Calendar of Events

Tri-Star Arts is pleased to announce the next exhibition in their main gallery at the historic Candoro Marble Building: a solo show, The Dangers We Swallow, by artist Vanessa Mayoraz of Johnson City.

Public receptions will be held on Friday, May 6, 2022 from 5:00- 8:00 pm (artist in attendance) and Friday, July 1, 2022 from 5:00- 8:00 pm. Mayoraz will give a public artist talk prior to the opening reception on Friday, May 6 at 3:30pm in the main gallery.

Since 2015, Vanessa Mayoraz has been a Professor of Extended Media at East Tennessee State University. She received a BFA from the Haute Ecole d'Art et Design in Geneva, Switzerland, and an MFA in Art and Public Spaces and New Artistic Strategies at the Bauhaus University Weimar in Germany. Mayoraz’s interest centers on observing the paradoxical relations built between humanity, social landscape and the natural world. One could say that her work is the result of an analytical and unromantic examination of nature with which she warns us on how economy (understood as a motivating power of extraction, production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods and services to meet our human needs) subjugates these relationships.

She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Qui Vive! Young Artist Moscow Biennial, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Belgrade, Le Commun at the Building of Contemporary Art in Geneva, Switzerland, Gleisdreieck Parc, Berlin, Germany, Chashama Gallery in New York City, the DC Art Center in Washington DC, and ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, MI. In 2019 in conjunction with ArtBo Fin de Semana, she presented a solo exhibition at Sketchroom Gallery in Bogotà, Colombia. She has been performing workshops and lectures on subjects such as "artist as archivist" and "contemporary art practices." She received a Pro-Helvetia national Swiss grant three times for her work, as well as a Swiss Cultural Program in the Western Balkan grant. Mayoraz also serves on the executive board of the Johnson City Public Art Committee.

Tri-Star Arts at Candoro Marble Building, 4450 Candora Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-5. Information: https://tristararts.org/visit

Tri-Star Arts is pleased to announce a new exhibition in their Golden Chain Gallery project space located at the historic Candoro Marble Building: même pas, pourtant proche | not even, yet close by Quynh Lâm of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

This show has been installed within the unique architectural space of a steep wooden stairwell. Public receptions will be held on Friday, May 6, 2022 from 5:00- 8:00 pm and Friday, July 1, 2022 from 5:00- 8:00 pm.

Quynh Lâm is an interdisciplinary artist and Fulbright scholar with a background in architecture, working on conceptual and archival projects, Quynh has created a diverse body of work in performance, video, painting, and installation, that highlights the tensions between personal and collective memory, particularly the experiences of herself as a Vietnamese woman both in Vietnam and abroad. She is a winner of The 2021 American Austrian Foundation Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts; a recipient of Special Jury Prize – 2019 Art Future Prize in Taiwan; a presenter at the international conference “ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 11”; and artist fellow at Ragdale Foundation (Illinois, USA), Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences (Georgia, USA); and Oak Spring Garden Foundation (Virginia, USA).

Quynh has exhibited work in Vietnam and abroad; some highlights include The Factory Contemporary Arts Center (Ho Chi Minh City), Art Formosa (Taipei), The Vincom Center for Contemporary (Hanoi), Richard Koh Fine Art Gallery (Singapore), Gallery ONKAF (New Delhi), Mana Contemporary (New Jersey, Chicago, Miami) – in partnership with CADAF (Contemporary & Digital Art Fair), Stamford Arts Center (Singapore), Museum of Contemporary Art Nashville (MOCAN), Palazzo Costanzi Museum (Trieste), Moggio Udinese (Udine), and A.I. Gallery (London). Her works have been featured in many publications: Imago Mundi–Vietnam: New Winds (Luciano Benetton Collection, 2015), Saigon Artbook (edition 6, 2016), Frame to Focus: Vietnamese American Women Artists (sponsored by The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, 2020), Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Journal (Volume 12: Expanding the Canon, 2021), Reconnexions, la Photographie en Transition (Textuel éditions, 2022), and have been accessioned to several libraries, e.g. the MoMA, Yamamoto Gendai, Bay Library, Salon Saigon, Dia Project, UCLA library, UTK John C. Hodges Library (Special Collections), and other art hubs.

