Calendar of Events

Local Voices: Author Talks at the Historic Ramsey House is a year-long event that will spotlight a different author each month, providing attendees with a unique opportunity to explore the diverse talents shaping the region's literary landscape. Attendees can expect engaging presentations, discussions, and Q&A sessions with featured authors, providing an enriching experience for writers and book lovers of all ages. Admission to all events is free, and the entire community is invited to join in celebrating the power of storytelling.

Historic Ramsey House, 2614 Thorngrove Pike, Knoxville, TN 37914. Information: 865-546-0745, www.ramseyhouse.org

Join us on Market Square, located in the heart of Downtown Knoxville, for free concerts during the summer of 2024!

Concerts on the Square presented by Comcast will feature a variety of Jazz music on Tuesdays in May, June & September from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. and a variety of music genres on the Third Thursdays in the months of May-September.

Variety Thursdays 7 p.m.-9 p.m.

Jeanine Fuller is a seasoned vocalist and performer who delivers stunning, soulful performances with eclectic blends of musical styles. Her musical influences vary from Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald to Dianne Reeves and Chaka Khan to Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Prince. This performance will feature a 10 piece band.
https://www.jeaninefullermusic.net/

Free parking is available in all City owned garages after 6pm. Market Square Garage, Locust Street Garage, State Street Garage, and Langley Garage are the closest to Market Square. https://www.knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_departments_offices/special_events/concerts_on_the_square

Stay informed about the bands performing and any weather-related cancellations by checking the City of Knoxville Special Events Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CityofKnoxvilleSpecialEvents.

Justin Willman Illusionati Tour, Thursday, June 20, 8:00PM at the Bijou Theatre.

Justin Willman wants to melt your brain while making you laugh. He's best known as the star and creator of the hit Netflix series Magic For Humans and The Magic Prank Show with Justin Willman. But you may recognize him from one of his many television appearances (The Tonight Show, The Today Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Conan...). Or maybe you know his work as a host (Baking Impossible; Cupcake Wars; Win, Lose or Draw...). Or maybe he's the child magician you hired in suburban St. Louis in the '90s. If you don't know Justin, he's a magician and comedian who's mastered the art of turning cynics into believers (or at least getting them to laugh).

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

This event will take place on June 20 at 6pm at the bookstore.

This is a free event. Please RSVP: https://www.unionavebooks.com/events

Union Ave Books, 517 Union Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-951-2180

Thursday, June 20 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvf-yrrjwvHNKYeUyIqcZ_i1trwBkxqiMy#/registration

Our next public Zoom, on June 20, will be about Knoxville’s formative (and often dramatic) associations with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is the subject of our big public event at the end of July. We’ll offer a preview of that event, which will include lectures, discussions, and film screenings concerning the park’s birth.

Knoxville History Project: 865-300-4559, www.Knoxvillehistoryproject.org

We're gearing up for another evening walk through some trees, with Tom Welborn as our host. Learn the ins and outs of arboreta.

We hope to see y'all out at Racheff Park and Arboretum at 5:30pm. No need to sign up, just show up! 1943 Tennessee Ave, Knoxville, TN 37921

https://www.treesknoxville.org/

Join us for the June Artist Spotlight Creative Mixer, featuring Brandon Woods.

Brandon Woods (b. 1987, Knoxville, TN, USA) is an interdisciplinary artist who creates artworks which bridge art, craft, science, and mathematics. Woods earned his MFA in Painting from SCAD in 2015 and his BFA in Studio Art (Painting and Sculpture) from Middle Tennessee State University in 2010. He has received numerous awards and grants for his work, including, most recently, a Bailey Opportunity Grant through the Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance. His work has been exhibited and collected throughout the United States and internationally: in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Hong Kong, Canada, and France. His most recent solo exhibition was “Spatium” at the Emporium Center in Knoxville, TN in July, 2021. He currently lives and works in Knoxville, where he is continuing the work he made in his “Spatium” exhibition for an upcoming solo exhibition exploring the planets in our solar system. He is represented by Pivot Point gallery in Knoxville.

Mixer will be held at his studio at: 1127 N Broadway St, Knoxville at 6pm. BYOB
Come out and meet other fellow creatives and talk about art in the local scene!
https://www.facebook.com/events/438250912129291/

FREE Tour Series
Wednesday, June 19, and Saturday, June 22, 2024, times varied.

Join us for special tours to commemorate Juneteenth. Mabry-Hazen House will share stories, objects, and research related to the historic house museum, local enslaved communities, and their stories of emancipation. Visitors will learn about the lives of African-Americans connected to Mabry-Hazen House, their achievements and struggles, and the various ways they gained their freedom. From self-liberation to the 13th Amendment, “...And Then I Became Free: Stories of Emancipation at Mabry-Hazen House” will explore the different methods enslaved people broke down the oppressive institution of American chattel slavery and fought to gain their personal liberty.

On Wednesday, June 19th, the museum will offer special Juneteenth tours at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm.
On Saturday, June 22nd, tours will be offered at 10:30am, 12:00pm, 1:30pm.

