Calendar of Events

September 19-21: Fall Used Book Sale, Central United Methodist Church
Thursday, 3:00-7:00 (Members Only)
Friday, 10:00-5:00
Saturday, 10:00-5:00

Since 1970 Friends has donated over $1M to the Knox County Public Library. Our used book shop and book sales raised nearly $98,000 in FY 2023. Some of the library programs currently receiving support from Friends of the Library include the new Storybook Trails program, the Children’s Festival of Reading, Summer Library Club, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Knox County.
https://www.knoxfriends.org/book-sales/

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.

Enjoy Square Dancing on Market Square! You will be able to learn how to Square Dance and dance the night away. Bring your friends, family or meet someone new at the event and enjoy the Do Si Do and Promenade and so much more!

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.

Jubilee Community Arts is a benefitting participant in this year's Square on the Square square dance on Market Square in Downtown Knoxville on Thursday, September 19 at 7 pm. Stan Sharp will call a beginner friendly square dance on Market Square with the Spring Lizards performing. The event is free but donations to Jubilee Community Arts will be accepted and information about our coming events available.

The mission of Jubilee Community Arts is to promote, preserve and present the performing arts of the Southern region and to nurture the cultural milieu responsible for the birth and evolution of these and related art forms.

Jubilee Community Arts at the Laurel Theater (865) 522-5851
www.jubileearts.org

Union Ave Books is excited to present Dr. Gilya Schmidt for Hazzan Mordecai Gustav Heiser: An Artist, His Art, and the Cantor Tradition in America. This event will take place on Thursday, September 19th at 6pm at our bookstore. This is a free event. Please RSVP here: https://www.unionavebooks.com/event/author-event-dr-gilya-gerda-schmidt

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GILYA GERDA SCHMIDT is professor emerita of Religious Studies and director emerita of the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her most recent book is Süssen Is Now Free of Jews: World War II, the Holocaust, and Rural Judaism.

ABOUT THE BOOK
When Gilya Gerda Schmidt met him in 1986, Cantor Heiser had spent forty-six of his eighty-one years as a US citizen and was well-acquainted with mourning. Heiser had assumed the cantorate at Congregation B’nai Israel in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1942. A master of the cantor’s art, he was renowned for his style, elegant choir and service arrangements, and rich, dolesome voice, which seemed to pass effortlessly into hearers’ hearts.

But this book is more than a memorial to Heiser. Schmidt melds decades of archival research, conservation efforts, family interviews, and trips to Jerusalem and Berlin into a critical reconstruction of the life and vision of Hazzan Mordecai Gustav Heiser in the multiple contexts that shaped him. Coming of age in Berlin in the afterglow of the Second German Empire meant that young Gustav had tasted European Jewish culture in a rare state of refinement and modernity. But by January 30, 1940, when he reached New York with his wife, Elly, and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Judith, Cantor Heiser had lost nearly all of his living family relations to the extermination programs of the German Reich, after narrowly surviving a brief incarceration at Sachsenhausen.

While Cantor Heiser’s art was steeped in nineteenth-century tradition, Schmidt contends that Heiser’s music was a powerful affirmation of Jewish life in the twentieth century. In a final chapter, Schmidt describes his influence on the American cantorate and American culture and society.

https://utpress.org/title/hazzan-mordecai-gustav-heiser/
https://www.unionavebooks.com/event/launch-party-emily-b-riddle

(6:00-8:00 PM)
Calling all poets, singer-songwriters, and comics. Join us for our open mic night led by former Knoxville Poet Laureate, Rhea Sunshine and Jonathan “Courageous” Clark! Grab a drink or bite and shop work by 150+ makers in the Curio while you enjoy live music from Knoxville’s most talented performers. Free and open to the public – curated by Dogwood Arts.

710 Clinch Avenue
https://www.makerexchangeknox.com/calendar/tavernnotes-3-444-267-121-611-950-295-295-870-989-637-117-678-129-334/

Hola Hora Latina is proud to present Frutos Latinos, an art show competition celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and highlighting talented artists in our community. Local Hispanic/Latinx artists will showcase their artwork to celebrate their cultures and traditions. Top 3 winners will be announced at our gala event on September 17th.

For more information contact, enrique.cruz@holafestival.org

https://holahoralatina.org/current-exhibit/
https://www.facebook.com/share/cq3AHVaASuH33WFe/
HoLa Hora Latina: 865-335-3358

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

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Clayton Center for the Arts proudly presents the solo exhibition of Latina portrait artist and Maryville College alumna Saray Taylor-Roman.

