Calendar of Events

Ijams Nature Preschool Open Houses
12/13 from 6-7:30 PM (In Person)
12/18 from 6-7 PM (Virtual)
Looking for a part-time or full-time preschool? Join us for an open house!
 
Geminid Meteor Shower - Guided Night Program
12/15 • 11:00 PM
Witness the marvelous Geminid Meteor shower during its peak with Ijams naturalists & uncover the wonders of the woods and the beautiful night sky!

Winter Tree ID: Beginner Workshop
12/16 • 11:00 AM
Having trouble identifying local trees without their leaves? With a little guidance, you won't be-leaf how easy it can be! Join an Ijams naturalist to learn the basics of tree ID and species histories, and leave with a larger understanding of tree phenology.
 
Tracks & Scat! Animal Signs in Winter
12/16 • 3:00 PM
During this 2-hour workshop, you'll learn to identify common tracks, scat, and types of animal homes, and read the landscape for other signs of activity and wildlife. This program will be spent entirely outside exploring; please come dressed for the weather!
 
Self Care Sunday Yoga with Hope Irwin
12/17 @ 1:00 PM
Join Hope Irwin for a weekly Ijams yoga class on Sunday. Release all the holiday stress from the past week and get centered for the week ahead.
 
East Tennessee Bluegrass Association Monthly Jam
12/17 @ 2:00 PM
Join the fun at a community jam session for all acoustic bluegrass instruments (no harmonicas or spoons at this time) every third Sunday from 2-5 pm in the Visitor Center.
 
Winter Solstice Wander
12/21 @ 6:00 PM
Join Ijams on the longest night of the year to wander through the woods and celebrate the promise of longer days to come with hot chocolate, s'mores, and friends by a campfire.

Winter Break Camp • Ages 7-12
12/21-22 from 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
Join us for Winter Break Camp and explore the wonders of nature in cold weather! Campers will search for signs of animal activity and celebrate the the season by learning basic winter survival skills and winter ecology.

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

Circle Modern Dance continues its annual holiday tradition of Modern Dance Primitive Light, a Winter Solstice performance of dance and live music. At the Laurel Theater, 1538 Laurel Ave, Knoxville TN 37916.

Modern Dance Primitive Light features performance art by area choreographers, dancers, and musicians.

Wednesday, December 13 | 7PM Open Dress Rehearsal
Thursday, December 14 | 8PM
Friday, December 15 | 7PM & 9PM
Saturday, December 16 | 7PM & 9PM

circlemoderndance@gmail.com or www.circlemoderndance.com

The Maker City Santa Maker Mingle
December 13th, 6:00-8:00PM at Able Trade, 203 W Jackson Ave.

Maker Mingles are casual gatherings to meet up with other makers, check out a maker space, and enjoy a little social time.

Able Trade is a maker space comprised of a group of creative artists, makers, builders, inventors, and most importantly collaborators. This beautiful space is is a membership based shared wood and metal shop designed for the industrial entrepreneur.

Don't miss out on the holiday cheer!

Able Trade door is located at the far left end of the Jackson Terminal building set back from Jackson Ave. Look for the colorful stairs coming down from Gay St. viaduct and you will see the entrance.

Able Trade, 203 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: https://weareabletrade.com/ or www.instagram.com/abletradeknox/

We’re giving tours, twice a month now, of the 1941 Eugenia Williams mansion on Lyons View. Designed by Knoxville-raised architect John Fanz Staub, it was built for divorcee-heiress Eugenia Williams, who lived there mainly alone for over 40 years. Charitable foundation Aslan is rehabbing the house and 24-acre grounds, which reach down to the river, to be a community asset, more broadly open by the end of 2025.

Although we know much more about Eugenia Williams and her story than we did when we started working with Aslan on the project three years ago, she still retains much of her mystery, and probably always will.

More dates, including Wednesday, December 13, have just been added to the calendar for tours of the Eugenia Williams House through February. Tours are free, but you have to sign up in advance.

Check Dates and Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eugenia-williams-house-and-history-tour-tickets-128265602871

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “A(n) (Un)holy Alliance: Braiding the Sacred and the Profane,” a workshop led by Donna Vorreyer on December 13th, 2023, from 6:00-7:30 PM. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).

The word profane refers to the secular world, the parts of a life that are not directly related to spiritual or religious practice. However you may define the spiritual in your own life, what might happen in our writing if we blend the sacred and the profane to make a liminal world where these two things coexist? Looking at poems by Kaveh Akbar, Danez Smith, Li Young Lee, Katie Manning and others, we will discuss how writers use sensory image, ritual description, prayer structure, giving of thanks, reframing traditional stories, and borrowing language to braid their memory or experience of the divine into the everyday. After a discussion of model poems, we will complete a generative exercise that will lead to communal, quiet writing time to consider these things in a new draft. Time for questions and to share work will be provided. While there is no fee to participate in this workshop, those who are able and appreciative may make donations directly to Donna Vorreyer via PayPal through paypal.me/vorreyerpoet.

