Calendar of Events

Where: Printmaking Showcase Gallery, UTK Art and Architecture Building, second floor
Curator: Sydney Juhl, Art History Major

Byron McKeeby (1936-1984) was an American printmaker known for his lithographs. Aside from being a widely acknowledged and exhibited artist, McKeeby taught printmaking at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville from the fall of 1965 until 1984. He laid the foundations for the printmaking program at the university and his legacy lives on today.

UT School of Art: 1715 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, https://art.utk.edu/

The Tennessee Stage Company will hold auditions for the Tennessee Stage NEW PLAY FESTIVAL on Tuesday, Nov. 1st, and Wednesday, November 2, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm in the Guest House at the Mabry Hazen Historic Home at 1711 Dandridge Avenue just east of downtown.

The NEW PLAY FESTIVAL will consist of one fully staged World Premiere presentation of Amazing Graces by Lea McMahan and a staged reading of High Ground by Greg Congleton. Table readings will be announced and auditioned at a later date.

Playing dates for Amazing Graces are January 27 – Feb. 12, and High Ground will be performed as a matinee of Feb. 4.

Auditions will consist of cold readings. No appointments are necessary. For further information please contact the Tennessee Stage Company at 865-546-4280.
https://tennesseestage.com/

Ijams Nature Center will celebrate the re-opening of the north side of River Trail and a new section of the River Boardwalk on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 11 a.m. The public is invited.

Attendees will gather at the intersection of North Cove Trail and River Trail on the bluffs behind the Ijams Visitor Center. Ijams Executive Director Amber Parker and City of Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon will make short remarks. Afterward, guests will explore the new trail, including the boardwalk, to its intersection with River Landing.

River Trail is only accessible by foot and the route includes significant inclines. The total length of the walk is about one mile.

A large section of River Trail washed away during flooding in February 2019, forcing its closure. The boardwalk remained open, but could be accessed only from the opposite side of the trail.

Ijams Nature Center is a nonprofit, 318-acre educational nature center for all ages, abilities and walks of life. Ijams’ mission is to encourage stewardship of the natural world by providing an urban greenspace for people to learn about and enjoy the outdoors through engaging experiences. Located just three miles from downtown Knoxville, Ijams features 12+ miles of hiking and mixed-use trails, a public access river dock, swimming, boating, biking and more. The center offers hundreds of educational programs annually for all ages. The Ijams grounds and trails are open every day from 8 a.m. until dusk. Starting Nov. 1, 2022, the Visitor Center will switch to fall and winter hours and will be open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and Sunday, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit www.Ijams.org

Auction of vintage Quilts, quilt tops, aprons, quilt blocks, and vintage fabric spanning 100 years from 1880s to 1980. Other photos and details of the items are available here: www.smokymtnquilters.com. It is a live auction facilitated by our members and we accept cash and credit cards.

When: Tuesday, November 1, 2022.
Time: Preview and Registration – 6:30 • Auction Begins at 7:15 • No admission fee and open to the public.
Where: Messiah Lutheran Church, intersection of Papermill Drive and Kingston Pike in Knoxville.

Quilt historian, Merikay Waldvogel will be on hand to answer any questions you might have about these classic goodies. She has provided a brief description of many of the items. Merikay Waldvogel is a nationally known quilt collector, historian, and writer. Her books include Quilts of Tennessee and Soft Covers for Hard times. In 2009 she was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame for her work as a quilt historian and author. She has been a member of Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee since 1986.

Begun in 1947 by C. Kermit "Buck" Ewing, the School of Art at the University of Tennessee is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Curated by Ewing Gallery staff members, this exhibition features ephemera and artwork from the Ewing's permanent collection spotlighting important moments and historic individuals in the history of the School of Art.

Join us for a reception on Thursday, November 10 from 5-7pm.

The Ewing Gallery will close November 23 - 27 for the Thanksgiving break.
UT School of Art: 1715 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, https://art.utk.edu/

Einstein Simplified is Knoxville, Tennnessee's longest running comedy improvisational troupe. We have been entertaining Knoxville since August of 1994. We specialize in short form improv and guarantee at least 3 hours of uproarious laughter in every hour and a half show. Seven members strong we can trace our roots back to the common ancestor of homo amusus; in laymans terms we are all funny bastards. We each come from a different walk of life yet we create an amalgam of entertainment and raillery. Our shows consist of about 15 different improvisational games, selected from a list of over 100, and are driven by audience suggestions and sometimes include audience members.

As Einstein said "What has perhaps been overlooked is the irrational, the inconsistent, the droll, even the insane, which nature, inexhaustively operative, implants in an individual, seemingly for her amusement." Einstein Simplified is simply, naturally, the most amusing thing that nature could implant into society for its amusement. Don't overlook us, we are here to stay.

