Calendar of Events

Come to Ijams during the month of March to view Melanie Fetterolf's collection, which features watercolor, acrylic and 3-D metal mesh works. The beautiful colors of nature are her inspiration for these creations!

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Visitor Center open daily 10-6; grounds and trails open daily from 8 AM - dusk. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Details TBA

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

CMOR @ 50: Past, Present, Future
in the Imagination Gallery

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge with this special exhibition that features historical photos, objects from the Museum’s collection, and a chance to think about what the Museum means to our community. This exhibition is curated by Mary Klages, CMOR’s Gallery Coordinator, with assistance from Caitlynn Fine, the Museum’s Collections Assistant.

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

Includes work by Scott Duce, Franco Cimitan, Brad Aldridge, Michael Underwood & others

Champagne Saturday - March 11, 11-4

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

March Featured Artists
First Friday Reception: March 3rd, 5:30 – 9:00 pm

Lynda Best, Painting
Lynda developed her own style for showing the frozen moment - “That moment when time stops, when we are a witness to nature and it fills us with a sense of wonder and awe.” Our spirit is found and often rediscovered in nature and it is this spiritual connection that nourishes and inspires her art. Lynda captures this “moment” with acrylic paint in a modern impressionistic style using entrancing outlines and colors to “freeze” that continual, ever changing movement of nature.

Sherrie Wilson, Fiber
A 4th generation fiber artist, Sherrie created couture clothing, art quilts, and watercolors before discovering SAORI weaving in 2015. She was immediately enthralled by the philosophy of self- expression without the need to conform. SAORI’s four directives inform her work: “Consider the difference between man and machine; See with eyes that shine; Be bold and fearless; Share freely within the group.”. Sherrie often uses found items, hand spun wool and wool locks in her work as well as traditional weaving yarn.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-6, Su 1-6. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net, www.Facebook.com/ArtMarketGallery

Opening Reception: Friday, Mar 3, 2023, 5-9pm

Lonnie Holley’s life and work read as a narrative retelling of Black American history—the residual effects of the Jim Crow era, the triumphs of the Civil Rights movement, and the struggles with false narratives around class mobility and race. Holley’s multidisciplinary practice seeks to educate viewers as a means of remedying the historical amnesia surrounding these topics. Rooting himself in the events of the past, the artist moves into the future—presenting synesthetic, multimedia work that visually engages its viewers with unique found objects and intricate motifs to subsequently inform on topics such as inequity and history as memory. Known throughout the art world for his found-object sculptures, paintings, and installations, Lonnie Holley gained a new audience when he started releasing and performing his music during the 2010s.

The UT Downtown Gallery is pleased to present a selection of recent works on paper, sculpture, paintings, and short films. Throughout the exhibition, we will be screening I Snuck Off the Slave Ship, I Went A Little Too Far (Mistreating Love), and I Woke Up… This exhibition is in collaboration with Knoxville's Big Ears Music Festival, where Holley will be performing at the end of March. The UT Downtown Gallery is proud to be a free Big Ears Festival venue.

Lonnie Holley (b. Birmingham, AL, 1950) lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; among many others. Holley’s work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions including at Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX (2022); Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY (2021); Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA (2017); Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art; Charleston, SC (2015); Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL (2004), and many more. Holley has been the subject of several documentary films, and his own directed short film I snuck off the slave ship premiered at Sundance in 2018.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sa 10-3 with special hours during Big Ears. Information: 865-673-0802, https://downtown.utk.edu

Opens 6:00 to 9:00 PM, runs through March.

RED Gallery, at 130 E Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN, features local and regional artists. The gallery is located in the historic Jackson Atelier building in Knoxville’s Old City. Gallery owner Robin Easter is proud to provide a unique space for Knoxville to experience and enjoy a broad range of visual arts. To learn more about RED Gallery, email robin@robineaster.com.
865-524-0146 | www.robineaster.com

Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artist Emily McTyre Friday, March 3, from 6-8 pm.

Emily McTyre is an artist, filmmaker, and writer from Maryville, Tennessee. From 2021-2022, Emily studied for an MPhil degree at the University of Cambridge, during which she was able to travel across the UK and parts of Europe. This collection of 35mm black and white film spans many miles and seasons. It includes scenes from Nürnberg, Germany, and cities across England: Cambridge, Brighton, Ely, and Glossop. Place is a distinct feature of this collection, as is the photographer's (or viewers’) position in it.

