Calendar of Events

Fat Ham was recently on Broadway, and will be directed by Mychael G. Chinn
Cast: Jaquai Wade Pearson as Tedra, Marshall Weir Mabry, IV as Juicy, Kenneth Herring as Rev/Pap, Neveah Daniel as
Opal, LoRen Seagrave as Tio, Matthew Draughter as Larry, and Brandiss Seward as Rabby.
Design Team: Sophie Smrcka (Scenic/Props), Scott Baron (Lighting), Amoirie Perteet (Sound/Props), and KC Colemon
(Costumes)

Preview: Thursday, February 8th at 7:30pm (Students come FREE with code FATHAM24)
Opening: Friday, February 9th at 7:30pm (Ticket includes food and beverages at the afterparty)
Run: February 8-25 at the Old City Performing Arts Center (111 State Street)
Tickets: https://www.simpletix.com/e/fat-ham-by-james-ijames-tickets-139740

Fat Ham Synopsis
In this delectably comic, Pulitzer Prize-winning reinvention of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, an uproarious family
barbecue instigates a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy.

About Mychael G. Chinn (Director)
Mychael is so excited to be making his directing debut at River + Rail! He is a television development executive, most recently at MTV Studios, where he was the point executive on deals with A List talent such as Angela Bassett & Courtney B. Vance, John Leguizamo, and Regina Hall, to name a few. Previously, Mychael was an executive at Lifetime Television, where he helped shepherd over 50 movies to air, including the most successful made for television movie of 2020, The Clark Sisters: The First Ladies of Gospel. He also has worked at prestigious arts organizations such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The New Museum and The Movement Theatre Company. Mychael currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

About Jaquai Wade Pearson (Tedra)
Jaquai Wade Pearson splits her time between Knoxville, LA, and Dallas, and returns to River & Rail Theatre Company after appearing as Camae in The Mountaintop in February 2023. She is the stepdaughter of Thomas “Tank” Edward Strickland, and a graduate of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.

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

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/

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/

Hola Hora Latina is proud to present “Amor Latino” showcasing the talent of local artists with a Valentine’s Day theme. The exhibit will be available starting February 2nd from 5 PM to 9PM and will remain at Casa HoLa Gallery for the rest of the month!
https://www.facebook.com/events/905187037991486

HoLa Hora Latina, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 112, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-335-3358, www.holahoralatina.org

Peaceful Mountains by Deana Fulton
Deana Fulton returns to RED Gallery, February 2, 2024 for First Friday from 5 PM – 8 PM for her show opening “Peaceful Mountains.” She will share her newest work, a series of landscape oil paintings of one of her most favorite places, the beloved Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains. She notes it is one of the most peaceful places she experiences, and finds the days among these Tennessee Mountains to be rejuvenating.

The show will also be filled with the collectors’ favorite, mono-color watercolor illustrations of beautiful floral bouquets just in time to gift for the Valentine’s season.

Please come to RED Gallery to experience Deana’s newest work, she would love seeing each of you!

IG:
@redgallery.knox
@fultondeana

RED Gallery, at 130 E Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN, features primarily 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. Information: 865-524-0146 or https://www.facebook.com/REDgalleryKNOX/

The Tennessee Stage Company will present a series of 10-minute plays under the direction of David Ratliff and H. Caitlin Corbitt. Join us for our New Play Fest's Night of Shorts, featuring the work of 9 local Playwrights. Held at Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 800 S Central St, Knoxville, TN 37902

The Festival by Harrison Young
The Greeks Have an Intervention by Sarah Wahrmund
Vengeance is Mine Sayeth Dolores by Kelly Robinson
Revenge? by Kevin Cannon
A Rose Garden Never Promised by Brenda Southerland
The LGA by Randy Thompson
Mindy’s Birthday by Crystal Braeuner
H.E.N.R.I. by Christina Sayer
These Intimate Continents by J.P. Schuffman

Casts:
(in order of appearance)
Helena Jordan
Chip Morris
Aaron Hinds
Mollie Brennan
Vishal Verma
Marissa Diaz
Steve Trigg
Hayden Hall
Casey Cain
Laura Fox

www.TennesseeStage.com/NewPlayFest
https://givebutter.com/NightofShorts

Blackberry Farm Gallery & William “Ed” Harmon Gallery
Gallery Hours 10AM - 5PM Monday - Friday
Free Admission

Clayton Center for the Arts, 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com