Calendar of Events

The Station is once again proud to have music journalist, author and Daily Times entertainment editor Lee Zimmerman's "Songs & Stories" event twice a month on Wednesday night at 7pm. It will be a RSVP (via registration link) festival seating event, with a suggested $15 per person donation at the door. It features a fun interactive show and interview with notable artists (much like the Actor's Studio TV show).

Upcoming shows:
• Wed 5/29 Songs & Stories ft. The HawtThorns
• Wed 6/12 Songs & Stories ft. Amelia White
• Wed 6/26 Songs & Stories ft. Thomm Jutz & Eric Brace

WHAT TO BRING: Cash for artist merch, BYOB or drink of choice with small cooler is fine if you're over 21.

4206 Miser Station Road, Louisville TN 37777

Archivist from the Appalachian Film Workshop, Appalshop, to Speak on Preserving Appalachian Culture
When: Wednesday, May 29, 2024 @ 12:00 p.m. (and virtually)
Where: East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902

Founded in 1969 as the Appalachian Film Workshop, Appalshop has grown to become a media, arts, and education center located in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in the heart of the southern Appalachian region of the United States. Archivist Caroline Rubens will discuss Appalshop's history and mission and how the floods of 2022 devastated their extensive archival collection of audio recordings, videos, photographs, and artwork that document history and life in the Appalachian Mountains, and as well as ongoing recovery and restoration efforts. For more information on this talk and to register, visit our website.
https://www.easttnhistory.org/event/preserving-appalachian-culture-recovery-and-remediation-of-appalshops-legacy-media-content/

Leo Shannon is an archivist and traditional musician from Seattle, living in Whitesburg, Kentucky. He has been with the Appalshop Archive throughout the flood and recovery efforts, and is always looking for new ways to bring archival materials to life.

Shane Terry grew up in Knott County and in 2010 became a volunteer DJ at Appalshop's community radio station, WMMT. Shane worked as a filmmaker with the archive on different projects and eventually worked with WMMT before and after the 2022 EKY floods. Since then, Shane has helped the archive with digital file infrastructure as we work to save the collection.

601 S. Gay Street | Knoxville, TN | (865) 215-8824
www.eastTNhistory.org

Free Screening | Wednesday May 29 at 6:45pm

Central Cinema and the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound (TAMIS) are pleased to be hosting the illustrious Appalshop for a special FREE screening and discussion of three music-centric short films from their Whitesburg, Kentucky-based regional archive. Selections include:

WILD WORLD OF HASIL ADKINS (1993, 29m) | Imagine Elvis in Sid Vicious’ body with a little Frank Sinatra thrown in, and you have Hasil Adkins, the originator of psychobilly and star of this deranged, shot-on-video documentary. Chronicling 56-year-old Hasil’s boozing, womanizing and law-breaking, audiences are treated to some surreal jaw-dropping antics and raucous, homegrown rock‘n’roll. Viewers will delight in the various ancedotes of paranoia as related by cronies, acquaintances and authorities. Many local personalities have been captured in Appalshop films, but Hasil Adkins may take the cake as the absolute wildest, biggest, impossible-to-tame personality of them all.

HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW (2003, 28m) | Ethel Caffie-Austin, a daughter of the coalfields, is West Virginia’s “First Lady of Gospel Music.” The recipient of numerous awards in the U.S. and Europe, Caffie-Austin was guest artist at Wolf Trap, has sung with Pete Seeger, and appeared on West Virginia’s Mountain Stage with Joan Baez, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Kathy Mattea. She made her debut at the Kennedy Center in Women of Gospel. This documentary features Caffie-Austin performing a range of spirituals, hymns and contemporary gospel numbers that represent the rich cultural heritage of African American song and worship. Caffie-Austin’s enthusiasm and belief in the redemptive power of faith are apparent as she is seen teaching gospel to a youth group, ministering to inmates at a state prison, and leading the choir at the Black Sacred Music Festival in Institute, West Virginia. Oral history, archival material, and interviews are combined with performance footage to tell a powerful story of personal freedom and triumph through faith, wisdom, and the support of a caring community.