Tri-Star Arts at Candoro Marble Building, 4450 Candora Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-5. Information: https://tristararts.org/visit

Join us on Friday, May 6th from 5-8PM for the First Friday opening reception of the "2022 Epiphone Student Art Guitar Exhibition + Auction." The exhibition includes 20 guitars designed by youth artists from across East Tennessee. Professional artist Curtis Glover also designed and painted a guitar for the fundraiser this year!

The First Friday opening reception will include live music featuring Brooks Coker & Alex Carter.

The guitars were on display at the Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga during the month of April and are moving to the Dogwood Arts Gallery in Knoxville during the month of May. Each guitar is available for auction online with proceeds benefitting Dogwood Arts and the Songbirds Foundation’s youth art programs.

The exhibition will be on display at Dogwood Arts from May 6-31st. Several of the guitars will also be on display at the Southern Skies Music Festival on Saturday, May 14th in World's Fair Park.

Bid online through May 31st here: https://bit.ly/3OxpYbL

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

First Friday Reception: May 6, 5:30 – 9:00 pm

Lil Clinard, Painting
Known as a traditional watercolorist, Lil discovered the joy and excitement of painting with acrylics during the pandemic isolation. With a touch of the familiar, Lil’s new paintings emphasize color and form and exude a vibrancy that reflects the spectrum of color and movement in water and rhythm of flowers in a landscape. With a closer look, they almost appear abstract. She hopes the viewer is drawn to the bright and cheery colors and glints of light while creating a narrative of their own.

Cathie Fitzjohn, Glass
Cathie Fitzjohn began her journey with glass in 1980. Initially working with stained glass, she created custom windows for private residences. In 2002 Cathie took a weekend workshop in glass fusing or kiln-formed glass and fell in love with the process. Now she works exclusively in this medium, drawing inspiration from nature and wildlife.

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

Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artists Marianne Woodside Friday, May 6, from 6-8 pm.

Woodside is a professor emerita from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In her career at UTK, she integrated responsibilities of teaching, administration, research, and writing in human services and counselor education. For the past ten years, Marianne has focused on her interest in photography. Her subjects range from still life images of glass within a natural context, to landscapes, and flora and fauna here in East Tennessee and beyond. During pandemic times, with her camera in hand, she concentrated on photographing images of subjects closer to her home in Maryville. https://www.mariannewoodsidephotography.com/

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/

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from May 6-28, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, May 6, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Variego3 and Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. Most of the artworks 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.

Unmasking Mental Health is an exhibition of theatrical mask images designed by 20 youth and young adults in Tennessee to raise awareness about what is really going on behind the mask and to promote acceptance of mental health issues. TN Voices, Tennessee’s leading mental health support services nonprofit, hosts this exhibition as part of Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Week, May 1-7, 2022.

Each Year TN Voices works to educate Tennesseans about the importance of improving access to mental health care and treatment, and to help break down other barriers such as negative perceptions about mental illness. TN Voices speaks out as an active advocate for the emotional and behavioral well-being of Tennesseans by providing essential services, support, and advocating for policy change at the local, state, and federal level. They are deeply committed to assisting and supporting fellow Tennesseans by reducing stigma and increasing acceptance. The TN Voices vision is to build hope for all generations, and their mission is to be the collaborative leader in guiding mental health transformation.

To access TN Voices programs and services, visit www.tnvoices.org or call 615-269-7751.

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED MON MAY 30. 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 May 6-28, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, May 6, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Variego3 and Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. Most of the artworks 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 new exhibition features a collection of scarves, pillows, jewelry, and apparel all of which are based on traditional quilt patterns reimagined in a contemporary way. Sewing techniques include Mexican smocking, satin stitching, sprigging, and applique to create pieces that are all one-of-a-kind.

I have been sewing since childhood, and I am fascinated by the way intricate detail can combine with color and pattern to create new forms grounded in tradition. Whimsy, fun, and a tongue in cheek attitude that is nevertheless a bit sophisticated are always a part of creativity for me. “Everything old is new again.”

