Calendar of Events
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Professional Photographers of East Tennessee: Photo Expo
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
The Professional Photographers of East Tennessee is exhibiting fine art photography at The Gallery in Rarity Bay. The Photo Expo features the works of some of East Tennessee’s best known fine art photographers and a few lesser known emerging photo artists. The Expo includes the work 18 different photographers and over 50 fine art prints. The theme, “Show Us Your Best” has resulted in an exhibit that includes a wide range of photographic styles, image sizes and topics.
The Photo Expo opened November 4 and will continue until January 7, 2023. The Artists’ Reception takes place is on December 4 from 2 PM to 4 PM. The reception is free and open to the public.
The Gallery in Rarity Bay is located in the Community Activity Center (CAC) in Rarity Bay . The CAC is the 2nd building on the right as you drive into Rarity Bay (before you reach the Gate). The Address for Rarity Bay is 150 Rarity Bay Blvd., Vonore, TN 37885.
Take 1-75 south or Route 11 south to Route 72 and turn left onto Route 72. Continue on Route 72 past the Tellico Village sign. A couple miles past the Tellico Village sign, on your left will be the Rarity Bay entrance. Turn left onto Rarity Bay Blvd.
Tennessee Artists Association: Exhibition at Rose Center
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
The Tennessee Artists Association will have an all-members show at the Rose Center for the Arts in Morristown. Over 30 members of the Tennessee Artists Association will have works on exhibit.
An opening reception will be held on Friday, November 4th, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The wine and hors d’oeuvres reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.
The Rose Center for the Arts is located at 442 W Second North St., Morristown, TN., and is maintained by the Rose Council for the Arts. It is a non-profit organization and is a Designated Agency of the Tennessee Arts Commission. Built in 1892, the Late Victorian style building was used as a school until 1975. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
More on the Tennessee Artist’s Association can be found on the web at https://tnartists.org, on Instagram at @tn_artists, and on Facebook at TNArtistsAssociation.
The Rose Center, 442 West Second North St, Morristown, TN, 37814. Hours: M-F 9-5. Information: 423-581-4330, www.rosecenter.org
RED Gallery: Horror Vacui by Ben Fox McCord
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Join us this First Friday as @benfoxmccord presents, Horror Vacui. This term from Latin literally translates to “fear of empty spaces.” It is used to describe artworks in which the entire surface is covered in detailed imagery. This exhibit features works made in a similar spirit.
Artist+Illustrator: www.benfoxmccord.com
RED Gallery, 130 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-524-0146 or https://www.facebook.com/REDgalleryKNOX/
UT Downtown Gallery: Figures: Amy Pleasant + Katarina Riesing
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
Opening: Friday, November 4, 5-9pm
Reception: Friday, December 2, 5-9pm
Figures is a two-person exhibition of work by Birmingham-based artist, Amy Pleasant, and Alfred University associate professor, Katarina Riesing. Using repetition and hard-edged shapes in paint and clay, Pleasant meditates on fragmented silhouettes of the human form. In contrast, Riesing illustrates the patterns of textiles over the contours of the human body, marks on skin left by clothing or people, and skin’s natural blemishes with dye and embroidery.
The exhibition will run from November 4 - December 15, 2022. The UT Downtown Gallery will close November 24 + 25 for Thanksgiving.
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
UT School of Art: Byron McKeeby’s Legacy: Prints by his Students
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
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/
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts: Collaborative New Canons
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Fine Crafts
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
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts: Prevailing Winds: Kaleena Stasiak
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
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
Pivot Point Gallery: Suzanne Jack
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
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
Knoxville Classical Guitar: Open Ensembles
Category: Free event and Music
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
WDVX: Blue Plate Special & The Big Plate
Category: Free event, Kids, family and Music
No BPS will occur Jan 25-29 - please come back Feb 1 for more great music!
The WDVX Blue Plate Special® is a live performance radio show held at noon, with your host Red Hickey, Monday through Thursday at the Knoxville Visitor Center. On Fridays WDVX takes the Blue Plate Special to Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria for “The Big Plate”, then back to the Visitor Center on Saturday with your host Evie Andrus.
It’s always free to join in, so please don’t be shy. Make yourself at home as part of the WDVX family. From blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, folk to funk, rockabilly to hillbilly, local to international, it all part of the live music experience on the WDVX Blue Plate Special. You’re welcome to bring your lunch.
Just like at your favorite meat n’ three, the WDVX Blue Plate Special® is served up piping hot. This fresh and free daily helping of live music during the lunchtime hour that features performers from all over the world and right here in Knoxville has put WDVX on the map as East Tennessee’s Own community supported radio.
Previous performing artists include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Old Crowe Medicine Show, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Nickel Creek, Red Stick Ramblers, Rodney Crowell, String Cheese Incident, The Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien, Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, Claire Lynch Band, Brett Dennen, Tommy Emmanuel, Uncle Earl, The Infamous Stringdusters, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne, John Oats, Mary Gauthier, Darrell Scott, and many many more! There’s plenty of great music to go around! http://wdvx.com/program/blue-plate-special/
Free 2-hour visitor parking located next door to the Knoxville Visitor Center. One Vision Plaza, 301 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-544-1029, http://www.wdvx.com
Central Filling Station
Category: Culinary arts, food and Kids, family
Central Filling Station is Tennessee's first full-service food truck park! We are a family-friendly, dog-friendly neighborhood hangout featuring a daily rotation of the city’s best food trucks and craft beverages. Welcome to Knoxville’s most unique outdoor dining experience!
Wednesday & Thursday 5-9p
Friday & Saturday 11a-10p
Sunday 11a-9p
900 N. Central Street | Knoxville, TN
https://www.knoxfoodpark.com/
https://www.facebook.com/knoxfoodpark/
Postmark LaFollette: Homemade ArtShine Arts & Crafts Co-Op
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
HOURS: MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAYS, 10 A.M. TO 2 P.M.
All local handmade handcrafted goods from local artisans! The goods include wood products, knitted and crocheted items, handmade musical instruments, purses and totes, jewelry, rag rugs, painted signs and original works of art, etc. We have converted the former Postmasters Office to become our Shop.
Postmark LaFollette is a collaborative creative place making project to establish and maintain and Arts, Culture and History Center within an historic structure in order to strengthen social and economic opportunities for the public through the arts: https://postmarklafollette.weebly.com/
Our Postmark LaFollette, Homemade ArtShine Arts & Crafts Co-Op is in our Center at 119 S. Tennessee Avenue, LaFollette, TN. https://www.facebook.com/PostmarkLaFollette