Calendar of Events
Thursday, August 17, 2023
Bijou Theatre: Old Gods of Appalachia
Category: Theatre
OLD GODS OF APPALACHIA PRESENTS THE PRICE OF PROGRESS
a live theatrical experience!
THURSDAY, AUG 17 | 7:30PM at the Bijou Theatre.
Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information/tickets: 865-522-0832, https://knoxbijou.org/
Concerts on the Square: Variety Thursday
Category: Free event, Kids, family and Music
Bring your kids, lawn chairs, blankets, pets, and friends to enjoy outdoor Knoxville nights, live music, food, fun, and community in Market Square. The City of Knoxville provides these free Concerts on the Square all summer long. No Tickets. It's Free!
Variety Thursdays – Every 3rd Thursday at 7 pm
Features a broad spectrum of musical genres.
Aug. 17 - Candela
Sept. 21 - Square Dancing on the Square
To stay updated on bands and any cancellations due to weather, visit the City of Knoxville Special Events Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CityofKnoxvilleSpecialEvents.
Historic Ramsey House: The Fork of the River: A Community Born of Water & Stone
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Free event and History, heritage
Historic Ramsey House will be holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 17, 2023 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm to celebrate the grand opening of the new permanent exhibit – “Fork of the River: A Community Born of Water & Stone” in the Maxwell Doak Ramsey Memorial Gallery. This signature exhibition was made possible due to the generous support of Humanities Tennessee. All are invited to attend.
Historic Ramsey House’s new Board President, Jan Loveday-Dickens will speak regarding the opening of the exhibit, as well as about the process it took to get us to this occasion! Afterwards, we welcome our invited guests to join us in exploring the exhibit, as well as meeting several of the board members and staff of Historic Ramsey House.
Jan Loveday-Dickens, has undertaken a multi-year research project to bring the stories of the Fork Community to life. This event celebrates the official completion of our new exhibit, and showcases a multitude of stories and images about our community.
Fork of the River is a historic community located on a fertile wedge of land with limestone seams between the confluence of the French Broad and Holston Rivers. The Fork Community encompasses the entire area in Knox County between these two rivers all the way to the Jefferson and Sevier County lines. In a symbolic sense, water and stone – one fluid and self-leveling, the other hard and unyielding – correspond to the forces and obstacles that shaped the Fork and its people across time.
Light refreshments will be served. Please call (865) 546-0745 or email director@ramseyhouse.org for any inquiries.
Historic Ramsey House, 2614 Thorn Grove Pike, Knoxville, TN 37914
Lilienthal Gallery: Grand Opening of Design AF
Category: Festivals, special events
CELEBRATE A NEW EMORY PLACE NEIGHBOR
Lilienthal Gallery invites you to the grand opening of Design AF's new location at
9 Emory Place, August 17, from 5 to 9 pm!
Lilienthal Gallery is just one of the many new developments planned by Ilana Lilienthal. The vision for Emory Place is that of a vibrant cultural center with art, food, music, and design. Emory Place includes Lilienthal Gallery, Pivot Point Art Gallery, French Fried Vintage, and the newest addition The Design Center by Design AF. Design AF is a Knoxville-based interior design firm dedicated to exceptional design and beautifully functional spaces.
Knox County Public Library: Clarence Brown Film Festival
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Film, Free event and History, heritage
The Knox County Public Library is pleased to announce the Clarence Brown Film Festival, set for August 16-20, 2023, in various locations in downtown Knoxville. All events will be free and open to the public. The festival aims to re-introduce Knoxville native and famed director Clarence Brown (1890-1987) to modern audiences through screenings of Brown’s most iconic films, film talks, tours, and more.
The Festival will screen seven of Brown's most iconic works, including an outdoor presentation of National Velvet (1944) and a screening of The Yearling (1946). Most notably, the Festival will present a recently restored 35mm film print of The Signal Tower (1924). This restored film has only been shown at two other venues. Our screening will feature live musical accompaniment at the Historic Tennessee Theatre.
https://www.knoxcountylibrary.org/clarence-brown-film-festival
Pellissippi: Turn to the Fool: Two Person Show of Eric Sherwood and Maggie Connolly
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
Closing Reception: Thursday, September 21, 3-5 pm
This mixed media exhibition by Maggie Connolly and Eric Sherwood, both teachers at Mighty Mud ceramics studio in Knoxville, will be on display in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery.
“Purposefully organic is a phrase that permeates the exhibition 'Turn to the Fool,’” said Professor Herb Rieth, Career Community Coordinator for Creative and Media Arts at Pellissippi State Community College. “The throbbing iterations, linear susurrations and natural genesis channeled through automatic drawing, wordplay and sculpting result in work that is quiet, insistently patient and infinitely detailed.”
Connolly received her Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College in her native Iowa, her Master of Fine Arts in Ceramic Design from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and her Ph.D. in Fine Arts Ceramics from Tokyo University of the Arts in Japan. She was an Arrowmont Artist in Residence 2019-2020.
Sherwood was born and lives in Knoxville. As a person of Chinese and American parentage, he spent time in China with his extended family and grew up navigating between the two cultures. This “otherness” is a platform for viewing both cultures and the larger world around him as well as a lens turned inward.
Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Bagwell Center Gallery hours: M-F 9-5. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts
Knoxville Children's Theatre: Huckleberry Finn
Category: Kids, family, Literature, spoken word, writing and Theatre
Based on the book by Mark Twain and adapted by Zack Allen, the play brings the famous book to life on stage.
The play will be performed August 11th-27th. Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM, Saturdays at 1 and 5 PM , and Sundays at 3 PM.
