Calendar of Events

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.

Tours are free, but you have to sign up in advance. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eugenia-williams-house-and-history-tour-tickets-128265602871

WDVX PRESENTS
TENNESSEE SHINES FEATURING SPECIAL SURPRISE HEADLINER, CHATHAM RABBITS AND SUNNY WAR
Wednesday, February 7 at 7:00PM at the Bijou Theatre

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information/tickets: 865-522-0832, https://knoxbijou.org/

PechaKucha Night Knoxville is excited to announce a dynamic collaboration with Keep Knoxville Beautiful for the upcoming Orchid Awards. Since 1979, Keep Knoxville Beautiful has been bestowing the Orchids Beautification Awards upon buildings, public art, and outdoor spaces that enrich and beautify our local landscape. From innovative architecture to revitalized outdoor spaces, these awards celebrate the heartbeat of our city and county.

What sets this collaboration apart is the synergy between PechaKucha's storytelling platform and Keep Knoxville Beautiful's commitment to recognizing sustainable efforts and achievements. PechaKucha, with its focus on celebrating people, passion, and creative thought, aligns seamlessly with the Orchid Awards' mission.

At the Orchid Awards ceremony on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, at the Mill & Mine, we are excited to reveal that there will be presentations just as you've come to love at our PechaKucha Night events. It will be an evening of visually captivating, inspiring presentations that celebrate public art, design, sustainability, and native trees.
Event Details:
• Date: Wednesday, February 7, 2024
• Time: 6-9pm
• Venue: Mill & Mine

Presenters:
• Kayla Stuart
• Dustin Durham
• Makenzie Read
• Melissa Hinten
• Tommy Smith

This collaboration is a perfect fusion of artistic expression and community recognition, and we want you to be a part of it. Secure your tickets now to witness the intersection of art, sustainability, architecture, and more.
Join us in celebrating the best of Knoxville's creative spirit at the Orchid Awards. Let's make this collaboration an unforgettable experience!

Tickets and information at https://www.keepknoxvillebeautiful.org.

Work by eight of the region's most prominent Black artists are on display through March 9th. Opening reception is this Saturday, February 3, 1:00 - 4:00. Many of the artists will be in attendance and light Hors D'oeuvres and refreshments will be served. Please join us for this wonderful show!

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

February – March 2024

Sonia Jackson Summers received her Bachelors in College Scholars: Illustration and Writing from The University of Tennessee in 2008. During her time at the University of Tennessee, Sonia cartooned for “The Daily Beacon.”

In 2011, Sonia married and relocated to her husband’s hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, and during that time Sonia was commissioned to participate in Vulcan Park and Museum’s public art project called “Vulcans on Parade.” Sonia’s painted Vulcan statues stand on display in two downtown Birmingham businesses. Sonia has work in the permanent collection of The Joy Gallery in Homewood, Alabama and rotating art at the Blue Phrog Gallery in Montevallo, Alabama.

Since moving back to Knoxville with her husband and kids in 2019, Sonia has broadened her scope to include painting en plein air (live on-site landscape painting), as well as competitive sidewalk chalk art/“Madonnari” festivals and sidewalk chalk art commissions, in addition to her fine art, illustration, and murals. Sonia has a deep appreciation for Impressionism, focusing on bridging the relationship between observation and interpretation, impressionistic capabilities of skill and realistic reaction in rendering. Sonia enjoys public art such as murals and sidewalk chalk for their ability to make art accessible to everyone.

In 2023 Sonia accepted the Fine Arts Teaching position at Chesterton Academy, a new classical high school in Knoxville. She also teaches recreational art classes at Painting with a Twist in Farragut.