YOUTH BORED: UNITING APPALACHIAN YOUTH (2002, 16m) | In the late 1990s Appalshop began hosting and mentoring Youth Bored, a collective of Whitesburg teens and young adults building their version of the localized, self-determined “DIY” scenes flourishing around the country via all-ages punk shows at makeshift venues. As an outlet for counterculture-inclined youth to pursue individual identity and conscious community-building, Youth Bored soon encompassed a variety of third-space activities from film screenings and poetry readings to workshops and book clubs. Drawing on show footage and testimonials, this short documentary offers a snapshot of the project’s constructive influence and what it meant to those involved.

https://centralcinema865.com/production/free-tamis-presents-three-films-by-appalshop/

Featuring Richard Jolley, Andrew Saftel, Maggie Taylor, Margaret Scanlan, Denise Stewart-Sanabria, Michael Poness, Eric Pardue, Jennifer Theom, Denise Riddle and Sally Brogden

Closed Sat May 25 - Mon May 27 for the holiday weekend

Bennett, 5308 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-Sa 10-5:30. Information: 865-584-6791, https://bennetthome.com/

A new solo exhibition of mixed-media, image-text artworks
www.underwoodartworks.com

Opening with a public reception, Saturday, May 11, 2024, 1pm to 5pm

Also showing work by Jennifer Simon in an adjacent gallery

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

The Frothy Monkey is currently exhibiting artworks from the Tennessee Artist’s Association’s show of “Take Care of One Another” from May through July at the Frothy Monkey, 419, S. Gay St. Knoxville, TN 37902.

The Frothy Monkey is the perfect stop for coffee, conversation and community. The restaurant serves breakfast through dinner, and loves it when a coffee chat turns into a lunch or dinner date. The Frothy Monkey seeks to provide a safe and welcoming environment that can nourish guests and build community relationships.

Tennessee Artists Association; A great place to learn and grow as an artist. Monthly programs of TAA include practical art demonstrations, discussions, and opportunities for individual artists to get involved in learning, community and shows. More on TAA can be found on the web at https://tnartists.org or on Instagram at @tn_artists, and on Facebook at TNArtistsAssociation.

Pen, Ink and Colored Pencil drawings of weathered barns throughout the Midwest, Kentucky and Tennessee by Curt Imerman

“Blessed are the Meek” and “Animal Spirits” : Wildlife drawings by Cheri Jorgensen

Westminster Presbyterian Church Schilling Gallery, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-R 9-4, Fri 9-1. Information: (865) 584-3957 or www.wpcknox.org

Drawn from the remarkable collection of John Hechinger, a hardware store magnate, and art collector, the 68 featured works in the exhibition present images of the most familiar tools as extraordinary works of art. Encompassing photographs, paintings, works on paper, and sculptures, the exhibition celebrates the value of labor and honors the creativity of builders, artists, hobbyists, and self-reliant DIYers. Featured artists include Colleen Barry, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Maria Porges, James Surls, and Wayne Thiebaud.

The renowned art collection of the late hardware magnate John Hechinger exemplifies this practical and artistic universality. Over his long career, Hechinger devoted much of his energy, playfulness, and passion to this collection, seeking out works from numerous genres and artists of many backgrounds, all of them bound by a common theme: the democracy of the tool. In Work and Play, curator Sarah Tanguy explores interlocking principles: tools as icons of labor; labor as a component of creativity; creativity as a form of play; and the art of tools as the most incisive expression of their interrelatedness. This exhibition celebrates the virtues inherent in the art of the tool and highlights the astounding breadth of the Hechinger Collection by illuminating this unique, but ubiquitous, idiom.

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.

Join us for the opening of “Pottery From Somewhere Else Entirely” by Michael Arpino on May 3rd from 6-8 pm.

Arpino's unique pieces are each a statement of individuality!
https://www.instagram.com/arpinoceramics/

Rala: Regional and Local Artisans, 112 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Mon-Thu & Sat 11-6, Fri 11-8, Sun 11-5. Information: 865-525-7888, https://shoprala.com or www.instagram.com/ShopRala

First Friday Reception: May 3rd, 5:30 - 9 pm

Vincent Drake was born in 1976 in Udon Thani, Thailand to a Thai mother and American father and spent his formative years in a working class neighborhood in southeast Los Angeles. He attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and the San Francisco Art Institute where he studied Fine Art Painting. Drake's art can be seen as an exploration of society's struggle with the individual and our human nature. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Canada. He currently finds himself home in Knoxville, Tennessee. Drake is inspired by the absurdity of modern American society; the irrational ideals we're convinced to accept, the relentless marketing and propaganda, the tribalism, disgust, perverted romanticism and violence that has become characteristic of us. In his art, Drake is unconcerned with beauty or idealization. He is interested in investigating our culture's influence on our identities and the confusion, panic, and suffering that results. His subjects are people; sometimes we as individuals, sometimes us as a group. They are part mechanical construction, part hallucination; both comical and uncomfortable; suffering, confused, and trapped by their emptiness and proselytized ambitions.