Join us for an unforgettable visual journey through movement, motherhood, and creativity as you explore evocative and award-winning portrait photography.

A reception celebrating Saray and her work will be held on Friday, October 4th from 5-8pm in the CCA Galleries.

On display for viewing M-F 9-5 and during special events at Clayton Center for the Arts, 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information/tickets: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

Reception: September 6th / 5-8PM
October 4th / 5-8PM
Details TBA

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

First Friday Reception: September 6th, 5:30 - 9 pm

Linda Sullivan, Clay
Linda developed a special interest in glaze chemistry and development while receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Ceramics at Northern Illinois University. She continues to experiment with glazes, including crystalline glazes, which are some of the most difficult for achieving successful results. Linda states that the process for creating crystalline work is challenging and requires exacting conditions to ensure that crystals form – appropriate clay body, refined forms, fluid glazes with specific chemical ingredients, correct thickness of glaze, and complex firing and cooling kiln cycles. After the kiln reaches peak temperature, a computerized schedule controls the specific points and durations at which the temperature is held steady to encourage crystal formation. Coloring oxides in the glaze determine the resulting colors. Just as in nature when all conditions are perfect, crystals develop and grow, resulting in uniquely glazed pieces that differ from one another and cannot be duplicated.

Jack Retterer, Photography
Jack Retterer is a photographer and poet in East Tennessee. His work has been on display in numerous venues including the Emporium Art Gallery in Knoxville, the “Arts in the Airport” exposition at the McGee Tyson airport, the Knoxville Mayor’s office and the Knox County Mayor’s office. He has taught photography at Benedictine University in Naperville, Illinois. He currently teaches “Fine Art Photography at the University of Tennessee, and has also served on the boards of artist and photography associations in Tennessee and Illinois. Jack’s present and past professional affiliations and memberships include: Professional Photographers of America, Professional Photographer of East Tennessee, Tennessee Artists Association, Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance, Juried member of the Art Market Gallery, Art Guild of Fairfield Glade, Tellico Village Art Guild, Foothills Craft Guild, and The Tennessee Poetry Society.

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

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present six new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, September 6, 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 Fountain City Ramblers along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues.

Based on seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish still life paintings, I took inspiration to update my artistic process by studying the past through the sub-genre of vanitas and memento mori paintings. Vanitas is a still life artwork which includes various symbolic objects designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the worthlessness of worldly goods and pleasures. A memento mori is an artwork designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the shortness and fragility of human life. Every aspect of the picture has symbolism and language, some evident and common, some obscure. These pictures are all studio still life setups, photographed digitally. The permanence of our ideas and identities, whether in art or in life, are a vanity of mind.

David Gorley is an East Tennessee artist with a BFA in Fine Arts from East Tennessee State University. He challenges himself to explore photography’s various techniques and styles to create cohesive, succinct showings of bodies of work. He has used various formats of film and digital cameras over the years. He loves to remind viewers of our rich history of art and how a particular genre in a particular time period can still be relevant to expand upon today. His work has shown throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. www.davidgorley.com

The Emporium Center is located at 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Gallery hours are M-F 9-5 and Sat 10-1. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present six new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, September 6, 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 Fountain City Ramblers along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues.

This new collection of ceramic mosaics features geoscience investigations and discoveries in a broader context to enhance scientific understanding about natural processes among the public. In this exhibition, Anna Szynkiewicz presents artistic visualizations of geological settings investigated by the Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars as well as emphasizes the significance of clay use through time for water transport and purification. She has included mosaics made with help of University of Tennessee students who used imagination to express their knowledge gained in various Geoscience courses. The ceramic mosaics feature a variety of exciting career opportunities offered by Geoscience, including environmental, geology, water, and planetary fields.

Anna Szynkiewicz is an associate professor of geoscience in Earth & Planetary Sciences Department, University of Tennessee. She teaches geology and environmental science courses and conducts geochemical research in volcanic and desert areas on Earth that are believed to be analogous to the planet Mars. She is also a member of Mighty Mud, where she makes ceramic Martian rovers and mosaics featuring scientific topics taught in her classes and researched with her students.

The Emporium Center is located at 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Gallery hours are M-F 9-5 and Sat 10-1. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.