Calendar of Events

June 1 - August 3, 2024
First Friday Receptions | June 7, July 5, August 2, 5-9pm
UT Downtown Gallery

In Southern Black communities, our stories aren't simply passed down from one generation to the next—they serve as maps with markers for our future. This truth is evident in The Bottom, a neighborhood in East Knoxville, Tennessee. Despite its demolition in the 1950s due to urban renewal and systemic racism, its legacy lives on.

Curated by Good Black Art and grounded in the research of Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin, a local sociologist specializing in race, place, and Black communities, The Bottom: Stories from the Neighborhood is an exhibition that delves into life in the neighborhood beyond its destruction. While it highlights the narrative of Knoxville, it resonates with Black, Brown, Indigenous, and underprivileged communities across different times and places. The exhibition presents both familiar and imaginative interpretations by two Southern artists through a dialogue of folklore and futurism, drawing from oral histories of former residents and archival sources from The Bottom.

AHMAD GEORGE is a painter and multimedia artist from Memphis, Tennessee. They’ve shown at NADA Miami as well as national and international group and solo exhibitions. Through their work, they explore the liminal space between reality, mythology, folklore, and self. Their worldbuilding thins the veil of this world by mixing imagery of the American South (mostly scenes from Tennessee and Mississippi) with local and sourced myths from different parts of the world. Oftentimes, they use people from their own life to be the protagonists of these narratives. Major themes they explore in their paintings currently include generational history, transformation, consequence, and spiritual alchemy.

ERIN LEANN MITCHELL is a textile artist from Birmingham, Alabama. Her work is an expansion of the southern quilting tradition, using a mixture of textiles and collage gathered in textile markets and fabric stores. These multidimensional assemblages render the realities of southern Blackness into radical new imaginings. Repositories of history, rampant with particulars, my quilt-based pieces are storytelling vehicles. They liberate imaginative territory, creating a home-place for full subjectivity and resistance. They indicate a way forward. Quilting is a dynamic, evolving artform linking Africans in the diaspora and those on the continent. She honors tradition as she reshapes it, paying homage while challenging convention. Her needlework moves Black women’s legacy off the clothesline and onto museum walls.

This exhibition is in partnership with Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin, The Bottom, and Good Black Art. Funding for the UT Downtown Gallery is generously provided by the Arts & Culture Alliance, Knox County, and the Department of the Treasury.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay Street. Hours: W-F: 11am - 6pm, Sat: 10am - 3p. For more information: ewing@utk.edu | https://downtown.utk.edu

Sat, June 1 Time : 10-4
Details TBA

Marble Springs State Historic Site: 1220 West Governor John Sevier Highway, Knoxville, TN 37920. Information: 865-712-9076, www.marblesprings.net

Welcome to Knoxville's Largest Kids' Party, the ultimate kickoff to summer!
Knoxville's Largest Kids' Party is looking forward to this year! Saturday, June 1st, 2024 from 10am – 5pm on the World's Fair Park Performance Lawn.

Join the non-stop fun with exciting kids activities, appearances by your favorite princesses and superheroes, eighty foot obstacle course, water slide, entertainment, the ultimate kids menu and more! Mark your calendars for the most unforgettable day of the year!

Your Attendance Benefits Children In Our Community.
https://www.knoxlargestkidsparty.com/

2024 BIJOU JUBILEE FEATURING THE MAVERICKS
SATURDAY, JUN 1 | 8PM

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

Announcing The Scruffy City Jazz Festival, presented by the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra!
Saturday, June 1, Market Square, beginning at 5:30 pm.
No ticket required - free and open to the public!

5:30 pm: Margherita Fava Quartet

7 pm: Rudresh Mahanthappa / Greg Tardy Quintet

8:30 pm: The Knoxville Jazz Orchestra

Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

June 1, 2024 marks the 228th anniversary of Tennessee’s admission into the Union as the 16th state!

Mabry-Hazen House will offer FREE tours on Saturday, June 1 from 10 am -3 pm! Living historians and docents will be on-site to share the history of the house and grounds.

Mabry-Hazen House, 1711 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN, 37915. Information: 865-522-8661, www.mabryhazen.com

Saturday, June 1, 10am-12pm

In collaboration with The Bottom, join us for a brunch and conversation with Good Black Art artists, Ahmad George, Erin LeAnn Mitchell, and founder Phillip Collins. The discussion will be moderated by Ty Murray, Director of Art and Communication at The Bottom.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay Street. Hours: W-F: 11am - 6pm, Sat: 10am - 3p. For more information: ewing@utk.edu | https://downtown.utk.edu

Winner of two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best New American Play and Best Off-Broadway Production. An inspired comic romp, equal in inventive hilarity to the author’s classic comedy The Nerd, the present play enjoyed a sold-out premiere in Milwaukee before moving on to a long run Off-Broadway. Based on what the NY Post describes as a “devilishly clever idea,” the play demonstrates what can happen when a group of devious characters must deal with a stranger who (they think) knows no English.

THE FOREIGNER
Fri. May 31st 2024, 7:30 pm
Sat. Jun 1st 2024, 7:30 pm
Sun. Jun 2nd 2024, 3:00 pm
Thu. Jun 6th 2024, 7:30 pm
Fri. Jun 7th 2024, 7:30 pm
Sat. Jun 8th 2024, 7:30 pm
Sun. Jun 9th 2024, 3:00 pm
Thu. Jun 13th 2024, 7:30 pm
Fri. Jun 14th 2024, 7:30 pm
Sat. Jun 15th 2024, 7:30 pm
Sun. Jun 16th 2024, 3:00 pm

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 800 S. Central Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information & tickets: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com

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