Calendar of Events

Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Free and open to the public
When: Reception Friday, April 21, 2023, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.

Layered Barriers by LaKesha Y. Lee
“Layered Barriers” addresses the obstacles blacks faced in the past and what African Americans still encounter today due to the color of their skin. These images, created in mixed media collage on paper, evoke the fear and lack of self-worth many African Americans experience today. Lee says, “When someone looks at my work, I want them to feel the figure’s essence without knowing the person’s identity. I want to ask the question, ‘Do we have to know someone’s identity to sympathize or show respect?’”

LaKesha Y. Lee is a first-year MFA student in Painting and Drawing at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In 2019, she received her Bachelor of Fine Art from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Since then, she has been in many group exhibitions throughout the south. Lee uses her work to provide a positive outlook on black identity within the black community and to create new, positive narratives.

Hidden Dimensions by Sam Stapleton
Stapleton has photographed flowers for more than a decade, always searching for new aspects or insight. This exhibit uses the power of digital processing to reimagine original portraits.

Sam Stapleton’s photographic journey began with the purchase of his first 35mm SLR in 1974. He learned his craft through workshops, professional magazine assignments with his author wife and lots of hands-on practice and experimentation. He says, “Most important, I study the work of other photographic artists, always asking myself ‘what are they doing,’ ‘why are they doing it this way’ and ‘how can I learn from this.’”

Gallery hours: 9:30-4:30 Monday through Thursday, 9:00-1:00 Sunday
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

The District Gallery will be hosting a national show and weeklong art event. We are honored to present this national exhibition by the American Impressionist Society’s Signature and Master Members. This 7th annual small works showcase will feature 174 juried paintings by some of the top contemporary impressionist painters in the country. Awards will be judged and presented by longtime Nashville artist Anne Blair Brown.

Friday, April 14, 5-8 pm: Opening Reception & Awards Ceremony of Impressions
174 juried paintings by some of the top contemporary impressionist painters in the country will be judged with a top prize of $4000. We'll have over 60 artists from around the country, including judge Anne Blair Brown from Nashville, at this prestigious event.

During the week of April 11-15, there will be several art events and workshops that require registration. For a full calendar of events and our show catalog, please go to https://www.thedistrictgallery.com/impressions/.

Saturday, April 15, 5-7 pm: Wet Works Exhibit and Awards
The impressionist painters will be in Knoxville painting at various locations the week of April 11-15, this exhibit is a culmination of their freshly painted works that will be on display for one day only.

The District Gallery, 5113 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-F 10-5:30, Sa 10-4. Information: 865-200-4452, www.TheDistrictGallery.com

Rala is pleased to present Cynthia Markert as our featured artist for April and May. "Tallulah Dearest and Her Coterie" continues Cynthia's unique and recognizable style of oil painting on wood. Please join us for the show opening from 6 to 8pm on Friday, April 7.

Artist Cynthia Markert has been creating her mixed media portraits on wood for over four decades. She finds inspiration in historical icons such as The Odd Woman, The New Woman, The Flapper, and The Free Thinking Woman from the 1890s to the 1930s, and the Belle Époque to the jazz age. Her paintings infuse these inspirations with personal expression of spiritual bonding.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1815062672203536/

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

April 7 - May 18, 2023
First Fridays: April 7 + May 5, 5-9pm

For more than a decade, Art Source, the exhibition dedicated solely to Knox County art educators, has given these same teachers an opportunity to nourish and showcase their own artistic talents. Exhibition awards will be announced at 6:30pm during the May First Friday reception. Join us in recognizing the work of our area art teachers and interns!

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

Dogwood Arts and the Songbirds Foundation are proud to announce the 2023 Epiphone Guitar Design Contest. The contest is open to all high school and middle school students living in East Tennessee. Several guitar designs created by youth artists will be selected for implementation and exhibition. The art guitars will be displayed at the Dogwood Arts Gallery in Knoxville and at the Songbirds Guitar Museum, a one-of-a-kind guitar museum located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The guitars will be auctioned to benefit Dogwood Arts’ youth art programs & the Songbirds Foundation’s Guitars for Kids initiative.

Winning designers will each receive $50 for art supplies and complimentary tickets to Southern Skies Music Festival (May 20-21, 2023); additional cash prizes will be awarded to select artists at the exhibition reception.

