Calendar of Events

Join us on Sunday June 2nd at Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in celebration of Tennessee Statehood Day from 12-4 p.m. On June 1, 1796, Congress approved the admission of Tennessee as the sixteenth state of the Union.

Our 1809 Blacksmith shop will be open with demonstrations going on throughout the afternoon. Come out and share the afternoon with living history in our 1800’s Dog-trot Log cabin. Learn about Cherokee’s in the Civil War.

The museum is named for Sequoyah, a Cherokee, who could not read or write in any language, who perfected a system for reading and writing the Cherokee language so that the nation and its heritage would live forever. This year is the bicentennial of Sequoyah finishing his syllabary. Our acorn printing press will be doing demonstrations throughout the day. All Statehood Day activities are free and also enjoy free admission to the museum.

Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, 576 Hwy 360, Vonore, TN 37885. Hours: M-Sa 9-5, Su 12-5. Information: 423-884-6246, www.sequoyahmuseum.org

Flights of Fancy: Artworks inspired by Hummingbirds by Cheri Jorgenson

Artist statement: My wildlife artwork began after our Covid isolation, when I finally became aware of these animals. I became an appreciator and observer of our local residents, particularly hummingbirds, and began to create artwork inspired by them. In 2022, our art group was invited to do an art show at Ijams Nature Center, home of the Annual Hummingbird Festival, and many of these were exhibited there.

Bio: Cheri Jorgenson has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alabama and a Masters of Science in Art Education from the University of Tennessee. Originally a graphic designer, she was then an art teacher for Knox County Schools for 20 years, retiring from the L&N STEM Academy in 2020. She was the 2012 Tennessee Art Educator of the Year and the 2021 National Art Honor Society Sponsor of the Year. In 2004, she co-founded COMMA, an air group that meets weekly at UT Gardens. Ms. Jorgenson lives in South Knoxville with her husband in a very old farmhouse surrounded by natural habitat.

June & July 2024
South Knoxville Library Gallery, 4500 Chapman Highway, Knoxville, TN 37920
Hours: M/T/R: 10am – 8pm, Wed: 10am – 5:30pm, F/S: 10am – 5:30, Sun: Closed. (Closed Juneteenth and Independence Day)

The Nief-Norf Summer Festival is a multidisciplinary new music festival that brings together performers, composers, improvisers, scholars, and music technologists for collaboration and exploration of contemporary music within an immersive environment. Hosted at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the festival provides opportunities for masterclasses, workshops, and performances with world-renowned faculty at the state-of-the-art Natalie L. Haslam Music Center. Nief-Norf fosters an incredible community of contemporary musicians who create, collaborate, experiment, and problem solve in exploration of what it means to be contemporary musicians and perform for a modern audience.

https://www.niefnorf.org/

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

A new solo exhibition of collage artwork
Instagram @burdenhill_tribe

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

Also showing work by David Underwood 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