Calendar of Events

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!

https://holahoralatina.org/events/
https://www.facebook.com/HoLaHoraLatina
https://www.instagram.com/holahoralatina/
https://twitter.com/CasaHoLa

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

Visit the Ijams Hallway Gallery in April to view photography by David Liles!

This former CPA loves color and high contrast, and his works are often abstractions that are achieved through color, pattern, shape and detail (or lack thereof).

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Celebration of the pieces at a reception on Sunday, April 3 from 2 to 4 PM.

The show is intended to answer the question: “What do you love?” We have asked our members to lend us up to six of their favorite pieces to share with the community to show a range of what speaks to and moves each of the individuals. In essence, it will be curated by the larger group, rather than a single person and, therefore, we are hoping it will be both diverse and dynamic.

There are all sorts of reasons people collect art. In most cases, artwork is displayed in our homes or work spaces, but in others it may not be. Most people buy art because they love the imagery and want to live with it to create a feeling or mood in their living space. The work may echo feelings, emotions, or memories they cherish. They may offer a range of emotions from comforting and soothing to exciting or invigorating. Work may also titillate the imagination, beckon stories, or challenge viewers to define or describe their subject matter. These may inspire ever changing reactions or a sense of renewal and inspire different feelings as one looks at the work over the long term. Some of us own pieces that have familial ties or generational importance. These items may involve references to one’s heritage or aspects from the culture or cultures from which they hail. Still others invest in artwork, hoping it will rise in value and that they will see a large return on that investment. While I concede this happens, I believe these individuals are in the minority. What we choose to love and live with says a lot about each of us—who we are and how we live. For this reason, we are asking our member collectors to select what they would like to show. We want your/their choices to make sure we do not slant the exhibition through a single individual’s filter.

One collector has offered to show a series of 13 Dali works that Dali created as illustrations for Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. The set is delightfully colorful and depicts the chapters of the book. These should be as enchanting to view as the book was to read! We are looking forward to sharing in the joy these pieces will bring to everyone who sees them. Other items that will be exhibited include a piece or pieces that were purchased while traveling. For one of the owners, her work takes them back to that experience, the newness and freedom the trip inspired. In addition it was a new type of work that has inspired her own thinking and creations since. It is those anticipated experiences that prompt us to offer this exhibition. To share these works our members are opening their experiences to others and allowing our viewers to make that journey with them. That communication should be as interesting or thought – provoking as the works themselves.

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

Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage Artist-of-the-Year: Alex Foster
March 21 – May 1, 2022

GEOFFREY A. WOLPERT GALLERY
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, https://www.arrowmont.org/visit/galleries/exhibition-schedule/

In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the 1982 World's Fair, the Museum of East Tennessee History announces the opening of a new, one-of-a-kind exhibition, "You Should've Been There!," in the Rogers-Claussen Feature Gallery from March 19 to October 9, 2022.

The exhibition’s theme is not only a nod to the international exposition’s marketing catchphrase, “You Have Got to Be There! The 1982 World’s Fair!,” but also an acknowledgement that four decades removed, there is a generation of East Tennesseans who were not alive to experience the historic event.

Organized by the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Knox County Public Library, “You Should've Been There!” traces the fair’s development from conception to the pivotal moment when The Wall Street Journal referred to Knoxville as a “scruffy little city” and questioned its ability to host an international event. More than 11,000,000 visitors from around the world were informed and entertained in the various pavilions, exhibitions, and attractions put on by 22 countries and some 50 private organizations. Popular souvenirs were shirts and buttons proclaiming, “The Scruffy Little City Did It!”

The fair’s theme, “Energy Turns the World,” played to the region’s reputation as a technology and science center. For example, it was at the 1982 World’s Fair that users were able to try out a touchscreen for the first time. Elo, a Knoxville-based company, debuted the touchscreen technology, then known as "talk back" computers, in the United States Pavilion. To honor this spirit of innovation, “You Should've Been There!” incorporates engaging touchscreens alongside displays of original fair materials from pickle pins to deely bobbers and everything in between.

To learn more about the exhibition, please visit: https://www.easttnhistory.org/1982worldsfair

"You Should've Been There!" is an official event of the 40th Anniversary of the 1982 World's Fair. To learn more about upcoming commemorative events, please visit: http://www.knoxvilleworldsfair.com.

