Calendar of Events

Rala is pleased to present local artist Annie Rochelle as our featured artist for the months of February and March! Her show "People, Plants, and Other Myths" continues her exploration of the intersection of culture and the environment. Please join us for the show opening on Friday, February 3rd from 6 to 8pm.

Annie Rochelle is a practicing artist working and living in her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Her artistic interests are divided: between draftsmanship and experimental abstraction; the challenging marriage of Old Masters’ techniques and traditional subject matter with contemporary aesthetics and social sensibilities. Her new interest in botanical forms have opened a new investigation into the relationships among human, artificial, and natural aesthetics. Annie Rochelle is also a two-time 1st place winner of Rala's Annual Dolly Art Contest.

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

Bob Stevens is the Art Guild’s Featured Artist for February 2023, and will be honored at the Fun and Wine Friday Reception on Friday, February 3 from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at the Plateau Creative Arts Center. The membership special exhibit for February is “Books We Love.” The public is invited to come to this free event and enjoy a glass of wine or non-alcoholic beverage, meet Bob and other artists, and view a wonderful variety of artwork. Light refreshments will also be served.

Originally from Illinois, Bob lived and worked in Atlanta, Georgia as an auditor, and later he went into computer programing and systems design. After retirement, Bob and his wife moved to Sparta, Tennessee to be closer to family. Bob always enjoyed doodling during meetings and his habit developed into drawing. After moving to Tennessee, he was drawing in a waiting room where he met artist, Eric Buechel. Eric invited him to one of his painting classes, and Bob has been painting ever since. Bob’s artwork features a wide variety of painting styles and subject matter, ranging from portraits to abstracts, still lifes to landscapes. He enjoys painting with acrylic, oils, air brush, glass and ink. Bob states, “I just like to put paint on stuff. Canvas, wood, glass, saw blades, ... My wife says I'm like the old lady who puts the hot sauce on everything.”

The artwork of Bob Stevens will be on display along with the members’ gallery artwork exhibit from February 3 through March 2. The Arts Center is open to the public Monday through Saturday during our winter hours which are from 10:00-2:00. All artwork in the gallery and in the Endless Possibilities Shop is available for purchase.

Art Guild at Fairfield Glade at the Plateau Creative Arts Center, 451 Lakeview Drive, Fairfield Glade, TN 38558. Information: 931-707-7249, www.artguildfairfieldglade.net

Gallery Exhibition

Mud: A Photographic Exhibition of Life in the Secret City, is on display through February 28 in the Imagination Gallery. This exhibition has been provided for display by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
During WWII, what we know today as Oak Ridge was a quickly built “secret” government town of 70,000 workers. This secret city was blanketed in a thick layer of mud, something that all residents, regardless of their occupation, had to deal with. Most of the photographs in this exhibition were taken by James Edward “Ed” Westcott, a renowned photographer who worked for the U.S. government in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. The Children’s Museum has added several special Gallery activities for Mud including the Mud Hunt Activity Guide, which will help young visitors take a closer look at the photos, and a voting station so visitors can vote for their favorite Mud photo.

Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 461 West Outer Drive, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: T-Sat 10-4, Sun 1-4. Information: 865-482-1074, www.childrensmuseumofoakridge.org

Pablo Picasso is credited with saying, “Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” That’s not a problem for Sevier County, whose residents for generations have been renowned artists and craftspeople. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts invites the community to celebrate Sevier County artists of all ages in the 21st Sevier County Biennial Juried Exhibition and 2023 Sevier County Youth Exhibition Reception, February 17, 2023, 5:30 – 8:30 pm, free and open to the public.

The Sevier County Biennial is a juried, mixed-media art exhibition presented by Arrowmont to recognize and foster artists in the rich region of Sevier County. Guest juror Kreneshia Whiteside-McGee chose from 178 works delivered by 78 artists, 29 of whom were first-time submitters. The exhibition is on view in Arrowmont’s Sandra J. Blain Galleries in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, January 31 through March 3, 2023.

