Calendar of Events

A world premiere! A romantic comedy by Tom Eubanks
At St. Gregory the Great Auditorium, Knoxville Catholic High, 9245 Fox Lonas Rd
Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2:30 PM

Thespis Thinks looks at theater politics and the relationships that evolve and sometimes simmer in the theater soup. When two small California theater companies vie for the same arts foundation grant, Board members and production staffs go on the offensive. A smear-merchant subverts the narrative about Coastline Theater Company to affect the decision of the Foundation. Coastline’s newly-appointed Artistic Director, widower and Georgia transplant Davis Cotton, struggles to transform this traditional theater company. His associate, Hillary Hampshire, stands in the way of Davis's vision. Hillary is so entrenched in the theater life, she has left herself no room for experiencing love—until Davis Cotton plucks her heartstrings, one string at a time. But is the song he’s playing real? Narrator of this contemporary theater chaos is pundit, play-by-play color commentator and ancient Greek actor, Thespis of Icara.

Tickets are available for the play at www.theater23.org/tickets. For more information contact info@theater23.org or 865-257-9493.

Lion King Jr. brings the African savanna to life on stage with Simba, Rafiki and an unforgettable cast of characters as they journey from Pride Rock to the jungle and back again in this inspiring, coming-of-age tale based on the Broadway musical and Disney animated film.

Tickets are available for the following performances:
Thursday, June 27, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Friday, June 28, 2024 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 6:00 PM

Where: Bearden Middle School, 1000 Francis Rd., Knoxville, TN
Children 3 and under are free.
All sales final. Tickets are non-refundable.
https://my.cheddarup.com/c/lyt-lionking/

Thursday, June 27 at the Foundry at World’s Fair Park

Mark your calendars for KHP’s primary fundraising event when we also recognize individuals for their significant contributions to what we know about Knoxville history. This year, we’ll be honoring W.R. “Sandy” McNabb, who as a preservationist in the mid-1970s co-founded Knox Heritage to save the Bijou Theatre. His large-form hardback Tradition, Innovation & Romantic Images: Architecture of Historic Knoxville (UT, 1991) remains the best-known book on the city‘s architectural history.

There is no fee to attend but everyone is encouraged to make a donation to support the ongoing work of KHP before or during the event. Pre-registration via a table host or with KHP directly is essential. For further information, please contact Paul James, Director of Publishing & Development at paul@knoxhistoryproject.org or call 865-337-7723.

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

Sierra Hullo comes to the Bijou Theatre Thursday, June 27, at 7:30 PM.

Sierra Hull is widely regarded to be a master of her instrument; A two-time Grammy Nominated artist and songwriter, recognized for both her most recent projects, 25 Trips (2020) and Weighted Mind (2016), she is also the 6x recipient of IBMA's Mandolin Player of the Year, the first woman to ever receive this distinction. A pioneer for acoustic music throughout her already impressive multi-decade career, she has graced the country's most iconic stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, and the White House. Her virtuosic abilities have garnered respect from genre-defining trailblazers, friends, and collaborators such as Alison Krauss, Sturgill Simpson, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Béla Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, and Brandi Carlile.

Originally hailing from Byrdstown, Tennessee, her unique sound is rooted in bluegrass, and she is widely considered one of acoustic music's most inventive artists.

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

This event will take place on June 27 at 5pm at our 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

Join us for a craft fair! For more information, call 865-523-1135.
611 Winona St, Knoxville, TN, United States, Tennessee 37917
https://www.facebook.com/events/7430713493650106/

Fourth Thursdays every month. This is a welcoming social dance open to people of all experience levels. No partner required and instruction provided as we go.

$10 general admission at the door, $5 for JCA members, seniors, and students. Dance at 7, doors at 6:30.

https://www.facebook.com/events/342379521752932/342379535086264/

6/21 • Full Moon Paddle
6/21 • Full Moon Hike
6/22 • Summer Tree ID: Beginner Workshop
6/22 • Caving Trip
6/22 • Terror in the Woods
6/23 • Forest Bathing Workshop
6/23 • Self Care Sunday Yoga
6/23 • Paint and Plant with an Opossum Workshop
6/23 • Summer Tree ID: Beginner Workshop
6/23 • Evening Paddle
6/27 • Moths and More: Ijams After Dark
6/28 • Pickin' on Nature with Clinch River Ramblers and True Blue
6/28 • Moths and More: Ijams After Dark
And more!

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Visitor Center open daily 10-6; grounds and trails open daily from 8 AM - dusk. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

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

Join us on Friday, June 7th for the Opening Reception of 'Menagerie: A Solo Exhibition by Gared Luquet' from 5-8PM. Enjoy live music from SPNCE from 6-8PM. Free & open to the public, a cash bar will be available.
Gallery Hours: M-F 10AM-5PM

This exhibition, Menagerie, transcends the traditional portrayal of wildlife, mirroring the similarities in emotional expressions shared between human beings and animals in the modern world. Through this anthropomorphic lens, Luquet presents a playful nod to traditional portraiture, where surrealism interlaces with classic compositions, often with a subtle undertone of irony.

Gared Luquet is a Knoxville-based artist and muralist. His large-scale acrylic paintings transcend the traditional portrayal of wildlife, mirroring the similarities in emotional expressions shared between human beings and animals in the modern world. Through this anthropomorphic lens, Luquet presents a playful nod to traditional portraiture, where surrealism interlaces with classic compositions, often with a subtle undertone of irony. Additionally, his paintings contrast the interplay of man-made elements, such as the use of classic neon signs as backgrounds, in place of the animal's natural biome. Gared is a graduate of Pepperdine University where he majored in studio art with an emphasis in painting.

Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com