Admission is free, but tours are limited to twenty-four (24) visitors per tour.
Reservations are encouraged and donations are appreciated.
https://www.simpletix.com/e/and-then-i-became-free-stories-of-emancip-tickets-173716

Winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35mm film projectors in the state. A hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world.

Jun 16 - 23, 2024
Central Cinema, 1205 North Central Street, Knoxville, Tennessee 37917
https://www.simpletix.com/e/the-flick-by-annie-baker-tickets-158344

Reception Friday, June 14, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Artists’ talks at 6:30 pm.
Free and open to the public

“Indicia” is defined as indications, traces or evidence; something serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact, quality or feeling. Mixed-media artists Emily Taylor and Jean Hess – long-time friends and colleagues -- make work about recollecting and reconsidering early memories, family history and chaotic life paths. They each gather and playfully experiment with found and natural materials along with traditional art media, aiming to surprise themselves and others.

Jean Hess’ work is in public collections including the Huntsville, Knoxville and Evansville museums of art as well as corporate and private collections. She writes about art, gives classes and opens her Knoxville studio and garden by appointment: www.jeanhess.com

Emily Taylor teaches studio art locally as an adjunct professor and in other workshop formats. She has shown her work locally, regionally and in group shows and private collections. Contact her to visit or come to an open studio in Bearden!
https://www.facebook.com/emilytaylorpaintings/
Instagram:@emilytaylor9515

Gallery hours: 9:30-4:30 Monday through Thursday, 9:00-1:00 Sunday
Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

A two-person show, Outta Time, featuring recent works by artists Joshua Bienko (Knoxville, TN) and Lester Merriweather (Memphis, TN). Curator: Brian R. Jobe.

A preview reception will be held on Friday, June 7, 2024 from 5:00—8:00 pm. Additionally, there will be an artists’ reception on Friday, July 19, 2024 from 5:00—8:00 pm (artists in attendance). There will be an artist talk by Bienko and Merriweather beforehand on July 19 at 3:30pm.

Joshua Bienko (b. 1978, NY) received his MFA from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in 2008, and his BFA from the University of Buffalo in 2000. He has exhibited at NADA (NY), Dallas Contemporary (TX), Artpace (TX), Labor Ebertplatz (Köln), Vox Populi (PA), Big Medium (TX), OUTERSPACE (Facebook) and the Guggenheim Museum (in collaboration with YouTube Play Biennial). Most recently he has shown in New York, Portland, Baltimore, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. He has also curated shows in Brooklyn, Queens, Seattle, and Gainesville and is one of the founding members of the artist-run space Ortega y Gasset Projects in Gowanus, and C for Courtside in Knoxville. He is a 2009 Tanne Foundation recipient, and a Hambidge Residency and V.C.C.A Fellow. Bienko is an Associate Professor in the School of Art at the University of Tennessee, where he teaches Drawing and Painting. “Who’s the G.O.A.T.? Jordan! Or maybe J.M.W. Turner. Yeah, Either Jordan or Turner.”

Lester Julian Merriweather (b. 1978) is a Memphis-based visual artist. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. He holds an MFA from Memphis College of Art and a BA from Jackson State University. Merriweather has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. at various venues such as the Studio Museum (New York, NY), CAM (St. Louis, MO), TOPS Gallery, Crosstown Arts, and Powerhouse (Memphis, TN), Diverseworks (Houston, TX), Stella Jones Gallery (New Orleans, LA), and Atlanta Contemporary (Atlanta, GA). He has also exhibited internationally at the Zacheta National Gallery (Warsaw, Poland). Merriweather served as the first Curatorial Director of the Jones Gallery & the Martha & Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art at the University of Memphis from 2010-2016. He worked on the Board of Directors for Number, Inc. independent journal where he created the Art of the South exhibition series. He is a founding member of the ArtsMemphis Artist Advisory Council and the artsAccelerator Grant Panel. He served as the Curatorial Consultant for the PPF Contemporary Art Collection (Memphis, TN). He is Emeritus for the Advisory Panel of TONE Memphis. Merriweather is participating in Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage. Originating at The Frist Art Museum (Nashville, TN), the exhibition travels to The Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX) and The Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.).

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

This show is located within the unique architectural space of a narrow wooden stairwell.

A preview reception will be held on Friday, June 7, 2024 from 5:00—8:00 pm. Additionally, there will be another reception on Friday, July 19, 2024 from 5:00—8:00 pm (artist in attendance).

Michael Giles is a Venezuelan-American artist working primarily in painting and drawing. He has exhibited nationally including SITE: Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY), Core New Art Space (Denver, CO), Channel To Channel (Nashville, TN), William King Museum (Abingdon, VA), Crosstown Arts (Memphis, TN), Walters State Community College, Carson Newman University, and Fluorescent Gallery (Knoxville, TN). Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, at the age of five he immigrated with his family to Baltimore, OH. He studied as part of the Reciprocal Exchange Program at Edith Cowan University (Perth, Australia, 1996) and received a BFA from The Ohio State University in 2000, and an MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2007. He is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN. He lives and works in Knoxville, TN, with his wife and son and various furry animals.

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