Calendar of Events

Wild Birds Unlimited Knoxville and Orange Hat Brewing are thrilled to host our 2nd annual Birds & Brews event! Enjoy an afternoon of great beer while learning about owls and other birds of prey in our area. Event Details:

Date: Saturday, August 12th, 11am - 3pm (doors open at 10:30am)
Location: Orange Hat Brewing, 10246 Hardin Valley Rd
Special Presentations:
Stephen Lyn Bales: Local naturalist and author
Lisa Thomison and Chris Thomison: Owners of Owl Ridge Raptor Center, along with their owl and bird of prey ambassadors, including Thistle, the Barn Owl!

Tickets: $15 (plus tax), Includes: Admission to the event, swag bag, and brewery tour
Food: Onsite food truck. The venue and event are family and dog friendly. This is an outdoor event. In case of rain, it will be moved indoors. Don't miss this unique opportunity to support local wildlife and enjoy a fun-filled day with friends and family!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/birds-and-brews-2024-tickets-868466154647

The Knoxville Choral Society is excited to announce fall auditions for the 2024-2025 season on August 11, 12, 18, and 19. Auditions will take place at Ball Camp Baptist Church, located at 2412 Ball Camp Byington Road in Knoxville. Openings are available in all voice parts for the 100-voice volunteer choir. Rehearsals are held most Monday evenings from August to May, between 7:30 and 9:30 PM. The audition process includes an assessment of vocal quality, sight-reading, and tonal memory drills. No prepared piece is required. For more information and to reserve an audition time, visit www.knoxvillechoralsociety.org/Sing or email membership@knoxvillechoralsociety.org.

Since 1951, the Knoxville Choral Society has proudly shared a diverse range of choral music with the Knoxville community. Dedicated to choral performance excellence, the group, consisting of over 100 auditioned musicians, performs major choral and orchestral works, highlighting a variety of choral literature and styles.

“The Knoxville Choral Society offers singers the chance to participate in high-caliber choral concerts in our area,” says John Orr, Artistic Director of the Knoxville Choral Society. “We seek artistic, creative singers who love choral music of all kinds and who want to connect through the creative expression of the choral arts.” For additional information about the 2024-2025 concert season and tickets, visit www.knoxvillechoralsociety.org.

Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Free and open to the public
Reception Friday, August 9, 2024, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Artist talks at 6:30 p.m.
Gallery hours: 9:30 - 4:30 Monday through Thursday, 9:00 – 1:00 Sunday
At Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

Mary Bow
Images of many different animals, both domesticated and wild, are rendered in thickly applied acrylic paint on textured canvases using a dry brush technique that allows successive layers of color to show through. Bow hopes to provoke empathy for non-human animals as they live, raise their young and experience joy, sorrow and pain. Mary Bow has degrees in Anthropology, Psychology, and Visual Art, as well as higher degrees in Education. She feels that she has a unique perspective on how human relationships with others in the animal kingdom have changed over time. www.marypbow.com

Curt Imerman’s finely detailed drawings of barns are created by using fine-tipped pens as a brush rather than an instrument to draw lines. As the tip of the pen wears away from use, it produces lighter and finer lines, allowing different effects. Imerman says, “Barns are disappearing from our country’s landscape at an ever-increasing rate. Barns are a part of our Americana. This is my way of memorializing and sharing my fascination with old, weathered barns.” Imerman’s attention to detail comes from his career as a mechanical designer for a major U.S. crane manufacturer. While designing cranes, Curt’s drawing talent was called upon to prepare conceptual drawings of various lift crane designs. He is a member of the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville and serves on their Board of Directors.

https://tvuuc.org/

8/9 • Knoxville Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream
8/9 • Evening Paddle
8/10 • Knoxville Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
8/11 • Sound Bath Meditation
8/11 • Paint and Plant with an Owl Workshop
8/11 • Knoxville Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream
8/16 • Movies Under the Stars: Across the Universe
8/16 • Evening Paddle

