Calendar of Events

Tour de Lights is presented by Visit Knoxville and Bike Walk Knoxville! Prepare to immerse yourself in holiday joy with Tour de Lights, the fantastic, free, and family-friendly holiday bike ride presented by Visit Knoxville and Bike Walk Knoxville. Tour de Lights serves as a unifying celebration, engaging neighborhoods, local businesses, and the community, who gather to bask in the festive atmosphere. We encourage all participants to get into the holiday spirit by decorating themselves and their bikes.

Email: bikewalkknox@gmail.com
https://www.bwknox.org/tourdelights

Darrell Scott comes to the Bijou Theatre on Saturday, December 14 at 8:00 PM.

Tickets at: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B006131EB797107

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

The Arthritis Foundation’s original Jingle Bell Run is a fun way to get decked out and be festive, while racing to raise funds and awareness to cure America’s #1 cause of disability. Saturday, December 14, 2024.

Event Location
World's Fair Park Amphitheater, 525 Henley Street.

More information at: https://events.arthritis.org/
For more help or information about this year's Jingle Bell Run Knoxville, TN, contact Lauren Clanton at lclanton@arthritis.org or call 629-401-2692.

Tennessee Theatre presents National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Saturday, December 14, 8:00 PM.

Tickets at: https://am.ticketmaster.com/tenntheatre/buy/

Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information/tickets: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com

The WordPlayers presents a holiday season kick-off for the entire family: Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! The WordPlayers is excited to present one of the most exciting holiday shows you and your family will ever see! Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! plays December 13 at 7:30 pm and December 14 and 15 at 2:30 pm at the Clayton Performing Arts Center at Pellissippi State Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Rd, Knoxville. Tickets may be purchased online at https://wordplayers.org/buy-tickets/ or at the door. Adults: $18, Youth (13-18): $12, Children (12 and under): $8. Group Rate: $2 off each ticket of 10 or more purchased in advance. For more information, please call 865-539-2490.

Junie B. Jones, a First Grader, is super-excited about the upcoming Holiday Singalong and Secret Santa gift exchange at her school. Too bad tattletale May keeps ruining all of Junie B.’s fun. So, when Junie B. draws May’s name for Secret Santa, she comes up with the perfect plan to teach her nemesis a lesson! But will the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill interfere before she can give you-know-who what she deserves? A hilarious and endearing tale based on the best-selling book series by Barbara Park and written by Allison Gregory.

The WordPlayers is a 501(c) 3 faith-based theatre organization dedicated to providing high-quality productions for the Knoxville community.

In this hilarious Christmas classic, a couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids–probably the most inventively awful kids in history. You won't believe the mayhem–and the fun–when the Herdmans collide head-on with the story of Christmas!

Show Dates: Dec. 12-14, 2024
https://www.lytknox.com/2024-season

Wednesday, December 11 | 7PM Open Dress Rehearsal
Thursday, December 12 | 8PM
Friday, December 13 | 7PM & 9PM
Saturday, December 14 | 7PM & 9PM

Circle Modern Dance continues its annual holiday tradition of Modern Dance Primitive Light, a Winter Solstice performance of dance and live music by area choreographers, dancers, and musicians.

circlemoderndance@gmail.com or www.circlemoderndance.com

Reception Dec 13, 6-7:30 PM with artist's talks at 6:30 PM
Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Free and open to the public

Yvonne Dalschen
After living for over 20 years in the “Secret City” of the Manhattan Project, I never learned how to stop worrying and love the bomb. I am surrounded by fences and signs, atomic nostalgia, selective amnesia and heritage tourism, and I sometimes seem to be the only one bothered by this. “Ghosts of the Manhattan Project” started during the clean-up of K-25. This uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge was the largest building in the world when built in 1944. My work is an ongoing exploration of the landscapes and archives of the atomic age, layering histories with observations into photographic palimpsests. I picture the invisible and the unthinkable, collecting the choices and promises made, the stories told, the stories forgotten and the fears that haunt us at night.

Yvonne Dalschen is a German photographer living in Oak Ridge, TN. She is interested in history of place, cultural landscapes and digital experimentation. She earned an MA in Comparative Literature from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and a Photography Certificate from the University of Tennessee. Her images haven been exhibited nationally and internationally from Oak Ridge to Sydney, Australia, recently at the Knoxville Museum of Art, The Bascom Center and UGA’s Circle Gallery.

Debby Hall
“The Joy of Color” features paintings reflecting the artistry in nature through color and the spontaneity of alcohol inks and watercolors. Whether painting abstracts or more realistic mountains, flowers, landscapes or birds, Hall hopes her paintings bring people joy and a greater connection to the beauty around us.

Debby Hall is a self-taught artist whose paintings were juried into the Oak Ridge Art Center’s Open Show (September 2023) and the “Arts in the Airport” Spring 2024 show, where she received the Award of Merit. She exhibits often through Knoxville’s Arts & Culture Alliance and the St. Lucie Culture Alliance. She donates net proceeds from art sales to a non-profit charity, Saving Grace in Uganda, that rescues young homeless street children and gives them medical care, food, education, housing and hope in a country with virtually no social services. For more information visit her website, https://artforsavinggrace.com

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: M-Th 9:30-4:30, Su 9-1. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

Join the Appalachian Ballet Company and Clara on a magical journey to the Land of the Sweets. Principal Artists, Laura Morton La Russa and James La Russa will be taking the stage as Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier, as well as welcoming back guest artists, Aaron Smyth and Alexandre Gonzaga. This production features live music by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for all public performances conducted by ABC’s Music Director, Mr. James Fellenbaum.

