of the sun, the phases of the moon, climate seasons, birth, death, and everything in between, time is present and passing. Similarly, God’s love is tantamount with time. God’s love is present. Since time is fundamental to all life, and God’s love is interwoven with time, God's love is fundamental to life. Therefore, God has a Covenant of Time. In all moments of time, God’s love is inseparable.

For this exhibition, I used a combination of traditional and contemporary oil painting techniques to create each piece in response to a time, season, or event in my life. Specifically for this project, I painted each season in its correlating months. This process allowed me to be present with change, especially while it was happening. I explore multiple, correlating elements of time in this exhibition.

Nicholas Cockrell was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma but raised in Tennessee, where he has fallen in love with the geography, people, and cities across the state. He loves hiking, reading, poetry, journaling, rock climbing, and coffee. Did he write this while drinking coffee? Yes. Yes, he did. He earned his BA in Religion and Philosophy with a Minor in Photography in 2018 from Carson-Newman University. He started painting at the onset of COVID-19’s debut in the US, and painting allowed him to express himself in newer ways that photography had yet to satiate. When one of his roommates passed away tragically in April 2020, Cockrell grieved through painting: it gave him the space to cry, scream, be undone, feel, and eventually heal. The grief journey is far from over, but painting is forever inseparable from that piece of his story. As he continues to paint, he finds himself exploring past wounds and trauma, philosophical thoughts, and faith through the emotional range of colors.

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED SAT APR 9 AND FRI APR 15 - BUT OPEN SUN APR 10, 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from April 1-30, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, April 1, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features jazz music inside the Emporium by Taber Gable and Friends and an outdoor concert by Knoxville Opera musicians. 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.

As a suffix, “ic” means having the character of, having the form of, or the nature of. Also, “ic” suggests what something is similar to, caused by, or made of. Sometimes, the “ic” word compels what I should paint. Other times, what’s painted suggests an adjective or adverb that describes the painting. None of these paintings are really representational but rather my interpretation or abstraction of the “ic.”

Booder Barnes moved from New York state to Tennessee 26 years ago. In New York, he studied oil painting with Larry Zingale. He joined A1LabArts after moving to Knoxville and has been an active member throughout the years. Barnes took watercolor classes with Betsy Worden at the Candy Factory, and he studied handbuilding clay sculpture with Annamaria Gundlach. In 2011, he began making short films with University of Tennessee Professor Norman Magden, and they formed Magboo Productions to develop their ideas.

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED SAT APR 9 AND FRI APR 15 - BUT OPEN SUN APR 10, 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from April 1-30, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, April 1, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features jazz music inside the Emporium by Taber Gable and Friends and an outdoor concert by Knoxville Opera musicians. 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 unique exhibition includes music, photographs, and memorabilia of composer Giacomo Puccini from the private collection of Brian Salesky. Highlights include 1st edition 19th and 20th century piano/vocal scores, librettos, and photographs, some autographed by legendary opera singers. This display is presented in conjunction with Knoxville Opera performances of Puccini’s music on Sunday, April 24 at Sacred Heart Cathedral (link coming soon) and Friday, April 29 at the Bijou Theatre. Tickets for the April 29 performance may be purchased at https://knoxvilleopera.secure.force.com/ticket/#/events/a0S2E000010V8wBUAS.

For more information, visit www.knoxvilleopera.com

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED SAT APR 9 AND FRI APR 15 - BUT OPEN SUN APR 10, 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from April 1-30, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, April 1, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features jazz music inside the Emporium by Taber Gable and Friends and an outdoor concert by Knoxville Opera musicians. 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.

Featuring more than 40 works created over a 60-year span, Fritz Massaquoi (1926-2022): In Memoriam pays tribute to the long and prolific career of a West African multi-media artist who spent his last three decades in Knoxville. Fritz Hilary Massaquoi was a self-taught painter who also worked in batik, tie-dye, weaving, printmaking, and papermaking. A long time Emporium resident artist, his works have been collected and exhibited internationally. He was also active as an art teacher and inspired his students wherever he taught.

The son of West African royalty, Massaquoi relocated to the United States in 1990 due to civil war in his home country of Liberia. His colorful paintings, prints, and weavings capture vivid recollections of idyllic West African landscapes and scenes from daily life. The places, people, and events depicted often feature bold silhouettes and imagery portrayed as if through the filter of distant memory. Other works take the form of lyrical, vibrant abstractions inspired by Massaquoi’s extensive experience as a modern dancer. He built each composition intuitively, and often added bits of eggshell, aluminum foil, and other materials to his acrylic pigments in order to enhance the surface texture of his paintings. Throughout his career, Massaquoi shifted between painting village scenes and abstractions as the spirit moved him. He often opted not to sign his paintings and felt as if his brushwork served as a signature. Massaquoi rarely dated any paintings and viewed them as living creations always open to revision or embellishment. He created nearly all the works in this exhibition after his arrival in Knoxville in 1990. Most of his works are untitled since the artist viewed titles as limiting the narrative possibilities for his compositions.

