Calendar of Events

Leesa Osburn, Knoxville, TN
I was born and raised on the Oregon Coast. I enlisted in the Army and had the opportunity to travel to Germany. After serving in the Army, I returned to the U.S. and ended up settling in Las Vegas, NV for 14 years. After too many hot summers, in 2019 my husband and I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee with our two rescue dogs. The positive change in environment has reinvigorated my need to put paint to canvas.

I have a Bachelors in Studio Art from University of Nevada Las Vegas and paint mostly in Water Soluble Oils. My work, mostly landscapes, have been shown now in several local exhibits and hope to expand my reach to future juried events.

I enjoy “rescuing” formerly used canvases and frames. Many canvases only need a tiny amount of work and a neutral base coat in oils to prepare them for a new day of painting. Good quality frames often just need a new coat of paint and the two, canvas and frame, are ready to be joined. I often choose to paint on gallery wrapped canvases which omits the need for a frame all together.

To Expand my craft, I joined Tuesday Painters, a Plein Air painting group. For ease of portability I have been dabbling on Tuesdays in Watercolor. https://artisticescape.studio/artist-bio/

Lox Salon, 103 West Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tues-Fri 9-9:00, Sat 9-5:00, Closed Sun-Mon.

Starting June 1, families are invited to participate in crafts, games and other activities on Wednesdays in June and July from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. in eight different City parks and natural areas.

Kid A’ Riffic Fun in the Park, sponsored by Home Federal Bank, is for families with children age 2-12 offering activities, games, hands-on crafts and other fun pursuits hosted by the City of Knoxville Office of Special Events, Parks and Recreation Department and community partners.

Participation is free, and no registration is required.

Kid A'Riffic schedule:

• June 1 – Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Avenue
• June 8 – Lakeshore Park, 6410 S. Northshore Drive
• June 15 – Victor Ashe Park, 49001 Bradshaw Road
• June 22 – Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum, 2743 Wimpole Avenue
• June 29 – Fountain City Park, 117 Hotel Road
• July 13 – Baker Creek Preserve, 3700 Lancaster Drive
• July 20 – World's Fair Park Festival Lawn
• July 27 – Inskip Park, 4204 Bruhin Road

Kid A’ Riffic was established in 2019 in Market Square as a weekly opportunity for summertime activities for youngsters and their families. For more information about the City parks’ amenities, visit www.KnoxvilleTN.gov/parks. If you have questions about individual Kid A’ Riffic Fun in the Park events, contact Special Events at specialevents@knoxvilletn.gov or call 865-215-4248.

Melanie K. Hutsell's new title, The Book of Susan, will be "zooming" your way virtually on June 1st at 7 pm.

Every attendee must register to access the meeting, and you may do so here.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvdO2hqzkjHtDksJgZdy9ZuMXJYb6b4xWA

Join us for "Laughter is the Best Medicine" an original play performed by the Silver Stage Players. Doors open at 12:30 and show starts at 1:00pm.

The show is a comical look at the challenges we've faced the last few years. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided. This show will be interactive, featuring a scavenger hunt during the show with first place winning a swag bag!

Please RSVP with the center at 865-523-1135. Admission is free, but donations help the troupe and are greatly appreciated!

Who are the Silver Stage Players? A group of creative of adults, age 50 and older, with a special love for the theatrical arts. Please call the center at 865-523-1135 if you're interested in becoming a member or supporting the troupe.

https://www.facebook.com/events/4908326699266600

John T. O’Connor Senior Center Program Coordinator, CAC Office on Aging
611 Winona St., Knoxville, TN 37917
Phone: (865) 523-1135 | www.knoxseniors.org

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 6 PM – 9 PM

Guess who's back? Back again? Live Band Karaoke is back! Tell a friend!

Come sing your heart out backed by a live all-star band comprised of Travis and Owen of Tinca Tinca, Maggie Tharp, Grady Milligan, and Ben McLaughlin!

We'll post the song list a few days before, so you'll have a chance to practice!
Signups at 6pm
Karaoke from 7-9
$5 at the door

https://www.facebook.com/events/733444161128298

Songs and Stories from the Bird and the Book continues its ongoing series of concerts and conversations with another free show at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1 with special guest Josh Smith of Knoxville’s Handsome and the Humbles. As always, this event offers an opportunity not only to share an intimate listening experience with the artists performing their songs in stripped down settings, but also to learn about the craft and creativity that goes into their music and performance.

Think “The Actor’s Studio,” but geared to musicians.

The Bird and the Book is located at 1509 E Broadway Ave, Maryville, TN, below Southland Books and Cafe.