Donna Vorreyer is the author of To Everything There Is (2020), Every Love Story is an Apocalypse Story (2016) and A House of Many Windows (2013), all from Sundress Publications. She lives in the Chicago suburbs where she hosts the monthly online reading series A Hundred Pitchers of Honey.
This workshop is brought to you in part by a grant provided by the Witter Bynner Foundation. Find out about the important work they do at https://www.bynnerfoundation.org/.

https://www.facebook.com/events/973727800531215/

Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Free and open to the public
When: Reception Friday, January 12, 2024, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Artists’ talk at 6:30 p.m.
Show: December 10, 2023 – February 7, 2024
Gallery hours: 9:30-4:30 Monday through Thursday, 10-12:30 Sunday
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

Carol Quinn has painted and exhibited for decades, mostly in the Southeast and in New York City. She began as a watercolorist painting mostly nature and then moved into various mixed media, larger creations, and more abstraction in design. Her work is mainly from experimentation with the mediums and from a passion for exploring color and textures. Her degrees are in Human Ecology from the University of Tennessee. She has been a member of Art Market Gallery since 2018.

Megan Wolfkill explores the nature of queerness as a fractured amalgamation of experiences, expectations, and personal truths. Her paintings tap into her sense of touch and include experimentation with two-sided paintings, mirroring, and iridescent and reflective materials. Wolfkill is pursuing her Masters of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting + Drawing at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and will graduate in May 2024. She is a finalist in the 2024 Miami University Yeck Young Painters Competition, and recently presented at SECAC in Richmond, VA. Megan has had artwork in numerous juried exhibitions across four states and in many online galleries.

By Joseph Robinette
Directed by Caroline King
Performance Dates – December 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13

Public Performances
Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 2:30 PM
Sunday Dec. 10 at 2:30 PM

School Matinees
Friday, Dec. 8 at 9:30 AM
Monday, Dec. 11 at 9:30 AM & 12:00 Noon
Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 9:30 AM
Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 9.30 AM
At Clayton Performing Arts Center

This dramatization of C.S. Lewis’ classic, set in the land of Narnia, faithfully recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion, his struggle with the White Witch, and the adventures of four children who inadvertently wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten Narnia. The intense action features chases, duels and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and end the reign of Aslan.

All the memorable episodes from the story are represented in this exciting dramatization: the temptation of Edmund by the witch, the slaying of the evil wolf by Peter, the witnessing of Aslan’s resurrection by Susan and Lucy, the crowning of the four new rulers of Narnia, and more. The supporting characters are also here: the unicorn, the centaur and other forest animals, along with Father Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and Tumnus the Faun.

This story of love, faith, courage and giving, with its triumph of good over evil, is a true celebration of life.

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

Adapted by Joe Landry
'It's a Wonderful Life' is based on the story, 'The Greatest Gift' by Philip Van Doren Stern

This beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. With the help of an ensemble that brings a few dozen characters to the stage, the story of idealistic George Bailey unfolds as he considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve

River & Rail Theatre, 111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-407-0727, www.riverandrailtheatre.com

December 3-20: Foothills Craft Guild
Open house on Dec 3, 2-4 PM

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tue-Thu 10 AM - 4 PM. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartcenter.com

Come celebrate the holidays at the Tennessean! Join us for a luxury tea service complete with our signature teas along with tier courses of scones, tea sandwiches and holiday desserts. It is an experience that you will treasure for years to come!
Saturday, December 2, 9, and 16 at 1:00 PM at The Tennessean Personal Luxury Hotel,
531 Henley Street Knoxville, TN 37902.

Advance reservations required.
Tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/holiday-tea-at-the-tennessean-hotel-tickets

OPENING NIGHT
December 1, 5 - 9 pm

Lilienthal Gallery cordially invites you to the opening of Flow: Mastering a Brushstroke, which contemplates the meditative dance through which the energetic flow of creativity is transmitted by poetic forms of ink and motion.

ARTIST TALK at 6:30 pm
German artist Sigrid Artmann will discuss her calligraphic process of Absolute Writing, a practice which delves into the intuition of body-soul connection.

DRESS CODE - Minimalistic composition of black and white.

Launching an exclusive, limited-edition brew by Crafty Bastard featuring the work of Sigrid Artmann.

Flow is the synthesis between action and awareness— a state by which all else falls away in favor of the fullest moment of subjective creativity.

CURATED BY ILANA LILIENTHAL AND KELLY FERGUSON
PRESENTING ARTWORKS BY SIGRID ARTMANN, GUO HAI-JIANG, AND ANTHONY HUANG

23 Emory Place
Knoxville, Tennessee 37917
https://lilienthalgallery.com/flow/

The opening reception will be from 6-8pm December 1st. Brian, aka "The Cathedral Guy", creates highly detailed work that is recognizable throughout Knoxville. An architect by trade, he designs each cathedral, castle, floor plan, and rose window from his imagination. Brian's work will remain on display from December 1st - January 31st.

https://shoprala.com/collections/brian-pittman-original-art
https://www.facebook.com/events/1720889741656518