Proceeds from the sale of any of Massaquoi’s paintings will go toward supporting a school he helped build in his ancestral village of N’Jabacca, Liberia.

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED SAT APR 9 AND FRI APR 15 - BUT OPEN SUN APR 10, 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artist Allison Meriwether Friday, April 1, from 6-8 pm

Allison is a recent transplant to Knoxville. She teaches high school art full-time and creates in her south Knox studio. Allison creates thoughtfully curated painted portraits and isolated realistic drawings of hands that serve as symbols of personal relationships. Her work focuses on associations to moments and memories, sharing stories about interactions and experiences. Her work has been shown widely nationally and internationally.

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

Awaken Coffee, 125 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Open daily. Information: 865-951-0427, www.instagram.com/awaken_coffee or www.facebook.com/awakencoffeeoldcity/

Opening Reception - Fri Apr 1, 5-9 PM
Event by UT Downtown Gallery and University of Tennessee School of Art

Friedman and Ghenov are comfortable with ghosts in the studio. Ghenov uses family ledgers and documents found while cleaning out her childhood home. Friedman combines unexpected materials such as crayons, reference book photocopies, and lighting gels. Both artists use the act of drawing to try to capture the present moment, while their materials are envoys of the past. These technical and physical modes of working underscore their mutual interest in the foggy lines between different chapters in a human lifetime and realms of presence.

As Friedman and Ghenov simultaneously tease out and further obscure the boundaries between past and present, drawing and accumulated materials, their work is put into conversation with artists from the University of Tennessee’s permanent collection such as Joseph Delaney, Nancy Spero, and Walter Haskell Hinton. The dialogue that ensues explores the blurred lines between drawing as practice and performance, between studies and finished works, and between art-making and living.

Amanda Friedman is a Visiting Artist and Lecturer in the Painting and Drawing Dept. at UT Knoxville’s School of Art. Amanda Friedman’s art is rooted in drawing, painting, and writing. She directs plays and makes ceramics, installations, drawings, paintings, and performances that connect. Her work exists in different fields of action and poetry – varying spaces of concreteness, collaboration, and interiority. Friedman’s work is attuned to rituals and moved by a holistic drive to make worlds. Friedman has had recent solo and two-person shows at Grifter, NYC (2020) and Safe Gallery, Brooklyn (2018). She has been included in group shows at Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn; Situations, NYC; Adds Donna, Chicago; and Redling Fine Art, LA, among many others. Her plays or time-based paintings have been staged in NYC at All Saints Church, Essex Flowers, Safe Gallery, and White Columns. She holds an MFA from Bard College in Painting, where she was the recipient of the Hartog Travel Grant, and has participated in residencies at such places as Shandaken Projects, New York; Autocenter, Berlin; and Clay Break at The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Friedman published an artist book, Because Nothing Ends, with Peradam in 2013. Drawing Hilma Af Klint, made in collaboration with artists Ariel Dill and Denise Schatz, was published by Miniature Garden in 2014. Friedman is a founding member of the artist-run cooperative gallery Essex Flowers in NYC. www.Amandabfriedman.com

Lynne Marinelli Ghenov is a visual artist who primarily makes drawings and works on paper. Lynne's work mirrors the act of bricolage though most of the elements mixed in are absorbed and translated through and in the process of drawing. An array of ephemera and objects that spur memory, generate a story, or conjure sentimentality, is vital to her drawing practice. Family business ledgers, old lined paper, children's toys, found architectural drawings, and antique letters encompass the material choices that create the work's substrate. Lynne has shown work in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Tennessee. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1975 and raised in southern New Jersey. She currently lives and works in East Tennessee, where she co-founded and co-directed C for Courtside Gallery, an artist-run curatorial space in north downtown Knoxville, from 2017-2020. Lynne's day job is the Associate position at Loghaven Artist Residency in Knoxville, TN. She graduated from Tyler School of Art, receiving a BFA in sculpture in 1998. She also studied abroad at Temple University Rome in Italy in 1996. LynneGhenov.com

All UT Downtown Gallery events are free and open to the public. Masking is strongly encouraged. UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sa 10-3. Information: 865-673-0802, https://downtown.utk.edu

First Friday event from 5-9 PM

The Casa HoLa Store will be open for shopping!

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HoLa Hora Latina is located inside of the Emporium for the Arts at 100 S. Gay St. Suite 112, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: (865)335-3358 or casahola@holafestival.org