Sonia’s art can be seen in sidewalk chalk/madonnari festivals, such as the Dogwood Arts Chalk Walk, through exhibitions with both the Arts and Culture Alliance and Dogwood Arts, and she currently has a mural featured by Dogwood Arts in Strong Alley in downtown Knoxville.

https://knoxbijou.org/community-outreach-2/art-gallery/

MAIN GALLERY
Reception Feb. 2, 5-8 PM
https://andrewscottross.com/home.html
https://tristararts.org/the-gallery/f/a-drawing-of-a-lion-shaped-by-fear

Tri-Star Arts at Candoro Marble Building, 4450 Candora Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-5. Information: https://tristararts.org/visit

First Friday February 2nd 6-9pm at Relay Ridge

-Jenn Kaplan "No Sudden Movements" opening gallery reception
-Open Artist Studios
-Printmaking demos/artist features in the printshop

Jennifer Kaplan invites participants to slow down and listen to the nuances of verbal and nonverbal communication. This show emphasizes the isolated gestures of touch through a progression blend of functional and figurative forms, giving shape to that which exists inside us and has been shapeless. Clay has the capacity to communicate what cannot be said, what is unspeakable, where words fail.

“Where I End and You Begin” are a series of entangled bodies which follow the gestural action of hands folding into one another, signing in motions of tenderness, reception, and formal fluidity. These tangled masses are finished in waxes and chalk, raw and bright, or crater glazes, molten and encrusted, with blurred edges, to amplify the soft strength of vulnerable participation within a community.

Everything is connected and survival is en masse. Hope lives not in isolation but through the potential of collaborative movement. Jennifer’s ceramic practice acts as a filter for understanding cycles of grief and regrowth, encouraging the potential within collaborative action and mutual aid.

We invite you to engage your senses in the relational works but please, be gentle.

Relay Ridge, 4124 McKinley St, Knoxville. https://relayridge.org/ and https://www.instagram.com/relay_ridge/

Featuring all media – including oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, drawings, sculpture in any medium, jewelry, collage, printmaking, photography and digital media.

Reception will be from 6:30pm – 8:00pm and awards will be announced on Friday, Feb 2 at 7:00pm.

Hours: Tuesday - Thursday, 10 AM - 4 PM
Phone (865) 357-2787
Email: fcacinfo@gmail.com
The Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Road, Knoxville, TN 37918

A First Friday opening reception for the exhibit is planned from 5:30 pm - 9 pm, January 5th, with complimentary refreshments and music.

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

We are so excited to announce Knoxville's own Mike C. Berry as our featured artist for the month of February! Mike is a local artist, father, and the director for UTK’s Downtown Gallery. Considered a versatile painter who works in vibrant colors, bringing energy and rhythm to each work, Mike creates compositions of bending and twisting cityscapes.

Please join us at Rala in the Old City for the show's opening ceremony from 6 to 8pm on February 2nd. Mike's work will be on display for the month of February!

https://www.facebook.com/events/727158442694666/
Shop: https://shoprala.com/collections/mike-c-berry-art-originals

Friday, February 2, from 6-8 Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for the artist!

Peyton Tolleson, a self-taught acrylic painter based in Knoxville, TN, has been passionately creating art since 2020. Her signature style is characterized by rich detail and a lifelike approach. While Peyton is renowned for her pet portraits, her versatile portfolio also includes family portraits, large-scale equine art, Live Wedding Paintings, architectural pieces, signage, wildlife, and still-life. Peyton’s primary goal is to bring her canvases to life with intricate details that bring a striking sense of realism to her art.

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/

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from February 2-24, 2024. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, February 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Corey James Clifton, Nicholas Horner and Kelsey Roberts.

The Midnight Studies are a series of acrylic and oil paintings done by Kacey Noel Chumley, with the sole purpose of getting better at the craft of painting itself. Mostly done at post-midnight hours from 2021-2023, it shows experimentation with color theory, subject matter, values, and more. As my infatuation with painting grew, the notion of colors became much more prominent in what I painted. I loved taking influence from both realism and surrealism. This exhibition aims to simply display the long hours of practice I put into painting and to show the slow progress of becoming more solid at my craft. I hope this series of paintings brings joy to the people who see it, just as it has brought joy to me to create them.

Kacey Noel Chumley is a painter, former tattoo artist, and writer from Knoxville. https://kaceynoel.com and Instagram @_kaceynoel_

The exhibitions will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Thursday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Friday, 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM; and Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. 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. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.