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

This upcoming First Friday we will be showcasing “Sueños,” an exhibition that celebrates the artistry of Honduran artists Sergio Martínez, Valeria Martínez, and Estefano Martínez.

https://holahoralatina.org/current-exhibit/
865.335.3358

Emporium Center + Dogwood Gallery
Reception: August 2nd / 5-8PM
Details TBA

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

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

My creations come to life on Gesso boards or framed wooden painting panels, where I breathe vibrancy into each drop with acrylic paint. The final touch is a resin overlay, which enhances and illuminates the colors making them dance with brilliance and vitality. My paintings are a dance of contemporary and modern style, infused with the hues of nature. Each piece is a vessel of energy, capturing the essence of the world around us.

Farhad Naimy trained professionally as an engineer and later brought his passion for architecture, design and creative use of space to his custom-built multi-million dollar homes that now span across the landscape in San Francisco and other cities throughout the Pacific Northwest. His love of the Eastern Tennessee mountains and his family brought him back to Knoxville where he draws from his international experiences of a lifetime to create art. Naimy is captivated with Fluid Art because of his deep connection to nature and color. In both there is infinite variety, and like love, infinite expressions.

Instagram @fluidartbyfarhad

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. 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.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

Classic fairy tales are deep and complex, reflecting reality: light and dark, good and evil, life and death. Unlike modern interpretations, they don’t sugarcoat the hard truths to make them more palatable. Monsters, tricksters, and haters still exist; not every story ends happily ever after. Each new day, we are challenged to navigate through the unknown, making choices when we can, reaping the consequences of choices made before, and reacting to both the actions of others and the whims of providence. Fairy tales offer a treasure trove of human experience and wisdom that we can learn from and apply to our lives, hopefully avoiding the common pitfalls found by those who’ve gone before. I find inspiration in the captivating depictions of these stories created during the Golden Age of Illustration by artists such as Arthur Rackham, John Bauer, and Edmund Dulac. To create my artwork, I use a scroll saw to “unsew” various shapes from domestic and exotic woods carefully selected for their color, grain, and density. Utilizing a rotary tool and various sanders, the pieces are shaped, textured, finished, and fitted together, resulting in a three-dimensional effect. I’ve adapted a mixed media technique to increase the dimensionality by “floating” figures in multiple layers on a background scene, all enhanced by paint, stains, dyes, pyrography, acrylic resin, gemstones, and/or other materials.

Steven L. Griffin is a retired Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), having worked in health system leadership for more than 30 years. Originally from Dalton, Georgia, he currently resides in the Possum Creek area near Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. Being a lifelong learner and avid DIY’er (along with a touch of ADHD!) has led to broad accumulation of hobbies and skills. He and his wife are aspiring world travelers, having visited 39 countries to date. His current passion, mixed-media intarsia, began as a pandemic pastime but rapidly grew as he discovered the satisfaction of incorporating many of his previous skills into a unique art form.

Instagram @gryphon_intarsia
https://slgryphon1.wixsite.com

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. 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.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

This exhibition is twelve years in the making and came together from my past works and inspirations throughout those years. It is a portrait of my inspirational process and a look across the variety of objects that I have challenged myself to make (mostly in glass with a few ceramic pieces). I have always enjoyed leveraging my creative talents to make things that I like just because I like them. It is a very freeing feeling when you’re making what you want to make just because you want to make it. From my desire to craft chop sticks to eat sushi I love to my curiosity about glass dice for use in games, this exhibition displays some of my diverse interests and burning desire to turn them into art.

Drew Turner initially worked in clay, taking classes at Farragut High School, Mighty Mud Studios, and Pellissippi State with Jim Darrow. He has also taken classes in metalworking, including wire wrapping, soldering, and enameling. For the past ten years, Turner has worked with blowing glass, first at a small-scale production studio and later studying at Penland School of Crafts on multiple occasions. He also started flameworking and fusing glass around the same time. Additionally, he works with stained glass in panels, having studied at Fountain City Stained Glass. All the while, he has pursued Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering from Pellissippi State and Tennessee Technological University, respectively. Turner has always been curious about how the world works and making things with that knowledge.

