Calendar of Events

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from November 4-26, 2022. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, November 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features live music inside the Emporium by Shayla McDaniel. 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.

Within the last year, I took up photography as a hobby to heal. I found the more I embraced life's tumultuous events and opened myself up in gratitude to the world around me, the more the world revealed much for which to be grateful. I began noticing beauty in the simplest things, and even envisioned in my mind's eye the potential for beauty to exist in the ordinary... so I snapped the picture and then created what I envisioned in my mind. I am not a professional or seasoned artist by any means, but in a season of growth, I am finding myself creating what feels like art. I am pleased to present photographs of images from around Virginia, Maryland, and Tennessee, all captured using an iPhone camera.

Jennifer Henszey was born and raised in Cambridge on Maryland's Eastern Shore. After graduating high school, she attended Virginia Tech where she received her commission as an officer in the United States Navy. She served as a naval Surface Warfare Officer from 2008 to 2021. She graduated from law school at the University of Tennessee in 2018 and recently returned to the University of Tennessee in 2021 to pursue a Masters in Social Work. She proudly claims Knoxville as her permanent home where she enjoys the people, music, and culture, all of which also inspire her to create.

Instagram @images_from_around

Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Hours: M-F 9-5 and Sat 10-1. CLOSED WED-FRI NOV 23-25, RE-OPENING SAT NOV 26. Info: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

Including work by Scott Duce, Brad Aldridge, Margaret Scanlan, Cheryl Warrick, Stephen Bach, Kris Rehring, and others

Bennett, 5308 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-Sa 10-5:30. Information: 865-584-6791, https://bennetthome.com/

Opening Reception: October 7, 2022 / 5-8PM
And Friday, November 4th from 5-8PM

Join us this Friday for the opening reception of 'Spectacle: A Study of Modern American Society' by Vincent Drake!

About the Exhibition: “I'm inspired by the absurdity of modern American society; The irrational ideals we're convinced to accept, the relentless marketing and propaganda, the tribalism, disgust, perverted romanticism and violence that has become characteristic of us. In my art I'm unconcerned with beauty or idealization. I'm interested in investigating our culture's influence on our identities and the confusion, panic, and suffering that results." - Vincent Drake
• Regular Gallery Hours: M-F 10AM-5PM

Vincent Drake was born in 1976 in Udon Thani, Thailand to a Thai mother and American father and spent his formative years in a working-class neighborhood in southeast Los Angeles. He attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and the San Francisco Art Institute where he studied Fine Art Painting. His work has been exhibited throughout the United State and Canada. He currently finds himself home in Knoxville, Tennessee. See http://vincentdrake.com/ for works by the artist.

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

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/

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

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

The family of John F. Richardson has generously donated 31 paintings to the Clayton Center for the Arts and Maryville College. Sales of the artwork will benefit the CCA and MC Fine Arts Division,

John Richardson had a long career painting landscapes in many styles and mediums and in many places from Tennessee to Arizona to Washington State. He lived in Tennessee and Illinois. He studied at Vanderbilt University, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Chicago. Exhibition venues included the Pennsylvania Academy, Art Institute of Chicago and Vanderbilt University. Richardson taught at Watkins Institute in Nashville from 1938 to 1942 and from 1949 to 1969 at the University of Illinois in Chicago Circle. Richardson and wife Margaret, moved to Nashville and became active in the local art scene. His paintings have a very distinctive personal style, strongly representing elements of mid to late 20th Century artistic trends and movements.

Paintings may be viewed in the DENSO and La Dolce Vita Galleries Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm and during events.

Clayton Center for the Arts, 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information/tickets: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church - Free and open to the public
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

Reception Friday, October 14, 6:00 to 7:30 pm.
Artists’ talks at 6:30 pm.

Gallery hours: 9:30-4:30 Monday through Thursday and 9:00-1:00 Sunday

In 1963 a group of Knoxville artists was invited by the late Kermit (Buck) Ewing, Head of the University of TN Art Department, to participate in an exhibition of watercolor paintings at the University’s McClung Museum. During the opening reception Mr. Ewing noted the Knoxville area did not have an organization for artists to share the common interest of painting in aqueous media. He suggested that those artists exhibiting in the McClung show could be the nucleus for such an association. Thus, was the formation of the Knoxville Watercolor Society with Laura Bagwell serving as the first President.

The purpose of this organization is to educate the members as well as the community to the understanding of watercolor as a significant art form. Active membership is juried by the members and consists of Knoxville area artists who are currently active in the serious pursuit of aqueous painting. Annually, the organization provides a scholarship for the University of Tennessee student who is majoring in watercolor painting, donates to the University Ewing Gallery and maintains a membership in the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville. Additionally, grants have been made to the Arts Council of Greater Knoxville, the Knoxville Museum of Art, The Tennessee Resource Center, The Tennessee Art Association High School Scholarship Program.

http://www.knxvillewatercolorsociety.com/