For the first time, the Sevier County Biennial Juried Exhibition includes a companion exhibit: the 2023 Sevier County Youth Exhibition, showcasing work created by young Sevier County artists, ages 5 – 18. Arrowmont instructor and director of Knoxville Arts & Fine Crafts Center, Kelly Sullivan, is the awards juror for the Youth Exhibition. Awards will be presented to artists in both exhibits during the February 17, 2023 reception.

www.arrowmont.org /21st-sevier-county-biennial-juried-exhibition

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

JANUARY 30 – MARCH 3, 2023 | RECEPTION: FEBRUARY 17, 2023, 5:30 – 8:30 PM
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts invites artists 18 and older living or working in Sevier County, TN to submit works for consideration for the 21st Sevier County Juried Biennial. The biennial is a juried, mixed-media art exhibition presented by Arrowmont to recognize and foster artists in the rich region of Sevier County, who are the bedrock of the economy and foundation of our community.

JUROR: KRENESHIA WHITESIDE MCGEE, AKA KREN THE CURATOR
Kreneshia Whiteside-McGee, a Tennessee native, began curating in 2015 as a university senior. She served as chief curator at the Association for Visual Arts and works with numerous artists, galleries, and museums advocating for the arts and fostering culture in communities. Her portfolio includes exhibition development, creative direction/consultation, and art handling throughout the U.S. and abroad.

https://www.arrowmont.org/visit/events/21st-sevier-county-biennial-juried-exhibition/

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

Opening reception will be Sunday, January 29th from 2—4 PM with a gallery talk at 1:30 PM.

Women’s Work series will celebrate sunlight, moonbeams, and light of all types as well as new ideas, truths, and perhaps epiphanies! Light takes many forms and we are asking women in our region to interpret the phrase, “ I see the light!” in a new or well loved piece.

At Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

Tri-Star Arts is pleased to announce the artist roster, curators, and highlight weekend dates for the inaugural Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art: RE-PAIR, opening January 27, 2023 and on view through May 7, 2023. The recent changes and movements in the world inform our vision and the galvanizing spirit that centers on the rich history of the arts in Tennessee as a means to engage excellence in contemporary art.

Visual art offers a tool towards a common language fostering dialogue across communities, around the state, the country and internationally. The Tennessee Triennial serves as an experience to help us process this moment and propel us forward. It is a geographically fluid conversation that engages people of all ages and backgrounds.

The Tennessee Triennial has chosen a statewide model that is set apart and unprecedented. Curators from institutions in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga have been invited to respond to the theme of RE-PAIR, authored by Consulting Curator, Dr. María Magdalena Campos-Pons. This horizontal approach allows for each curator to be active in selecting participating artists. The Tennessee Triennial is a collective endeavor that emphasizes Tennessee’s contemporary art community while including national and international perspectives.

The participating venues along with their curators and artists may be found at https://www.tennesseetriennial.org/

KNOXVILLE
Big Ears Festival (Curator: Rachel Milford)
Lonnie Holley
Knoxville Museum of Art (Curators: Kelsie Conley and Stephen Wicks)
Willie Cole
Katie Hargrave & Meredith Laura Lynn
Bessie Harvey
Lonnie Holley
Kahlil Robert Irving
Suzanne Jackson
Mary Laube
Annabeth Marks
Rosemary Mayer
Althea Murphy-Price
Betye Saar
Faith Wilding
Tri-Star Arts (Curator: Brian R. Jobe)
Kenturah Davis
Rubens Ghenov
Hank Willis Thomas

The inaugural Tennessee Triennial is a unified multi-site, multi-city exhibition that promotes contemporary visual art as a tool to foster constructive dialogue across communities, the state, the country, and internationally. The 2023 theme and core concept of the inaugural Tennessee Triennial is “RE-PAIR,” set forth by Consulting Curator María Magdalena Campos-Pons as the guiding curatorial concept for all exhibiting venues participating in the Tennessee Triennial.

Responding to the Triennial RE-PAIR theme about art designed “To heal, suture, and recompose fractured bodies”, “re-pair, patch, rebuild spirits, bodies, cities, political institutions, economic relationships,” the Knoxville Museum of Art presents works emphasizing the transformative power of art to propose new solutions to recent global discord.

The KMA’s Triennial presentation features a thought-provoking selection of objects created by a diverse, intergenerational slate of 13 international artists from across the U.S.: Willie Cole, Bessie Harvey, Lonnie Holley, Katie Hargrave & Meredith Laura Lynn, Kahlil Robert Irving, Suzanne Jackson, Mary Laube, Annabeth Marks, Rosemary Mayer, Althea Murphy-Price, Betye Saar, and Faith Wilding.