After testing out a new persona and taking a Southern Gothic detour as the Rev. J Mikhael Smith, with their album 2020’s Dogwood Winter, Knoxville’s Josh Smith is back with Handsome and the Humbles’ first record in nearly four years. The new EP, 400 Cigarettes, showcases the band’s barroom stomp while tacking on more than a little bit of heartbreak. Smith’s day job is a physical therapist assistant, and that merry twinkle in his eyes and ever-present smile puts his patients at ease. As he encourages them and puts them through the routines that bring their frail and wounded bodies back to health, they open up to the East Tennessee boy, and in turn, he gives them his mind and his imagination as well as his hands.Or as yours truly once wrote, “Equal parts drive and determination, weariness and resolve, Handsome and the Humbles never falter when it comes to expressing life’s setbacks and disappointment, even though they don’t wither under the duress either. ”

Check out one of Josh’s videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL9pB_YdooE

The Bird and the Book is one of Maryville’s newest venues for all kinds of entertainment. With a bar and food service, it’s the ideal place to gather with family and friends to enjoy an evening of informal entertainment. It’s located at 1509 E Broadway Ave, Maryville, TN, below Southland Books and Cafe. Phone (865) 984-4847 or go to their website: https://southlandbooksandcafe.com/the-bird-and-the-book

Lee Zimmerman is the host for Songs and Stories from the Bird and the Book, which will take place the first Wednesday of every month from 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. For more information, become a sponsor or to take part as an artist, please contact Lee Zimmerman by calling 786-863-3160 or via email at lezim@bellsouth.net.

On May 21, the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the 1982 World’s Fair kicks off with a variety of events across the city. To add to the festivities, we're planning to promote ALL THINGS 80s in Downtown Knoxville. Starting Saturday, May 21 and running for 40 days (through June 29), enjoy 80s-themed menus, music, merchandise, and events. Details coming soon! www.downtownknoxville.org

For artists who work in any medium. We invite artists to interpret this theme as they see it—heavenly, outer space or stellar formations, angels, mythic beings, otherworldly imagery or any others.

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

The Knoxville Museum of Art, in conjunction with the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, showcases what two important Tennessee cultural organizations are doing to support and empower women artists. Women Artists: Highlights from the Hunter Museum of American Art is on view at the KMA April 22-July 24, 2022, and Currents: Women Artists from the KMA Collection is on view May 13-August 14, 2022. Both exhibitions pay tribute to contemporary women artists represented in each museum’s respective collections.

Since 2000, the Hunter Museum of American Art has prioritized the acquisition of works by women artists from around the United States, who have long lagged behind their male counterparts when it comes to museum-level recognition. Highlights of the Hunter exhibition include an installation by Lesley Dill featuring floor-to-ceiling banners and hand-embroidered text, a silhouette pop-up book by Kara Walker examining the history of American race relations, a textile by Vadis Turner questioning inherited gender roles, and a mixed media installation by Beverly Semmes inspired by composer John Cage’s minimalist music.

Like the Hunter, the Knoxville Museum of Art has actively sought to acquire outstanding works by women for its collection. The selection on view reflects women’s broad technical and aesthetic range found in contemporary art. A mixed media painting on wooden sections by Alison Moritsugu conveys a monumental landscape, expansive yet incomplete. Nancy Rubins elevates graphite drawing into a large sculptural construction apparently shaped by violent forces. British artist Marilène Oliver constructs provocative portraits of her family in the form of acrylic sheets imprinted with digital medical scans. Patty Chang uses water and mirrors to transform her own image taken in a Belgian church into a complex photographic work fragmented by harsh angles and provocative reflections. In her video Joan of Arc, Alex McQuilkin responds to Maria Falconetti’s memorable lead role in the legendary 1928 French silent film by Carl Dreyer and the film’s themes of adolescent desire, faith, and suffering. These and other selected works call overdue attention to women’s significant role in reshaping the contemporary art landscape.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tu-Sa 10-5, Su 1-5. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org. Admission and parking are free.

Reception May 13, 6:30-8 PM
Food, fine art & friends! Free and open to public.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thefountaincityartguild

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tu 9:30-3:30, W-R 9:30-4:30 or by appointment. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartcenter.com

Opening May 8, 2-4 PM - meet the artist, refreshments
Exhibition hours M-F 9-4

Ted Richards lives in Loudon, TN. www.tedart.com

The Gallery at Rarity Bay Community Activity Center (second building on right as you enter Rarity Bay), 150 Rarity Bay Pkwy, Vonore, TN 37885.

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