Huck Finn is on the run from his criminal father, along with his friend Jim, adrift on the mighty Mississippi River. The two fall prey to two con men calling themselves the King and The Duke. Huck and Jim get involved in a number of outrageous schemes. If Jim can get far enough up river, he can become a free man, and Huck discovers there may be a fortune for him too!
The play is performed by 15 talented young actors and designed by 10 talented young designers from ages 9 to 16. The cast includes KCT veterans Luke Meade playing Huck and Mason Cox playing Tom Sawyer. The show is directed by guest director Jonathan Clark with assistant student director Maddy Grace Payne.
KCT is East Tennessee’s leading producer of plays for children and families.
Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com
Art Guild at Fairfield Glade: 14th Annual Judged and Juried Fine Arts Show
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
The public is invited to attend the opening reception for the prestigious Judged and Juried Fine Arts Show on Friday, August 4th from 5 - 7 p.m. Mark Hall, retired professor of art at Maryville College in Tennessee, will judge the entries.
Juror - Judge Mark Hall formerly served at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the David and Alfred Smart Museum. Previously, he served as an assistant professor at MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois, an assistant and associate professor at Marian College, Indianapolis, and has retired as a professor emeritus from Maryville College, Maryville, Tennessee. He currently has a small print/art studio in Maryville and continues to create prints and drawings in a variety of styles and modes.
Winners of the J&J Fine Arts Show will be announced to the public during the August 4th reception. This event is free and open to the public!
Gallery: Mon-Sat 9-4. 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
Rala: First Friday with Summer Small
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
We are excited to announce local artist Summer Small as our featured artist for the month of August! Her work unfolds a complicated but passionate relationship with modern Appalachia and the people and places that call the valley home. Please join us at Rala in the Old City for the show opening from 6 to 8pm on August 4th, 2023. Summer's work will be on display August 4th through August 31st.
https://www.facebook.com/events/307835021665435/
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
Art Market Gallery: AMG Potters & Lynda Tenpenny
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
First Friday Reception: August 4th, 5:30 – 9:00 pm
AMG Gallery Potters, an eclectic group of clay artists, each with their own unique style are the featured 3D artists in August.
+ Lisa Kurtz has a Master’s Degree in Ceramics and has taught clay classes at colleges and community art centers. She is currently teaching at the Oak Ridge Art Center. To create her functional pottery and clay wall art she throws on the wheel and hand builds and often combines the two to create her wares.
+ Linda Sullivan, with a keen interest in glaze chemistry, uses multilayered glazes to depict landscape imagery. She applies her self-developed glazes by pouring and overlapping them on wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces using porcelain and stoneware clays.
+ Patricia Herzog produces functional, colorful and highly textured hand-built pottery with an emphasis on animal imagery and the natural world. Her sculptural pieces are inspired by the art of ancient cultures.
+ Larry Gabbard seeks out alternative kilns and firing techniques to finish his wheel thrown pottery. He finds the unexpected marks that result when clay, heat and smoke interact are often intriguing and beautiful.
+ Karen Kyte creates colorful, whimsical terra cotta sculptures that often tell a story.
Lynnda Tenpenny, an award-winning mixed media artist, is a native Knoxvillian and a graduate of UT. Her new work focuses on the word “Interstices”, such as “to stand between, an intervening space, interval, small opening, chink, crack, crevice.” She loves mystery in her work, small surprises and hidden images that present themselves or pop through from the background, a glimpse of something in a previous layer that has been exposed by sanding or scraping paint off. Her creativity inspires imagination on the part of the viewer.
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
Awaken Coffee: Jordan Abba Exhibition
Category: Culinary arts, food, Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Friday, August 4, from 6-8 Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artist Jordan Abba.
Jordan is an artist and visual art teacher for Knox County Schools. “As an art educator, I find joy in art as an experimental process. I embrace growth through exploration. The series, “Under DE-construction,” explores positive and negative space, line, and shape to create compositions that express the experiences and emotions of life. Art, to me, is about appreciating the things in life that we love the most. This body of work embodies the bittersweet nostalgia of memory while engaging the principles of abstract painting.”
Please join us for some fantastic art, light refreshments, and 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/
Arts & Culture Alliance: Kathleen A. Janke: From the Mountains to the Forest Floor
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from August 4-25, 2023. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, August 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features original music inside the Emporium by the Fountain City Ramblers (Instagram @fountaincityramblers). Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at https://www.knoxalliance.store.
I create my art in multiple mediums concentrating on pine needle basketry and alcohol inks. The results are largely inspired by my connection to the natural environment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and my love of gardening and experience with landscape design. While the vistas and flora of the park lend themselves to the utter spontaneity and brilliance of color with alcohol ink, pine needle/gourd basketry becomes tangible three-dimensional pieces of art using materials the earth provides… much of this material I grow or collect in a sustainable manner on walks. The baskets are inspired by touch, feel and a connection to the forest floor and riverbanks.
Kathleen A. Janke experimented with various art mediums for years before becoming serious in the fall of 2019. Within two years, she sold her bed and breakfast to become a full time artist. In 2022 she sold work in 14 shows, via her website, and by word of mouth. Three craft guilds contracted her to teach classes, and she is currently building an art gallery and studio, Gracehill Fine Art and Basketry, in Townsend. Janke is a member of Southern Highlands Craft Guild, Piedmont Guild, Tennessee Craft, Tennessee Artist Association, Foothills Crafts Guild, Art Guild of Tellico Village, Blount County Arts & Craft Guild, Townsend Art Guild, Oak Ridge Art Center, the Arts & Culture Alliance, American Gourd Society, Handweavers Guild of America, and National Basket Association.
This exhibition will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.