Calendar of Events

The Authors Guild of Tennessee (AGT) will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, September 1, 2022 at 11:00 am at the Faith Lutheran Church in Farragut. Social time and book exchange begins at 10:30. Published authors are invited to attend. AGT is now accepting applications for associate membership from authors who have written a book but are not yet published. Serious authors only. In the event of inclement weather, check the AGT Website for updates and information: www.authorsguildoftn.org

Flying insects, even butterflies, are on the decline around the world. You can help them rally by planting a native floral buffet. Join local naturalist, Stephen Lyn Bales, as we learn what you can do to help them survive and flourish at the UT Arboretum Society’s First Thursday Nature Supper Club, “Native Plants for a Pollinator Garden,” via Zoom on Thursday, September 1 at 7 p.m. EDT.

You provide your own stay-at-home supper, and we provide the nature as Stephen Lyn will entertain and teach us via Zoom as we learn how cardinal flower, coneflower, black-eyed Susans, bee balm and many more are not only beautiful, but they are also vital to native butterflies. Many of these plants are also host plants for caterpillars that birds rely on to feed their nestlings.
The program is free, but registration is required to receive your link. Register at www.utarboretumsociety.org. This program will be recorded, and closed captioning is available. Please note this program is scheduled on Eastern time. Please contact UT Arboretum Education Coordinator, Michelle Campanis, at mcampani@utk.edu with any questions or registration issues.

To contact Stephen Lyn Bales or buy one of his UT Press books, email him at hellostephenlyn@gmail.com

We have new classes and workshops posted for the month of August leading into September. Be sure to check out all that we have to offer this month. Summertime darkroom trips are a great way to beat the heat!

August 31st Class (Learning Series - The Camera) 6PM-8PM - The Camera will teach you all about analog shooting. Topics covered will be: selecting a camera, camera functions, operating in that mysterious "Manual" mode, metering your subject, lens selection, and more.

September 6th Class (Learning Series - The Negative) 6PM-8PM - The Negative will take you inside The Darkroom where you will learn to load and process your film.

September 7th Class (Learning Series - The Print) 6PM-8PM - The Print will take you inside The Darkroom where you will learn the basics of enlarger use, burning and dodging and developing finished prints. For this class, you must bring your developed film and B&W photo paper. We suggest buying film and paper locally from F32 near West Town Mall.

September 15th Workshop (Cyanotype) 6PM-8PM - In this workshop, you will learn to make a unique one-of-a-kind handmade print by coating various papers with Cyanotype chemicals and developing them in the sun. Bring found objects, plant materials or print digital negatives on acetate. Paper will be provided for the workshop, but feel free to bring your own if you'd like to experiment. You'll need to register for this class at least 2-days in advance so we can get the materials ready for you to use!

September 23rd Workshop (Lumen Printing) 6PM-8PM - Lumen printing is an early photographic process developed in the 19th century. Using sunlight as developer and (mostly) organic objects as subjects, a lumen print makes a creative impression of our physical world. Come learn the fun Lumen process and discover how to apply it in your design and creative process. You will be making prints within minutes in this exciting workshop as you learn to expose and develop your works.

http://www.theknoxvillecommunitydarkroom.org/workshops

A solo exhibition of works in a variety of media by C-N alum and former C-N Adjunct Instructor of Art

Opening reception and celebration of the renovated and renamed gallery: Tue Aug 30, 3-5 PM

The Michael Alvis Art Gallery (formerly known as the Omega Gallery) at Carson-Newman University, Warren Art Building, corner of Branner & Ken Sparks Way, Jefferson City, TN 37760. Gallery hours: M-F 8-4. Information: 865-471-4985, www.cn.edu

Sisavanh Phouthavong Houghton will be displaying her paintings and installation work

Sisavanh Phouthavong Houghton is a Lao American mixed media visual artist born in Vientiane, Laos. Her artworks have been exhibited nationally at venues including Gadsden Museum of Art, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Asian Arts Initiative, Hunter Museum of American Art, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Huntsville Museum of Art, The Reece Museum, and upcoming exhibitions at Knoxville Museum of Art. As a refugee and immigrant from the post-Vietnam War era, these experiences are the driving force behind her body of work. Her work has been featured in The New Art Examiner, The Wall Street International, Houston Voyager, ShoutoutHTX, Click_Bait, Create Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, The Tennessean, The Pinch Journal Publication, Voices of America, and The Next Door Neighbor. She has been a guest on Art Fight Podcast, The Art of Outreach, and Drawing South. Permanent collections include Hunter Museum of American Art, American Embassy, Paramaribo, Suriname; Legacies of War Office, Washington, D.C.; Tennessee State Museum; and Pinnacle Bank Headquarter, Nashville, TN. Houghton earned her BFA from the University of Kansas and MFA at Southern Illinois University of Carbondale, IL. She was nominated for the Joan Mitchell Foundation Arts Award 2020, a 2019 Artfields' Painting Award, and the 2017 Tennessee Arts Individual Artist Fellowship recipient. Sisavanh lives and works at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and a Professor of Painting at Middle Tennessee State University. Houghton has won a MTSU’s Teacher of the Year Award and her research has been funded numerous times by the Tennessee Arts Commission and the generous support of MTSU grants. She has lead community art projects with non-profit organizations such as SEAD (South East Asian Diaspora), Legacies of War, The Frist Art Museum, Oasis Center, and CRIT, Center for Refugees+Immigrants of Tennessee. She is represented by Tinney Contemporary gallery in Nashville, and more information can be found on her website: https://www.sisavanhphouthavong.com.