Artist Julie Fawn Boisseau-Craig works in glass and porcelain, but also utilizes metals and wood as necessary to create her sculptural pieces. Julie designs and creates many functional and wearable works at Wild Pony Studio, her personal studio in Rockford, Tennessee, and does hot shop glass works at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro, North Carolina. Boisseau-Craig has shown nationally and participated in many workshops and demonstrations. Her work directly responds to the contradictions of life. Julie received her Master of Fine Arts degree in December of 2012, after which, she taught at Western Carolina University and still teaches at Southwestern Community College in North Carolina. Julie is currently the Chapter Representative of the East Chapter of Tennessee Craft as well as a board member. Julie is also the President on the board of the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville, in addition to being an exhibiting artist at the gallery. Julie also concentrates on her studio work, art shows across the country, and teaching workshops.

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

Friday, May 3, from 6-8 Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artist Amber Purdy.

Amber Purdy makes mixed media collages that blend vintage imagery, nature themes, and up-cycled materials into arresting new compositions. She usually begins with old books, papers, or photographs that she has spent years collecting. She enjoys the challenge of combining images both old and new in an unexpected way. Her pieces often reference nature, dreams, memories, and the ever-present link between the past and the present.

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 May 3-31, 2024. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Nicholas Horner, DJ Morrison and Maggie Tharp.

M. Kobe is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They earned an MFA in Painting from Boston University, a BFA in Painting, and a BA in Art History from Louisiana State University. Kobe is a storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist working primarily with textiles, found natural materials, and lucky objects. Drawing upon her experiences growing up in the American South, her work contends with the religious mythologies of her upbringing, superstition, notions of home, and cultural inheritance. Kobe is currently an Artist in Residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and was recently a resident at Azule.

As an artist from the American South, primarily Louisiana and North Carolina, I make work that is informed by my own natural history and questions what it means to live in these regions now. Building off the myths of my religious upbringing, folk tales taught in elementary school, and my love for country music, I navigate these superstitions and examine what it means to write my own. The art objects I make, tapestries and sculptures, are embedded with found natural or "lucky" materials and imbued with personal narrative. I am learning what it means to love a place that can be hard to love, to love a landscape that loves me back. I make my work with gratitude and admiration and as a critical yet redemptive response to the complicated places I call home.

www.madelainekobe.com | Instagram @madelainekobe

Dongyi Wu was born and raised in China. She is a contemporary jewelry artist and is currently an Artist in Residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She received her master's degree in Metal and Jewelry Design from Rochester Institute of Technology; a bachelor's degree in Jewelry Art Design from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China; and a dual degree in Fashion and Engineering from the same undergraduate school in China. Wu has shown nationally and internationally and recently presented her sixth solo exhibition at the Clamp Light Studios & Gallery in San Antonio, Texas. Her works have been featured in many publications, such as Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design and New Brooches: 400+ Contemporary Jewellery Designs. Her work is permanently collected by Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School & Academy, in Florence.

My works span across contemporary jewelry, body jewelry, fashion art, sculpture, and conceptual installation, and contemporary jewelry is the primary medium of my current artistic research. I treat jewelry as a tool to explore the relationship between human bodies and their surrounding spaces as well as a visual language that is delivered to others without real words. I liken myself to a storyteller who narrates stories that seem to be trivial and common but express strong and genuine emotions. I categorize materials according to their colors/shapes/texture and spend time exploring the connections between the selected materials and my personal experiences/preferences. In this case, all the materials that appear in my work speak of my personality and feelings.

www.dongyiwu.com | Instagram @dongyi.w

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-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday (May 4 & 11), 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and 5:00-7:00 PM on Fri May 10 for a Gallery 1010 opening. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.