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. 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.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

Hosted by Dogwood Arts, the Dogwood Regional Exhibition showcases artwork of all styles and genres created by emerging and professional artists working within a seven-state region. This year, they received 403 artwork submissions from 160 artists working throughout the Southeast. The 2024 exhibition, juried by Knoxville-based artist Chris McAdoo, will include work by 49 artists from six states:

Lauren Adams, Michael Baggarly, Stacia Baldwin, Keith Bryant, Jordan Butzine, Michelle Carr, Caitlyn Clark*, Virginia Derryberry, Vincent Drake, Garrett Durland, Nathaniel Ely, Robert Felker, Gordon Fowler, Deana Fulton, Hannah Hancock, Kathy Holland, Tyler Jamison, Donald Keefe, Gaiane Khachaturian, Hannah Langer*, Carolina Lebar, Megan Lingerfelt, Gared Luquet, Elysia Mann, David Marquez, Brian Melton, Allison Meriwether, Caroline Murphy, Leslie Nichols, Michael Nichols*, Brent Oglesbee, Carrie Pendergrass, Amber Purdy, Jacob Robertson, Wesley Roden*, Autumn Roe*, Adam Rowe, Dennis Sabo, Stephen Simmerman, Kelly Spell, Sarah Spillers, Eric Standley*, Jason Stout, Sarah Stringfellow, Sonia Summers, Marc Ward, Chase Williamson, Megan Wolfkill, Laura Woodson.

*In addition to the display at the Emporium, the Dogwood Regional Exhibition includes large-scale installations in the Dogwood Arts Gallery (just down the street from the Emporium at 123 W. Jackson Avenue). The five artists with an asterisk will exhibit their work in the Dogwood Arts Gallery. Over $2,000 will be awarded to participating artists on Friday, August 2. www.dogwoodarts.com/regional

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. 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.

Paintings by Lauren Adams, opening reception on Friday, Aug 2, 5-9 PM

RED Gallery, 130 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-524-0146 or https://www.facebook.com/REDgalleryKNOX/

The Arts & Culture Alliance, with support from Messer Construction, is pleased to present a new installation entitled WIN THE FUTURE! in the Emporium Center's main gallery throughout the month of August and opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM.

WIN THE FUTURE!, created by Jake Barton, is an immersive experience allowing visitors the opportunity to interact with their future selves and see how their current decisions shape Knoxville’s future health and well-being. As visitors make choices, they will walk among the trees of the Smokies; then, while inside an interactive DreamCube, they may be invited to extinguish a forest fire, clear flooded streets, or plant virtual flowers. This unique experience, focused on the climate crisis, helps visitors discover actions that can change the future, for better or worse. Preview the DreamCube at https://theaccelerator.studio/dreamcube.

The DreamCube serves as a "time machine" to save the future. It utilizes a customized algorithm to help visitors discover their highest impact climate actions by talking to their future self. The DreamCube also compiles solutions for systems change to not only create a shift in climate action but also in how we talk about it.

Jake Barton is principal and founder of Local Projects, a New York-based design firm which specializes in media design. Since 2006, Barton and his team have worked on creating the media design for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum; they also worked to develop the algorithm used to place names around the 9/11 Memorial itself. Other clients include the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Frank Gehry-designed Eisenhower Presidential Memorial and Cleveland Museum of Art. In 2013, Local Projects was named the National Design Award winner for Interaction Design, while in 2011 it was listed as the second most innovative design firm by Fast Company magazine. Barton designs museum experiences that bring complex topics to life, inspiring reflection and action.

WIN THE FUTURE! is sponsored by Messer Construction with support from the Arts & Culture Alliance and the Emporium Center. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9 AM - 5 PM or by appointment through Thursday, August 29.

As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free opening reception on Friday, August 2 will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and TOO EASY (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

The Emporium Center is located at 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.