The online auction will be live from April 3 - May 26, 2023
Guitars will be displayed at the Songbirds Guitar Museum (Chattanooga) during the month of April 2023.
Guitars will be displayed in the Dogwood Arts Gallery (Knoxville) during the month of May 2023
An exhibition reception and awards ceremony will take place on Friday, May 5th at the Dogwood Arts Gallery from 5-8PM (Awards at 6PM)
Select guitars will also be on display at the Southern Skies Music Festival (May 20-21, 2023)

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

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

A Colossal Experience, Millions of Years in the Making

Prepare for a Jurassic exploration at Zoo Knoxville! March 1 through September 4, a pack of prehistoric creatures will be stationed throughout the park. Bring your young paleontologists and discover hidden truths about the era "terrible lizards" walked the earth. https://www.wildlyfun.com/

Zoo Knoxville, 3500 Knoxville Zoo Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914. Open 9 AM - 4 PM everyday. Information: 865-637-5331, www.zooknoxville.org

Hop on stage at Singer/Songwriter Open Mic Night on Wednesdays, 7-9 PM!

Doors open at 4:00PM and sign-ups start at 6:00PM. See the beertender to be added to the queue.

Admission is free!
Geezers Brewery, 225 E. 5th Ave., Knoxville
https://www.geezersbrewerytn.com/events

Year-round, join us Saturdays at 11:00 for our weekly slow ride through different Knoxville neighborhoods as we explore our city via bike. Although distances and routes vary, most rides last for 60-75 minutes (4-8 miles) and potentially include a stop at various landmarks, sites of interest, and even other breweries!

Please note that rides will be cancelled in the event of inclement weather to ensure the safety and comfort of all participants. (If it's raining or snowing, we'll cancel the ride. When the temperature is below about 40 or so at ride time, it's usually too cold for our group to want to ride.) We'll announce any cancellations on our Instagram feed at https://www.instagram.com/printshopbeer/

https://www.printshopbeer.co/events

DECK THE HALLS... The KMA's Thorne Rooms are all decorated for the holiday season! After Thanksgiving, Knoxville Museum of Art pulls out the tinsel and trimmings to get our collection of Thorne Rooms ready for the most wonderful time of the year! Thank you to East Tennessee miniature artisans and Thorne Room experts Annelle Ferguson and Jolie Gaston for making it all possible. On view through December 30.

The Thorne Rooms were developed in the 1930s and 40s by Narcissa Niblack Thorne, Chicago, IL, who loved dollhouses as a child. After extensive travels in Europe where she collected miniature furniture and accessories, Mrs. Thorne had over two dozen miniature rooms created by cabinetmakers from her own drawings. They were made in a scale of one inch to one foot. She painted and stained woodwork, papered walls, and made textiles for the rooms. Read more: https://knoxart.org/exhibitions/thorne-rooms/

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. Admission and parking are free.

Our relationship to moving images is constantly evolving. Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, for example, our use of–and reliance on–streaming services to access Hollywood blockbusters not only changed how we watch movies but also disrupted traditional models for financing and distributing such productions.

How did our relationship with moving images begin? What technological and cultural events sparked our interest in motion pictures as entertainment? And what role has East Tennessee and its people had in moviemaking?

Lights! Camera! East Tennessee!, a new feature exhibition at the East Tennessee History Center, answers these questions by chronicling Knoxville’s contributions to film from the promotion of Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope in 1895 to its use as a location for major productions currently in development. At the heart of the story is 35 mm film, shown both in urban theaters and suburban cineplexes and shot by itinerant filmmakers, documentarians, industrial filmmakers, and news reporters. Multiple screens featuring highlights from these genres anchor the exhibition.

Equally intriguing are the stories of how Knoxvillians made Hollywood history. Learn about Clarence Brown, a graduate of Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, who became one of MGM’s most prominent directors. And see why James Agee, known to us today as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, was better known as a film critic and screenwriter during his life.

Lights! Camera! East Tennessee! will also spotlight the numerous actors from across East Tennessee who became Hollywood A-listers and the variety of films that were shot in East Tennessee, including A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) and That Evening Sun (2009), both of which premiered in Knoxville.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.eastTNhistory.org/lights-camera