The troupe is currently performing at 8:15 p.m. every Tuesday at Scruffy City Hall on Market Square.

https://www.facebook.com/EinsteinSimplified
Upcoming shows: http://www.einsteinsimplified.com/index.php

SELECTIONS FROM ARROWMONT SCHOOL OF ARTS AND CRAFTS’ PERMANENT COLLECTION
OCTOBER 24, 2022 – JANUARY 9, 2023 | SANDRA J. BLAIN GALLERIES

Beginning with its founding in 1912, Arrowmont has always provided fertile grounds for growth. As the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School, Gatlinburg’s community came together to teach one another different handicraft techniques and traditions. This practice of knowledge sharing laid the foundation for the craft school that exists today. Never static, Arrowmont continues to evolve to better facilitate artistic exchange. It first developed its signature summer workshop program in 1945, which opened Arrowmont’s doors to artists and makers who resided outside Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and later creating Arrowmont’s Artists-in-Residence Program in 1991. This Artist-in-Residence Program offered early career artists with studio space, facilities, and access to the constantly shifting environment of artists, craftspeople, makers, and enthusiasts that comprises the Arrowmont community. Initially conceptualized around bringing together artists working in distinct craft categories, the Artist-in-Residence Program has recently expanded to promote multi- and interdisciplinary craft regardless of medium, thereby widening the perspectives, experiences, and creative explorations brought to Arrowmont’s campus.

The works in this exhibition highlight Arrowmont’s two distinct but interconnected goals: the promotion of individual artistic exploration and the development of community through collective, creative expression. For over a century, artists have converged in this specific place to practice, to make, to experiment, to play. Relatedly, the works on display range from donated workshop demonstrations and projects to works from professional artists who have connections to Arrowmont—past instructors, students, and staff. Arrowmont’s campus has proven to be the epicenter of a specific development of artistic exchange. Arrowmont is site-specific, a historic and cultural landmark nestled in the wooded hillside; Arrowmont is also conceptual, shaped by individual experiences and the legacies of its storied past. Diverse communities have shaped Arrowmont as Arrowmont—as site, as concept—has, in turn, shaped communities. Together, across time and medium, Arrowmont has carved its own body of principles, rules, standards, and norms, crafting past negotiations that continue in the present and will last into the future.

Curated by Kelli Fisher, the 2022-23 Kenneth R. Trapp Craft Assistant/Curatorial Fellow.

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

OCTOBER 24 – DECEMBER 16, 2022 | GEOFFREY A. WOLPERT GALLERY

Whether gentle or destructive, wind has the power to create change. Windsocks, whirligigs, and weathervanes were once vital sources of information, measuring wind direction and speed. Now these formerly functional objects accumulate in antique malls and roadside souvenir shops, their utility relinquished for kitsch and nostalgic value. While these adornments are steeped in history and collective meaning, they are also outward expressions of an individual’s relationship to our past. Domestic scenes, normally relegated to interior spaces, are translated through weatherproof materials like steel and wood and projected outwards into public viewing spaces. The front yard becomes a gallery where the nuances of regional and personal identity are expressed through layers of symbols.

In Prevailing Winds, Kaleena Stasiak continues her exploration into the performative reproduction of formerly functional objects as a method for interpreting history and re-envisioning the future. In a moment of disillusionment with institutional knowledge, by hearkening back to human rituals of survival, these weather predictors point to the cyclical nature of time, and offer hope for the future. For Stasiak, making becomes an act of historical role playing as she invokes the generations of makers who came before her, and translates these objects for a contemporary art context.

Kaleena Stasiak is an interdisciplinary artist who uses an assortment of haptic media to explore collective mythmaking, and its relevance to the present day. Digging through a lexicon of symbols and imagery evoking American colonial times, folk art, and quilts, she reframes the dominant ideologies surrounding early history and domestic labor. Her graphic cyphers denote the power and breadth of traditional women’s work, functional handicraft, and the impulse to create. Decoration and ornamentation become expressions of desire, signifiers of identity, and autobiographical documentation of lives omitted from text-based historical narratives and artistic discourse. Originally from Ontario, Canada, Stasiak holds a BFA in Printmaking from the Ontario College of Art and Design and an MFA in Printmaking & Book Arts from the University of Georgia. Recent shows include Tournament of Lies at Wassaic Project in Wassaic, NY, Ancient Art Objects at Whitespace in Atlanta, GA, and Identity Measures at the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans, LA. In 2017 Stasiak founded the South East Women Wrestlers, a performance troupe based in Athens, GA, that uses the spectacle of wrestling to reframe stereotypes and representations of femininity. She currently teaches Printmaking & Foundations at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia.

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

A solo exhibition of works in a variety of media by Mark Wade of Houston, TX

Opening reception and celebration of the renovated and renamed gallery: Mon Oct 24, 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

Sheri Fleck Rieth and Tom Lee: Swansong, an exhibition of prints and sculpture

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

We are excited to announce our first Guest Artist Show featuring Knoxville based artist Suzanne Jack. We offered a guest artist show to two winners selected from the annual TN Artist Association Annual Show. In addition to our award, one of her pieces earned "Best in Show"! Her art is worth seeing (and owning)!

Please join us for the Show Opening Thursday, Oct. 20 from 5 - 7pm.

Pivot Point Gallery, 15 Emory Place, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-248-0050, www.pivotpointgallery.com

Four millennials discover who they really are when catapulted into whimsical chaos by a strange, other-worldly spec of light. An energetic, alternative rom-com adventure! For mature audiences.

Hannah Benitez’ “Adaptive Radiation” will run in the Clarence Brown Theatre’s Lab Theatre. For tickets: https://clarencebrowntheatre.com/plays/adaptive-radiation/

Information on theatre safety protocols are available here: https://clarencebrowntheatre.com/faq/

Behind the Scenes Sunday will take place following the October 23rd matinee. A Talk Back will take place Sunday, October 30th following the matinee. The Open Captioned performance is Sunday, October 6th at 2:00 pm.

Clarence Brown Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information/tickets: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com