The exhibited works address a broad range of conceptual concerns ranging from the intersection of the personal and the political, to environmental, cultural, and spiritual. They express artists’ deep interest in material as a means of interpreting and amplifying these concerns. They are touched and pressed, deconstructed, constructed and made anew. They embody histories that sensitively embrace contradiction and complication, and that challenge diverse audiences to look both forward and backwards towards “new sites of encounters with yet undefined edges, borders and territories” in search of RE-PAIR.

A major statewide contemporary art event organized by Tri-Star Arts. Consulting Curator: María Magdalena Campos-Pons.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tu-Sa 10-5, Su 1-5. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

Catron Gallery, R. Jack Fishman Library
Jason Brown is an associate professor of Art at the University of TN, Knoxville. His work explores the impact that extractive industries such as mining, oil and gas have on the ecosystems and watersheds of Appalachian landscapes. Coal mining and mountaintop removal are especially compelling subjects for his sculptures and installations, which challenge viewers to engage in a civic dialogue about individuality, community and place.

Walters State Community College, 500 S. Davy Crockett, Morristown
www.ws.edu

The McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture is proud to announce the special exhibition, The Sculpture of William Edmondson: Tombstones, Garden Ornaments and Stonework, in partnership with Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. The exhibition is sponsored by the University of Tennessee Division of Diversity and Engagement and will run from January 13 to May 14, 2023.

The exhibition reexamines and recontextualizes the life and work of African American artist William Edmondson (1874–1951). Edmondson is the most significant sculptor to emerge from Tennessee during the 1930s and 40s and remains one of the leading American artists of the twentieth century.

This is the first large-scale museum exhibition of the artist’s career in over twenty years. During Edmondson’s life, he was well known for his yard art, including whimsical birdbaths, fanciful "critters," sculptures of everyday people, and grave markers he carved for African American families.
https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/2022/12/13/mcclung-museum-to-feature-one-of-the-most-significant-collections-of-tennessee-artist-william-edmondson-in-new-exhibition/

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-2144. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 12–4 p.m.

Featuring Steve Olson's first solo photography show!
Reception on Sun Jan 22, 2-4 PM

The Center is the second building on the right when you turn into Rarity Bay. The Center is open Monday thru Friday 9 to 4. It is best to call ahead because the Center often has meetings or events going on: 423-884-3800

150 Rarity Bay Pkwy, Vonore, TN 37885

JERRY DROWN WOOD STUDIO GALLERY | JANUARY 2 – MARCH 3, 2023

Rob Millard-Mendez was born in a New England textile town with an incredible industrial past. From an early age, he was enthralled with mechanics, motion, and the wonders created by practical, no-nonsense makers.

“The primary aim in my work is to illustrate and analyze concepts that I find enthralling. The resulting objects deal on many levels with formal and conceptual issues. In my work, I hope to show an equal blending of art, craft, and the presentation of engaging ideas in intriguing ways. The works are meant to involve the viewer visually and intellectually. My sources include mythology, science, history, and American Folk Art (among others). The objects I make reflect the sensibilities of a person steeped in New England practicality who (for better or worse) ended up learning about things like art history, existentialist philosophy, and post-structuralist theory. Some of my sculptures are based on themes from classical mythology viewed through the lens of contemporary events. I have a strong interest in how mythemes surface and re-surface throughout human history in many varied (but related) guises. Craft is an important aspect of my work. I identify strongly with the idea of the artist as a kind of Daedalean hybrid: artist/artisan/shaman. Visual art, like mythology, has the power to compel us with its resonant imagery. It is my hope that my works will, in some small way, enrich the viewer and make her/him see the world as slightly more tragic or laughable (or possibly both at the same time).”

Rob’s work has been shown in over 500 exhibitions in all fifty states as well as internationally. He has had many solo exhibitions and he has received over 120 awards for his art and his teaching. Rob’s sculptures are in over sixty private and public collections and images of his work have appeared in Sculpture Magazine, American Craft, two Lark Books, Art New England, and many other publications. Rob is a Professor of Art in the Art and Design Department at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana. He teaches 3-D Design, Woodworking, and Sculpture. He received an MFA in Sculpture from UMASS Dartmouth. https://www.arrowmont.org/story-sticks/

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