Calendar of Events
Friday, June 10, 2022
Rala: Dolly Art Contest exhibition
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
The opening will be Friday, June 3, from 6-9pm. We will announce awards at 7pm, which will also be streamed live on our instagram, @shoprala and on our youtube channel. The art will remain on display through the end of July.
FB event: https://fb.me/e/1u2zUsNzG
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
RED Gallery: Fresh Perspectives by Wayne Blankenship
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
OPENING RECEPTION of recent work JUNE 3, 5-9 PM
RED Gallery proudly announces the showing of Fresh Perspectives, by Wayne Blankenship. Opening on June 3 (First Friday), the show will run through July 29. Blankenship’s work features Appalachian landscapes.
Wayne Blankenship’s pieces are well known in East Tennessee. He has enjoyed recognition for his work in winning the Dogwood Arts Print Competition in 2002 and 2006. Blankenship presented his piece titled Appalachian Flowers to Dolly Parton at the Dogwood Arts Festival in 2006. In addition to the Dogwood Arts Festival, Blankenship’s work has appeared in local galleries, such as The Venue at Lenoir City.
An artist from an early age, Blankenship reveals that his creative career began with repainting his sister’s coloring books. He moved on to paint-by-number projects, and then to painting with acrylics. Blankenship’s mentor Jim Gray taught him to paint with oils, and it was Gray who suggested Blankenship try watercolors. Blankenship now combines materials in mixed-media work, using oil, watercolors and acrylic to achieve his signature, layered landscapes. He continues to branch out with his technique, and is continually inspired by the work of Andrew Wyeth. Blankenship is a member of the Tellico Village Art Guild.
“When I paint, it mostly comes from my memory, thoughts, or emotions,” says Blankenship. “I rarely have a photo reference or use a plein air technique. Whether it’s sunrise or sunset, painting the mountains gives me an endless supply of inspiration.” For the artist, painting is a way to capture the natural world and a stillness in time, as well as the sharpness of a treasured memory. Blankenship hopes visitors will enjoy the show, and be inspired to visit the mountains. Blankenship says his show at RED Gallery is happening at the perfect time, since it coincides with the upcoming Dolly Fest. He’s always been inspired by Dolly Parton, since he grew up in similar circumstances. Blankenship’s mother taught him a love and appreciation for the natural Appalachian beauty that was his childhood environment. http://wayneblankenship.com/
Starting June 3, Fresh Perspectives can be viewed at RED Gallery on Fridays 5-9pm, Saturdays 1-5pm and Sundays 1-5pm, and by appointment through the week, until July 29.
RED Gallery, 130 West Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902
UT Downtown Gallery: Eric Sublett: The Creative Life
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
Receptions: Friday, June 3, 5-9 PM and Friday, July 1, 5-9 PM
This exhibition features the paintings, drawings, photography, poetry, flyer/poster art, and film/videos of Eric Sublett, with an emphasis on the artist’s connection to community and local culture. Eric Sublett: The Creative Life is organized by his friends and fellow artists, photographer, Gary Heatherly, and songwriter / poet, RB Morris.
Sublett passed away in 2018 after a long illness. As a lifelong Knoxvillian, Eric was a graduate of West High School and the University of Tennessee, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Friends knew him as a talented artist, avid music lover, and knowledgeable historian. Eric was involved with the 1982 World's Fair Art Colony and development of James Agee Park in Fort Sanders. He was a founding member of the 200 East and CHROMA art groups. He is the son of former UT School of Art painting professor and Knoxville 7 artist, Carl Sublett.
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
Maple Hall: First Friday with Marcy Dickert
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Opening June 3, 6-8 PM
The Show will remain up thru the month of June with the exception of June 30th and ALL Mondays and Tuesdays. The MAPLE ROOM opens at 4 PM and closes at 11 PM WEDNESDAYS - SUNDAYS.
At Maple Hall, 414 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
https://maplehallknox.com/
Art Market Gallery: New Members Exhibition
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
First Friday Reception: June 3rd, 5:30 – 9:00 pm
Vicki Bradshaw, Mixed Media
Vickie Bradshaw is a Southern Appalachian based artist who has been making art for the last thirty years across a variety of media. She has taught metals and torch-fired enamel classes at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. She is especially interested in mixed-media art and the functionality of found objects. She received her BFA from Memphis College of Arts. Currently she is showing and selling her work at art festivals across the south.
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.
Lisa Kurtz, Clay
A professional potter since 1985 when she received her Masters of Art in Ceramics from the University of Louisville, Lisa started her pottery, Highland Pottery, in the eclectic Highlands neighborhood of Louisville, Ky. She previously taught clay at community colleges including Cleveland State and Pellissippi State and at craft centers such as the Appalachian Arts Craft Center in Norris, Tn. and Payne Street Pottery in Ky. In 2015-16, Lisa was a Master Artist in Tn. Craft’s Master Artist Apprentice Program. Lisa throws and hand builds her pieces, often combining both methods to create her functional pottery and clay wall art. Her art highlights the malleable qualities of clay by emphasizing texture and form. She encourages the happy accidents that occur while working in clay and in the firing process. To see more about Lisa and her work visit her website … www.LisaKurtzHighlandpottery.weebly.com.