Please join us for some amazing art, light refreshments, and of course great coffee!

Awaken Coffee, 125 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Open daily. Information: 865-951-0427, www.instagram.com/awaken_coffee or www.facebook.com/awakencoffeeoldcity/

March 3rd 2023 “The GAUDY GOLD FRAME show” juried open show…… its back! Anything goes as long as it is in a gaudy gold frame.

Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Hours: By appointment, or when the "open" sign is illuminated. Information: 865-556-8676, www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com and www.facebook.com/broadwaystudiosandgallery/

Fun Friday Art Reception, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. in the Art Center Gallery. Wine and soft drinks will be available. Free & open to the public. Also, browse through “Endless Possibilities,” the AG’s fine arts and craft shop.

The Members Gallery Exhibit for March include a wide variety of art mediums: Painting, drawings, photography, ceramics, wood creations, glass mosaics, jewelry, fabric creations, card art, and much more! Gallery visits challenge thoughts, extend concentration, and inspire new ideas.

The featured artist for the month is Susan Smathers and Bill Hutton.

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

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 3 – April 1, 2023. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, March 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features live music inside the Emporium by Wendel Werner. 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 https://www.knoxalliance.store.

When driving down the road in the countryside in Tennessee, it is common to see abandoned beauties on the properties of people who never had the time to keep up with the maintenance of their vehicles. Often, the car will sit for years in the location where it last ran, waiting to be worked on with the potential to somehow wake up and drive happily down the road again. Quietly rusting away is both beautiful and depressing; automotive enthusiasts will be reduced to crying bittersweet tears at the sight of these rusting beauties.

Born and raised in Hackney, Ohio, Sheila Silvus Chesanow first started taking photographs with a Brownie Hawkeye camera as part of a 4H project. She continued to take "snap shots" of family and friends over the next several years. Always interested in art and photography, she took a college level black and white film course and learned to develop her own images. Her love of photography grew, and she studied black and white photography with Terry Lindquist at Fredonia State. During this time her work was exhibited in the gallery of the Stockton, New York, Library and was published in the Best of Photography Annual twice. She purchased her first digital camera in 2015 and began to transfer the knowledge of film photography to digital. In the last few years, she has studied photography at Lee University with Tom Kilpatrick. Chesanow has received numerous awards both locally and nationally, and her photos have been published in books and magazines. She has exhibited in Arts in the Airport, Mayors’ Shows, and at the Emporium Center in Knoxville; the Mayfield Gallery at the E.G. Fisher Public Library, Fullers’ Frame Shop and The Art Center in Athens; Gallery on Main in Sweetwater; Richard Low Evans Gallery in Blue Ridge, GA; and the Cato Institute in Washington, DC. Her work is also in private collections in Japan, Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, and Washington, DC. Chesanow focuses on nature and fine art photography which is reflected in her work.

https://www.sheilachesanowphotography.com

The exhibitions will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Thursday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Friday 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM (except Fri Mar 17), and Saturday 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 3 – April 1, 2023. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, March 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features live music inside the Emporium by Wendel Werner. 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 https://www.knoxalliance.store.

During this year-long project, I more fully merged my art with the frames in which it is displayed. Previously I created paper-based art on a wooden base and then enclosed the base with wood strips to create a shadow box, a precise technique. I began to wonder if I could also cast my frames from paper to integrate them more fully with the art. Because of the large amount of pulp needed, I use my paper making stamp mill to work with raw plant materials for the frames. The different plant materials in conjunction with how they were processed and dried are responsible for the color, texture, shrinkage, and distortion of the individual frames. Some of the art therefore is cast as part of the frame and then decorated, while other works are inserted into the frames in the form of collages. My subject matter has many influences and is generally whimsical and macabre.

Bruce Bunting is a retired automotive engineer and self-taught artist. He has always been interested in art as a viewer and a maker; as well, he is an avid do-it-yourselfer. When he retired and began devoting more time to art, he settled on papermaking because it represents a juxtaposition of equipment, materials, chemistry and art. While normally quite expensive to become a fully equipped papermaker, he built and adapted all his equipment at relatively low cost. He continually seeks to collaborate with other artists.

https://www.brucebuntingart.com

The exhibitions will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Thursday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Friday 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM (except Fri Mar 17), and Saturday 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.