Timothy Bridges studied at the University of Tennessee, Tennessee Technological University, and The School of Fashion Design of Boston. He worked as a visual merchandising coordinator for several major department stores and spent several years designing costumes and sets for theater productions in Florida and Tennessee. He also designed wedding dresses and formal party wear. Bridges now devotes his time and skills to creating wearable art and home accessories in his inimitable style. He is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and will be participating in an upcoming exhibit at the Appalachian Regional Commission in Washington. He will also participate in two other exhibitions sponsored by the Guild at the Folk Art Center in Asheville in 2022.

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED MON MAY 30. 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 May 6-28, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, May 6, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Variego3 and Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. Most of the artworks 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.

I have photographed flowers persistently for more than a decade, always in search of some new aspect or insight I’ve previously overlooked. I’ve frozen them, pulled them out of the neighbors’ trash, buried them in sand, and pulled them apart petal by petal to reconstruct them into imaginary new creations, all in search of some revelation about the source of their continual beauty. This exhibit reflects my quest for new dimensions within individual flowers using the power of digital processing to reimagine their original portraits.

Sam Stapleton’s photographic journey has been almost 50 years in the making, beginning with the purchase of his first 35mm SLR in 1974. He is largely self-taught in that he has no university degree or formal certification pertaining to photography, or even the arts in general. Instead, he has learned his craft through years of dedicated workshops, professional magazine assignments with his author wife and lots of hands-on practice and experimentation. Most important, he studies the work of other photographic artists, always asking himself “what are they doing”, “why are they doing it this way” and “how can I learn from it”.

www.samstapletonphotography.com
www.facebook.com/Sam.Stapleton51

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED MON MAY 30. 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 May 6-28, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, May 6, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Variego3 and Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. Most of the artworks 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.

The pleasure taken from natural landscapes serves as an impetus for the four Tennessee-based artists Mike Martino, Emily McGrew, Susan McGrew and Randy Purcell. The group that came to be the Four Artist TN met when all exhibited work in a holiday show in December 2012. Although each member of the group worked in a unique medium, they found there was an overlapping tendency towards degrees of abstraction of the subject matter as well as in the subject matter itself: natural elements and subjective color. This allowed their work to display cohesively. Common ground was found in a variety of topics relating to the visual artist and the profession. They began meeting on a regular basis to discuss current work and professional outlook and had their first Four Artist TN show in 2017. The beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 forced some changes and the group decided to use that time to grow. Organically, the discussion eventually touched on the idea of designating assignments that might give the work even more cohesion when presented together. From This Point the meetings provided additional focus, loose deadlines, and a different kind of purpose in the studio practice of each artist as they created specific pieces for critique by the group. In this, their fourth group exhibition, they will show for the first time group projects developed over the past two years as well as individual artworks.

We pursue the dilemma of realism in different ways. Landscapes, some stark and sad with evidence of human industrial impulse reminiscent of the Ashcan School, are depicted in acrylic by Emily McGrew. Randy Purcell may start with a similar overlying view, which he transforms with his own unique process compromising ink transfer on beeswax base, creating a mosaic like surface in the process. In contrast, Susan McGrew’s contemporary oil and cold wax landscapes and focused close-ups, teeming with lush vegetation and wildlife reflect an optimism reminiscent of the Hudson River School. The printmaking process used by Mike Martino pushes the print medium with a more painterly effect, but conveys the same softer view of the natural world. While we pursue the dilemma of realism in different ways with different media, we have an affinity for each other’s work based on our interest in the landscape as a vehicle for our expression. Like a camera taking pictures from different perspectives, our work shown together provides a more multidimensional model of the world we inhabit.

www.facebook.com/fourartisttn
www.instagram.com/fourartisttn
Mike Martino: www.bluefigeditions.com
Emily McGrew: www.emilymcgrewart.com
Susan McGrew: https://susanmcgrew.artspan.com
Randy Purcell: www.randylpurcell.com

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED MON MAY 30. 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 May 6-28, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, May 6, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Variego3 and Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. Most of the artworks 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.

Motion, Time & Light is a two-person exhibition of new works by Knoxville artists Denise K. Cumming and Mike C. Berry and includes long exposure photography, paintings and drawings that expressively highlight the surrounding landscape, cityscape and skies.