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Bagwell Center Gallery hours: M-F 9-5. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

August 26–December 11, 2022

For the first time in its exhibition history, the McClung Museum is celebrating the deeply rooted traditions and colorful spirit of the Day of the Dead. The Spirit of Día de los Muertos (The Spirit of Day of the Dead) is the museum's first community collaboration exhibit created with guidance from Latino/a/x community members. The exhibition will open to the public on August 26 and be on view through December 11, 2022.

With displays in Spanish and English, The Spirit of Día de los Muertos highlights the rich history of the Mexican celebration that remembers loved ones passed. The exhibition opens with a traditional ofrenda (or altar) installation displaying an array of materials dedicated to deceased friends or family members. Familiar sights include colorful cempazúchitl (marigolds), ofrendas (altars) with food offerings, papel picados (decorative banners), and smartly dressed calaveras (skeletons).

https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/2022/08/03/mcclung-museum-collaborates-with-community-to-present-fall-2022-exhibition-celebrating-day-of-the-dead/

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

The artistry of quilting is the focus of the fall exhibit at the Catron Art Gallery. The gallery is located inside the R. Jack Fishman Library on the Walters State Morristown Campus.

“The Modern Bee” celebrates the quilts of Emily Doane, Melissa Everett and Michelle Bolt. The quilts were created during a decade of the trio’s friendship, challenge and artistic growth. The artists take a modern approach to the historically significant quilting bee, social gatherings of quilters dating back to the 1800s.

“Each quilt in this room has its own story, and each quilt’s stitches hold grief, rage, heartache, compassion, joy, and beauty in tension,” the artists said in a written statement. “Through their creation, we three women have grown closer over a decade of deep friendship shared creating quilts and honing our artistic perspectives. The techniques used to design and create the quilts are timeless, but the designs are distinctly modern, influenced by improvisation, careful use of negative space, solid colors, and bold graphic statements.”

Artists will be on campus to discuss their work during an artist talk at 1 p.m. Oct. 5 in the Catron Gallery.

The Catron Gallery is open during the library’s regular hours, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Admission is free.

Walters State Community College, 500 South Davy Crockett Parkway Morristown, TN 37813
423-585-2600 or https://www.ws.edu/news/current/art-article.aspx?story=21975

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

Come play music with us on August 18th! If you play guitar or ukulele, consider joining the fun! Participation in the KCG ensemble is open to the public, and all skill levels are welcome. The Knoxville Classical Guitar Ensemble will meet weekly at 7 PM at the Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Road, in Knoxville.

For more information, contact Andy LeGrand at info@knoxvilleclassicalguitar.com

Information: 865-686-2067, https://knoxvilleclassicalguitar.com

From Then to Now will open at 2pm on Wednesday, August 17. The Ewing Gallery will operate under Summer hours (M-F 10am - 5pm) until Wednesday, August 24. Then we will resume full operating hours. (M-F 10am - 5pm, TR 10am - 7:30pm, and Sundays 1-4pm)

FROM THEN TO NOW is a retrospective that includes work from the past twenty plus years as well as present explorations. All these works utilize change as a thematic thread. The most recent work is influenced by frequent travel where rich and varied observations of the natural world are recorded. The oldest works consist of clay sculptures that are weathered, narrative and psychological, while the present work. especially the photographs, looks at the idea of finding beauty in the deciduous, the dying, the changing.

Diane Solomon Kempler was a professor at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia where she taught ceramic sculpture for many years. She has been a practicing artist for over thirty years, has had major exhibitions and received many awards. She has also created public art works in the United States and Bosnia. Her ceramic work focuses on the ideas of transition and transformation in the natural world as well as in humans. She has traveled extensively to such places as Mali, Turkey, Indonesia, Peru, and Nepal. Her travels to Asia, especially Burma and India, allowed her to pursue one of her research interests, observing hand building pottery techniques that exist in rural villages. She was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholar grant to pursue this research in India and created several films from this research. She has participated in ceramic studio residencies in Hungary, France, India, and Denmark where she has spent time developing her ceramic and photography work.

Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

GEOFFREY A. WOLPERT GALLERY

2022-2023 Kenneth R. Trapp Craft Assistant/Curatorial Intern Kelli Fisher explores the early history of Arrowcraft, an important facet of Gatlinburg’s history and the history of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Building on the knowledge of Arrowmont friend Frances Fox, historian and past apprentice to the Master Weaver for Arrowcraft, she has curated materials from Arrowmont’s collection and archives. Kelli will also be presenting her research at the Tennessee State Museum’s Lunch and Learn program, telling the stories of some notable Appalachian women who worked and shaped Arrowcraft and, in turn, Arrowmont as it exists today.

Opened in 1926, the Arrowcraft Shop continued the project established by the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School of meeting the needs of those who lived in the Smoky Mountains. The shop also allowed Appalachian makers the opportunity to make and sell their crafts for more equitable prices than they could find on their own. Their wares – including handmade baskets, coverlets, and chairs – were incredibly popular, in part due to the revival of the American Arts and Crafts movement, which prized high-quality workmanship.

While Arrowcraft employed diverse craft makers, its main focus was weaving. Partially, this decision had to do with storage – only so many baskets and chairs could be stored in the Arrowcraft shop, while weavings of different sizes and complexities (and varying prices) could be more economically stored. Weaving also allowed for both the designer and the weaver to earn credit, as is seen in the small selection of textiles on view in this gallery. Gatlinburg’s weaving women were highly skilled, and between 1935 and 1945 242 different women wove for Arrowcraft. Within Arrowmont’s permanent collection is a sizeable collection of coverlets, hand towels, window tapestries, aprons, handbags, wallets, purses, coats, and more, collected from the early days of Arrowcraft and lasting until its dissolution in the 1990s. Arrowcraft’s success came from the high quality of the items, as Pi Beta Phi alumnae and tourists for the national park sought to buy from the accomplished women makers.

The success of Arrowcraft’s weaving program encouraged the Pi Beta Phis to expand their craft classes, which in turn led to Arrowmont’s workshops that celebrate craft’s histories, its present, and its many futures. Arrowcraft was instrumental in making both Arrowmont and Gatlinburg the spaces they are today.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, https://www.arrowmont.org

Free and open to the public
Reception Friday, August 19, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Artists’ talks at 6:30 pm.
Gallery hours: 10-3, Monday and 10-4, Tuesday through Thursday

Terri Swaggerty began a career in Art at Expo 82 as a sidewalk portrait artist. She then became a self-employed photo retouch artist, specializing in photo restoration and photo enhancement utilizing airbrush, pencil and dye work, and oils for hand coloring. As a member of the Tennessee Professional Photographers association, she received many First-Place awards in photo retouching and received the Artisan Degree in 1997. She also received First Place awards in national PPA competition. Beginning in 1998 she transitioned to a photography career. In 1999, competing as a photographer, she received TPPA First Place honors in Portrait and received First Place in Wedding the following year. Her wedding photography business, Terri Swaggerty Portraiture, flourished in Knoxville for 15 years. Terri now works part time for Little Log Wedding Chapel in Gatlinburg. Terri began taking oil painting workshops in 2014. and is now a member of the Art Market Gallery in both photography and painting. She has previously shown at TVUUC, Tomato Head, Artemis Gallery in Apalachicola Florida, Post Modern Spirits, and Crafty Bastard Brewery.

For me the process of creating Art, whether through a lens or with a paint brush, is where soul meets body. I am always looking for and discovering Art in the changing environments of daily life. Finding it is so exciting! ~ Terri Swaggerty


Kenneth M. Moffett is retired from a career in architecture, having been design director at the Knoxville/Nashville firm Bullock Smith Architecture and Planning since joining in the formation of the firm in 1984. The firm has received numerous design awards with projects nationwide and abroad. Moffett has also worked as an artist throughout his life. His works in watercolor and acrylics on canvas have been widely exhibited, including at TVUUC. In recent years he has become involved in writing about architecture and urbanism, having a book on foundational issues published in 2017 with two further books published earlier this year by ORO Editions, publishers of architecture, art, and design. As an amateur musician he is a long-standing member of the Tennessee Wind Symphony and a member of the Knoxville Music Study Club. Moffett is presently co-chair of the TVUUC Art Gallery Committee.

These works are selected from the many I produced during a year of travel and study abroad in 1969-’70, under the auspices of the Lloyd Warren Fellowship (“Paris Prize”). Works on paper in pencil, ink, or watercolor, they represent varied approaches to capturing qualities of the architectural, urbanistic, or cultural subject matter, ranging from realistic rendition to mannered sketch techniques. These and others were produced “en plein air” in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Norway, and England, and they initiated a long tradition of sketching on trips abroad. Unearthed from the flat files, this is their first gallery showing. Some of the works in Venice are featured in my new book Urban Lessons of the Venetian Squares.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org