Allen Monsarrat, Painting
I am drawn to representational art and enjoy the problem solving of depicting various surfaces in paint: stone, hair, skin, water, night sky, etc. Painting from photographs allows me to carefully design my composition which is the basis for any good artwork. More importantly, as my reference source it allows me to study the nuances of color, light and reflection and how it changes across a seemingly uniformly colored surface.
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: Featuring Debbie Alley
Category: Culinary arts, food, Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artists Debbie Alley Friday, June 3, from 6-8 pm.
Debbie is a local fiber artist who specializes in fine art images made from plant material using the eco-printing process. She offers a line of fine art originals, and prints, as well as a line of eco-printed and hand-painted silk scarves. Her art is organic and intriguing and often described as calming and meditative.
Debbie enjoys combining techniques from silk painting, quilt design, fabric dyeing, eco-printing, and watercolor into her art to create something unique and interesting.
Debbie's work can be found at:
• Studio 106 @ The Emporium Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
• The District Gallery, Knoxville, Tennessee
• The Townsend Artisan Guild Gallery, Townsend Tennessee
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/
Broadway Studios and Gallery: The Big Deal
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
“The Big Deal”
Opening First Friday June 3rd 5:00 – 9:00
Featuring a silent auction of 2 collaborative works by the 13 BSG artists. A $50 wall of works, as well as new work by the BSG artists Chloe Melton, Vincent Drake, Lauren Kelley, Brandon Woods, Mandy Lynn Carris, Jeremy Logan, Jessica Gregory, Sam Stapleton, Katie Carrillo, Pat O’Neil, Nancy Rowland-Engle, Anne Freels, and Larry Blount. It’s a Big Deal!
Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Hours: Open every Friday 12:00-4:00 or when the "open" sign is illuminated. Information: 865-556-8676, www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com and www.facebook.com/broadwaystudiosandgallery/
Emporium Center: Kara Lockmiller: POP Music
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 3-25, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, June 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. 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.
Kara Lockmiller is a native Knoxvillian and artist. She is a married mother of three children living in East Knox County. She began painting for others in 2017 as an outlet to share the mesmerizing colors she sees. While she can remember the lyrics to almost any song she has ever heard, she is most fascinated by the people who pen them. Working for more than ten years as a journalist and graphic artist left her with a great understanding of design principles as they relate to color. She will showcase a mixture of musician portraits with a heavy emphasis on Dolly Parton; all artwork has been newly produced in 2022.
I am a chromesthete which means I see a vast array of real colors in my mind when I listen to music. I like to think of it as my own personal light show. My goal for each portrait is to let you glimpse music and musicians the way I do. There is a kinship between color and music – both can say what words cannot. I paint in shadowed hues using the grisaille technique. After drawing out my musician in a grayscale underpainting, I add opaque and translucent acrylic colors according to what I see when I listen to their music. They come together like puzzle pieces on my canvas. I do not use editing software to produce my portraits. They are hand drawn according to their highlights and shadows. I’ve recently started to branch out into multimedia collages and varying subject matter – though musicians are still closest to my heart.
https://klockmillerart.com
Instagram @klockmillerart
Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com
Emporium Center: Jane Newman: Beauty Marks ! ? . An Exhibition of Simplified Form
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 3-25, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, June 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. 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.
Patches of pigment. Each unique, necessary and important. Individual yet communal. Texture, light, & movement impressions making their own exclamation! Asking questions? Layers of value pushed, scraped, and dabbed over brilliant high key hues. Shapes created with a plastic card loaded with beautiful tones of pigment stroked across panel surfaces, leaving their mark. Each defines pieces of the whole. Your eye completes the image. These canvases were created with a focus on the interaction of shape against shape and value against value, using the Light as foundation. Beauty, Marks.
Brilliant underpainting chroma creates iridescence. Oil pigments and untraditional tools modeling images that are simultaneously abstract and hyperrealism depending on the viewers position. The shape of the card and the direction of the stroke dictate the mark that is made to represent areas of subtle value shift. Making marks exclusively using the card forces only shape representation. Each is beautiful, making its own mark in the Creation.
What makes a mark a beauty? The eye of the beholder! “As a maker of marks, I have discovered that accepting a mark for what it is, beautiful or awkward, and leaving it to work with the other marks in the painting creates a unity in the diversity of texture across the panel surface. Because each is unique, the painting becomes more interesting. The marks become the beauty in the painting (verb & noun).”
Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com
Emporium Center: Jane Cartwright: Joyful Nonsense
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 3-25, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, June 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. 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.
Joyful Nonsense is an assortment of my handbuilt, stoneware pottery constructed with coils, slabs, pinching, or some combination of these techniques. Whether I create functional or sculptural pieces it’s always with a light-hearted spirit and a deep sense of fun. It delights me to give common objects a twist to make using them more entertaining… like wonky cups and wiggly spoons. I bounce between the bold black and white of sgraffito (carving) and exuberant, juicy colors. For me it’s all about the joy.