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

In a year like no other, Arrowmont's 2021-2022 Artists-in-Residents lived and worked together in the intimate environment of shared housing and adjoining studios. Their 11-month residency culminates in a group exhibition, now on display in the Sandra J. Blain Galleries at Arrowmont.

Please join Elizabeth Belz, Horacio Casillas, Kyle Cottier, Naomi David Russo, and Lena Schmid at the closing reception for their exhibition, "Party of Five." The reception is free and open to the public. We hope to see you there!
May 13, 2022, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Sandra J. Blain Galleries
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, https://www.arrowmont.org/visit/galleries/exhibition-schedule/

The KCG ensembles 2022 resume on Thursdays at 6:30 PM!
At the Fountain City Art Center at 213 Hotel Road, Knoxville, TN 37918.

Participation is open to the public, and all skill levels are welcome. Please get in touch with Andy LeGrand for more information: 865-686-2067 or https://knoxvilleclassicalguitar.com/

Shane Pickett: Djinong Djina Boodja (Look at the Land That I Have Travelled)
January 14 - May 7, 2022

During his lifetime, Shane Pickett (1957–2010) was acclaimed as one of Western Australia’s most significant contemporary Aboriginal artists.

Featuring 29 works from the most radical and significant phase of his career, Djinong Djina Boodja (Look at the Land that I Have Traveled) is the first major exhibition of Pickett’s work in the US. Pickett’s paintings capture the transformations of the country near Perth in the south-west of Australia in ever-changing and innovative ways. Over the course of his three-decade career, Pickett developed a new visual language to represent the cornerstones of the culture of his Nyoongar people: the pathways of ancestors, traditional healing practices and places, and especially the six seasons used by the Nyoongar to divide the year.

Djinong Djina Boodja (Look at the Land that I Have Traveled) shows the developments in the last decade of Pickett’s career, as his work transformed from figurative landscape painting into a ground breaking and expressive form of gestural abstraction. It was during this period that Pickett achieved his greatest acclaim, with his works being exhibited across Australia and acquired by major institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. The 29 works in the exhibition present a snapshot of these experiments, as Pickett explores the complex connections between the earth, creation, and spirituality that are united in the Aboriginal concept of “Dreaming.”

Pickett described his paintings as ‘windows into the Dreaming’, and the strength of his culture is delivered through his work with breathtaking lyrical intensity. His paintings show the persistence and adaptability of Aboriginal ways of seeing the country in the face of colonisation. Shane Pickett’s Nyoongar name, Meeyakba, or ‘soft light of the moon,’ captures the spirit of an artist who set a beacon for those who follow him. One of the great innovators of Australian landscape painting, he is remembered as one of the pre-eminent Aboriginal Australian artists of his time.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-2144

Ahoy, readers! Mayor Glenn Jacobs is inviting you to set sail on our 2022 reading challenge, Oceans of Possibilities, with a goal to read ONE MILLION HOURS! This year, we've broken our million-hour goal into three nautical challenges. You can participate in any one of the challenges, or all three.

Anchors aweigh! Set sail with us. By reading and logging your hours, you'll be part of Read City's quest to be the best-read community in America. It's more than a feel-good slogan. In an effort to support our schools, we are encouraging our children and their families to make reading a top priority. Currently, only 40% of Knox County students are reading on grade level at the end of third grade. Our community can help.

Got a Beanstack tracker app account? It's simple to join the next challenge--just click on Anchors Aweigh.

Don't have a Beanstack account yet? Also simple. With your library card, you can register for a free account and get started logging.

You can also drop by any library and pick up a navigation map with activities or try out our sailor hat craft.

It's 2022 and time for another reading adventure. I'm excited to set sail on our Anchors Aweigh challenge, and I hope you'll join us. When we read together, we're sending a strong message to our community that we value reading. If you can read with a child, that's even better, but all reading counts. It's easy to be a part of Read City. Just download the Beanstack tracker app or drop by any Knox County Public Library location to pick up a tracker map. Earn great prizes. Read and log 45 hours (that's about 20 minutes a day) to earn sea-worthy prizes! https://www.knoxlib.org/calendar-programs/read-city-oceans-possibilities