At Knoxville Civic Auditorium
Saturday, December 7th 2024 Evening Performance 7pm
Sunday, December 8th 2024 Matinee Performance 3pm

At Clayton Center for the Arts
Friday, December 13th 2024 Evening Performance 7pm
Saturday, December 14th 2024 Matinee Performance 3pm

https://www.appalachianballet.org/tickets

First Friday Reception: December 6th, 5:30 - 9 pm
December Featured Artists

Claire Bodnaruk, Glass
A Native Tennessean, Claire Bodnaruk has lived in Australia, Florida, Minnesota and Chicago, before returning to her home state of Tennessee in 2019. Following a career in advertising, film & video production, she explored different creative outlets while raising her two daughters. Claire has been working in glass for over 20 years. Her journey in glass began with becoming proficient in metal fabrication, incorporating colorful glass into unique jewelry. During travels to London, France and Italy, she was inspired by the beautiful Venetian and stained glass art that led to exploring glass on a larger scale. Learning from recognized glass artists across the United States in glass blowing to glass fusing, Claire’s current focus is in kiln formed glass, the manipulation of shaping glass in a kiln with heat and gravity. The process to produce one piece may involve several firings with many hours in the cycle, multiple techniques and manipulations, and cold working for a quality finish. Her work is both functional and nonfunctional glass art.

Allen Monsarrat, Painting
Allen’s art education began with three years training in architecture, but finished with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in pottery at the Memphis College of Art. His first art career was as a studio potter in Friendsville, Tn for 25 years. That was followed by careers in decorative wall finishes, faux painting, cabinetry finishing and the occasional mural project. It was studying “trompe l’oiel” (fool the eye) imagery with French master craftsman Michel Nadai that nurtured his interest in creating representational art. “Creating a painting is always an exciting journey. I am never certain whether a painting will be as successful as I have envisioned it in my mind. I am more than a decade into developing my representational painting skills. I have honed my methodology into a procedure of how I develop a painting by breaking it into manageable steps. First choosing a subject with personal meaning based on my travels or a subject close to home here in East Tennessee. But the image must be a strong composition and contain a range of tonal values from darks to lights. This is worked out by doing an under painting by using only one color to establish a range of values. At this point I can concentrate on colors and brush application. Brush application refers to how apparent or not are the actual brush strokes. Slowly edging away from my original tendency toward photorealism, some of my new work has a more painterly feel to it. Yet, like a photograph, it retains a great deal of detail.
I have always been a student of art. The continuing passion I have for art is that I will never stop learning.”

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

RED Gallery is proud to announce the opening of if only in my dreams … by Melissa N. Everett

A collection of quilts, sculptural pieces, soft mixed with rigid, color used to nurture and encourage you to "be a wildflower”.

"As a mother, I wish I could provide solace and refuge for you all. Instead, we must connect to our inner children and play in our communities. Let’s escape to our dreams—find comfort in our imaginations. As a female artist, woman, and caregiver in a society that undervalues my contributions, this is my expression of hope. These artworks are pieces of pretend worlds I create to escape, to connect to my younger self. When the roles of domesticity seem to dominate my daily life, I visit these worlds to remind myself of all my layers.”

The show will open on First Friday, December 6, 5 - 9pm and will run through the month of December.
RED Gallery, 131 W Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902
robin@robineaster.com
IG: @redgallery.knox

Performed Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; and Sundays at 3 PM and 6 PM.

In this hilarious Christmas classic, a couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids: probably the most inventively awful kids in history! You won’t believe the mayhem – and the fun – when the Herdman’s collide with the Christmas story head on!

The play is performed by twenty-four talented young actors ages 8 to 16. The cast includes KCT veterans Vivienne Bullard as Imogene Herdman, Mason Cox as Leroy Herdman, Julian Daniel as Ollie Herdman, Desmond Gondo as Claude Herdman and Harper Monday as Gladys Herdman. Mother and Father will be played by Leeland Robbins and Quinton Stiffler respectively, while Luna Chavez will be playing Beth Bradley and Owen Bellamy will be playing Charlie Bradley. Joining them will be Connor Watters as Elmer and Rev. Hopkins, Lydia Komeshak as Mrs. Armstrong, and Chloe Beeler as Mrs. McCarthy. Also featured are KCT veterans Camila Herrera, Hogan Honeycutt, Saha Lau, Caroline Simmons, Sophia Stiffler, and Auden Tatler. Making their KCT debuts in this production are Luke Bounds, Laila Brown, Amelia Carroll, Lola Longmire, Julia Luehrs, and Camden Powell.

The show is directed by guest director Ashlee Latimer and designed by eleven student designers ages 10 to 16. KCT is East Tennessee’s leading producer of plays for children and families. Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com