Jane Hasegawa Cartwright was born in Tokyo, Japan but grew up in the US. From a young age she was easily entertained by many forms of art and continued this by studying graphic design and illustration at the University of Florida. In 1998 she started working with pottery and took great delight transferring her illustrations to clay. Currently she is a studio potter/cat wrangler and teaches handbuilding classes at the Oak Ridge Art Center.
Instagram @jane_cartwright_pottery
https://www.facebook.com/janecartwrightpottery
Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com
Dogwood Arts: Regional Art Exhibition at the Emporium
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 3-25, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, June 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. 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.
The Dogwood Regional Art Exhibition showcases fine art of all styles and genres from progressive and emerging artists within a seven-state radius. Knoxville-based painter, Denise Stewart-Sanabria, will jury the exhibition and award cash prizes totaling $2,000 at the reception at 7:00 PM. The 2022 exhibition features 46 artworks completed in the last two years by local and regional artists.
The 45 artists included in the exhibition are: Debbie Alley, Griffin Allman, Nicholas Bell, Denice Bizot, Antuco Chicaiza, Morena Constantinou, Raven Cordy, Virginia Derryberry, Jim Dodson, Gregory Dorsey, Jr., Vincent Drake, Haleigh Eicher, Erica Entrop, Benjamin Fox-McCord, Hilari Frederick, Carl Gombert, Travis Graves, Hannah Hancock, Briena Harmening, Joanna Henry, Kelly Hider, Kathy Holland, Brian Horais, Greg Howser, Charles Jones, Vickie Kallies Lee, Lauren Karnitz, Noah Lagle, Ashton Ludden, Allison Meriwether, Jake Miller, Michael Nichols, Leslie Nichols, Brent Oglesbee, Clay Palmer, Marcy Parks, Yvonne Petkus, Shawn Quilliams, Hanna Seggerman, Kathleen Slocum, Laurie Szilvagyi, Keith Thomson, David Underwood, Chase Williamson, and Mandy Wilson.
About the Juror: Denise Stewart-Sanabria was born in Massachusetts and received her BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. She has lived in Knoxville, TN since 1986. Sanabria paints both hyper-realist “portraits” of everything from produce to subversive jelly donuts. The anthropomorphic narratives often are reflections on human behavior. She is also known for her life size charcoal portrait drawings on plywood, which are cut out, mounted on wood bases, and staged in conceptual installations. Her work is included in various museums, private, and corporate collections including: The Tennessee State Museum, The Evansville Museum of Art in Indiana, The Knoxville Museum of Art, Firstbank TN, Pinnacle Banks, Omni and Opryland Hotels, Scripps Networks, Knoxville Botanical Gardens, Jewelry Television, TriStar Energy, and the corporate offices of McGhee Tyson Airport.
Dogwood Arts has a 66-year history of arts advocacy, environmental stewardship, and economic impact in East Tennessee. With the financial support of corporate sponsors, grant funding, local government investment, and private donors, they produce 20 year-round events and programs that help make Knoxville a great place to live, work and play.
www.dogwoodarts.com/regional
www.facebook.com/dogwoodartsknox
Instagram @dogwoodarts
Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com
Emporium Center: Knoxville Photo 2022
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 3-25, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, June 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music inside the Emporium by Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. 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.
The Arts & Culture Alliance presents the tenth annual Knoxville Photo juried exhibition featuring selected works from 32 artists throughout the region. The exhibition encompasses photographs depicting all subjects and genres, including streetscapes, cityscapes, landscapes, environmental portraiture, portraits, abstracts, and more. Baldwin Lee served as juror for the exhibition and viewed 340 images to select the exhibition. Baldwin Lee’s educational background includes an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he studied with Minor White and a graduate degree from the Yale School of Art where he studied with Walker Evans. Lee’s work in photography has been shown widely including venues such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His work has been recognized by the award of a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Lee teaches photography classes of all levels, spanning traditional silver-based image making through photography made by digital means.
The following artists’ works will be shown:
+ Nancy Stalls of Hopkinsville, KY
+ Alan Finch of Jacksboro, TN
+ Melinda Adams, Nicholas Bell, Jeremy L. Burke, Denise Cumming, Elena Ganusova, Jacques Gautreau, David A. Johnson, Gretchen Kaplan, Grayson Daniel Martin, Hei Park, Julie L. Rabun, Greg Schweiger, Giavonna Sukienik, Robert H. Thompson, Owen H. Weston, Rick Whitehead, Tonya Wade Wunder, and Steve Zigler of Knoxville, TN
+ Ashton Davidson, Cat Griffith-Benson, and Marianne Woodside of Maryville, TN
+ Yvonne Dalschen, Anna Rykaczewska, and Kelli L. Thompson of Oak Ridge, TN
+ Phil Savage and AngelaDawn of Powell, TN
+ Marlon Davey of Rutledge, TN
+ Amanda Long of Signal Mountain, TN
+ Jim Meldrum of Beloit, WI
Over $1,000 in cash awards will be announced at the reception at 6:00 PM.
www.knoxalliance.com/knoxville-photo
www.facebook.com/KnoxArtAndCultureAlliance
Instagram @artsandculturealliance
Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5, Sat 10-1. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com