Denise K. Cumming is a self-taught artist whose work includes original paintings, large-scale pole carvings and experimental photography. Her images in this exhibition result from an experimental approach to the photographic medium; they could be called “light paintings”. The artist uses camera movement and long exposure times to "paint" unique images with the Sun, various lights and fire. The photographs are ‘one shot’ images created in camera without use of Photoshop or composites. Many of the images were taken from the window seat of airplanes capturing light reflecting off of clouds and objects on the ground. Some images feature extremely lengthy exposures called solargraphy. With DIY pinhole cameras made from coffee cans, the images track the path of the Sun over long periods of time – usually the six months between Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice. The resulting images are colorful, abstractly ethereal and challenge the viewers perceptions.

www.dkccreative.com
www.instagram.com/denisecumming

Mike C. Berry’s works include new compositions highlighting the urban landscape; they are created in pastel and charcoal, emphasizing movement and light within the cityscape. Berry’s works have featured Knoxville and surrounding areas for the past 20 years, and he is represented by River Gallery in Chattanooga and The District Gallery in Knoxville. Prints and cards of his work are available at Rala: Regional and Local Artisans and the Knoxville Museum of Art gift shop in Knoxville.

www.instagram.com/mikecberry
www.mikecberry.com

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. CLOSED MON MAY 30. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

Join us on Friday May 6th as we start our First Friday events back up! This month we are happy to announce that local artist, Sarah Eileen, will be displaying her art in our taproom for the month of May. Join us on this First Friday for the release of her artwork, food trucks, craft beer, and good company. Cheers!

1532 Island Home Ave Knoxville, TN 37920

RED Gallery announces the opening of Untamed Beauty, a new exhibition of oil paintings and watercolors by Jackie Langford. The show will open at 5 pm on Friday, May 6, 2022 (First Friday) and run through May 27. Work on display will include portraits and landscapes.

When asked what inspires her, Langford says, “It begins with a smile—the smile of a woman whose portrait I am painting, or my own joy when I look at the rugged backcountry, fierce whitewater, and smoke-blue mountains of East Tennessee.” The portraits on display at RED Gallery took shape in the log home Langford shares with her husband, Tom, on a ridge off the Cherohala Skyway, a Scenic Byway that straddles the Tennessee–North Carolina border. Along that ridge, old friends and new—from Atlanta, Clarkesville, Knoxville, and Nashville—have raised cabins and formed close bonds. During the pandemic, Langford says she felt moved to paint the women, from all walks of life, who share her passion for the wilderness.

After years of working in oils and acrylics, Langford expanded into watercolor. As the pandemic continued, masking her friends’ expressions, she says, “I needed to see their smiles.” She sketched, then painted, using background washes to reflect the individual personalities and portray each person’s essence. “I thought of all the challenges they’ve lived through,” says Langford, “yet they still express such joy and effervescence.” Langford says a good portraitist sees into her subjects’ interior landscape. In these women, Langford perceives strength and love of life that support their families and friendships. She captures the women’s natural exuberance, which mirrors the untamed beauty of the surrounding wilderness. As for her landscapes, Langford also works from photographs she and her husband have taken in the southeast and on their travels, from the National Parks to Alaska and Southern Cypress Swamps.

A graduate of Austin Peay State University, Jackie took studio art classes with T. Max Hochstetler, who painted the murals at the Opryland Hotel. She also studied with award-winning portraitist Daniel E. Greene, and learned from the techniques of John Howard Sanden, first recipient of the John Singer Sargent Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her paintings are part of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Collection and the Permanent Army Military Art Collection, and are owned by prominent military, political and civic leaders. In 2018 she placed First with a watercolor in the Booth Western Art Museum member fall show in Cartersville, Georgia. Her paintings won First and Second place in the Clarksville, Tennessee 2017 Riverfest art show. Current work can be seen at the Downtown Artists’ Co-op in Clarksville. Jackie is a member of the Portrait Society of America, the Booth Western Art Museum, and the Downtown Artists Co-op of Clarksville.

Starting May 6, Untamed Beauty can be viewed at RED Gallery on Fridays 5-9pm, Saturdays 1-5pm and Sundays 1-5pm, and by appointment through the week, until May 27.

RED Gallery, at 130 E Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN. Info: 865-524-0146 or email robin@robineaster.com