Calendar of Events

The Q Series features KSO’s String Quartets and Woodwind Quintet in six lunchtime performances on Wednesdays at 12 p.m. at the Elks Lodge. Lunch will be provided.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra: 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a premier film series showcasing the finest in independent cinema across the South. This tour partners with local arts organizations to offer audiences a rare opportunity to experience groundbreaking films, engage in enriching discussions with the filmmakers, and explore a wide range of perspectives. From compelling documentaries to innovative narratives, the Southern Circuit celebrates the art of storytelling, creating a deeper connection between filmmakers and their audiences.

Clayton Center for the Arts is excited to be a host venue for this prestigious film tour. Over the next several months, we will present six thought-provoking and powerful films. Tickets are $10.00 each, or you can purchase a pass for all six films for $45.00.

O Pioneer
February 12, 2025
7:00 PM

This documentary follows three West Virginians—a blacksmith, a seamstress, and a hospital chaplain—as they creatively navigate hardship and call us to champion the pioneer within. Narrated by lyricist and musician Kaïa Kater, the film weaves verité moments with archival footage, poetic vignettes, and dream-like animation.

https://claytonartscenter.com/performances-events/

Live Band Karaoke Night at Barrelhouse Knoxville! Join us every other Wednesday for an electrifying evening of live band karaoke, starting November 20th. Sign-ups open early at 6 PM—spots filled up fast last session! Don’t miss your chance to shine; arrive early to secure your spot!

Dates of Shows at Barrelhouse:
February 12, 2025
February 26, 2025

Event Details: Doors and Sign-ups: 6 PM
Karaoke Time: 7 PM to 9 PM
Entry: $5 cover charge
https://www.visitknoxville.com/event/live-band-karaoke-night-at-barrelhouse-knoxville/28802/
https://gypsycircuscider.com/barrelhouse/

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present "Fragmented Histories: Exploring Identity and Cultural Memory through Erasure Poetry," a workshop led by Melanie Hyo-In Han on Wednesday, February 12th, 2025, from 6:00 - 7:30 PM EST. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).

In this workshop, we’ll use erasure and blackout poetry to engage with fragmented histories and cultural memory. Focusing on poets Emily Jungmin Yoon and Don Mee Choi — who address war, migration, and identity through experimental forms — we’ll explore how erasure poetry reveals and reframes historical trauma. Participants will create poems from archival texts, transforming silenced narratives into spaces where marginalized voices can resurface. After the writing exercises, we’ll reflect together on how fragmented forms can mirror cultural dislocation, personal loss, and resilience. Each participant will leave with a poem that deeply explores themes of identity, history, and memory, along with new tools for navigating complex personal and collective stories. Whether new to poetry or experienced, this session offers fresh approaches to examining identity and cultural memory.

Born in Korea and raised in East Africa, Melanie Hyo-In Han recently moved from the U.S. to the U.K. She is the author of Abecedarian: Banff, Canada (kith books, 2024), My Dear Yeast (Milk & Cake Press, 2023) and Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips (Finishing Line Press, 2021), as well as the translator of several collections of Spanish poetry (Hebel Ediciones). Han has received fellowships from Sundress Academy and Banff Centre and is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Flora Fiction and Two Languages Prize Editor at Gasher Press. Learn more about her at melaniehan.com.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1672757549988149/

123 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville

First Friday Feb 7, 5-8PM
123 W. Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902
Regular Gallery Hours: M-F | 10AM-5PM
Exhibition on Display January 10th - February 21st

Amber Purdy creates unique collage and mixed media pieces that blend vintage materials, nature themes and scraps of ephemera into enigmatic new images. Her designs usually begin with old books, papers or photographs that she has spent years collecting. She enjoys the creative challenge of combining images and materials in an often serendipitous way, carefully cutting and pasting her pieces together by hand. Bits of painted paper, ink, pencil marks and old writing suggest a story in some pieces, while other works are comprised of a ‘dream jumble’ of imagery: buildings, figures, florals and animals. Her work often references nature, dreams, memories and the ever present link between the past and the present.
www.fieldandsky.com
Instagram: @fieldandsky

Thursday, February 13 at 8pm
Friday, February 14 at 8pm
Saturday, February 15 at 8pm
Sunday, February 16 at 2pm

The classic tale of star-crossed lovers, unaware parents, fickle loyalties, and tragic sacrifice brought to you for Valentine’s Day. Join the talented students and faculty at Maryville College as they present an intimate, immediate, and unruly production. Staged in the round, with the action amongst the audience, this Romeo and Juliet will change the way you think Shakespeare should be performed. Join us for a familiar tale made new.

https://claytonartscenter.com/event/maryville-college-presents-romeo-and-juliet/

502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804
865.981.8590 or info@claytonartscenter.com

Join Mabry-Hazen House for a Rated R for Risqué: Courtship,
Romance, and Intimacy in the Hazen Household on Thursday, February 13th and Friday, February 14th from 7:00-8:30 PM to learn about falling in love at the historic house museum.

Preserving the stories of three generations of women, this Mabry-Hazen House tour will explore romantic conventions and challenges of falling in love at the turn of the 20th century. Learn how each generation thought about romance -- the good and the bad -- and how it changed across the decades.

Beginning with the courtship of Alice and Rush Hazen, visitors will learn how Victorian
conventions of romance evolved into the more familiar ideas of dating in the age of Gibson Girls and flappers. The story of Evelyn Hazen and her ill-fated fifteen year engagement to Ralph Scharringhaus and subsequent lawsuit will offer visitors an intimate glimpse into the thoughts and actions of a couple falling in and out of love during the Jazz Age.

Visitors will stand next to exactly where romantic interactions and exchanges occurred, see books and artifacts that taught and helped them be "good ladies" and hear their own words about their experiences courting, dating, and loving.

Wine and light refreshments will be available. Tour starts at 7:00pm and will last about 75 minutes. Tickets are $15 per person and pre-purchasing is encouraged as tickets at the door are not guaranteed. Space is limited to eighteen visitors. To purchase tickets and more information, please visit www.mabryhazen.com/ratedr
Visitors must be 18 or older and/or 16 or older with a parent or guardian older than 21
years.
This program will discuss topics such as sexual trauma and harassment and could be triggering for those sensitive to such issues.

Mabry-Hazen House, 1711 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN, 37915. Information: 865-522-8661, www.mabryhazen.com

Joy Oladokun, Thursday, February 13, 2025, 7:30 PM at the Bijou Theatre.

Joy Oladokun will donate 100% of the proceeds from her performance in Knoxville at the Bijou Theatre on Thursday, February 13, to East Tennessee Foundation's Disaster Relief Fund to help rebuild after the disastrous effects of Hurricane Helene across Appalachia. For more information, please visit easttennesseefoundation.org.

Joy Oladokun has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 from every ticket sold will go to The Ally Coalition's work to support homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth affected by Hurricane Helene.

Tickets at: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B00613AF50A7F0F

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

8:00 PM (Doors 7:00 PM)
The Mill & Mine, 227 W. Depot Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917
Ages 18+
https://www.ticketweb.com/event/dylan-marlowe-the-mill-mine-tickets/13660514

Rooted in the classic skills of country music’s past – but finding new ways to deliver three chords and the truth – Dylan Marlowe is an emerging Sony Music Nashville artist proving tradition and convention are very different things. Drawing on the familiar themes of small-town youth, yet amplified with punk rock propulsion and outside-the-county-line lyricism, his debut album Mid-Twenties Crisis presents the simple truth of a complicated age, spoken plain (just against the grain). Raised in Statesboro, Georgia, the avid outdoorsman’s unique creative path began with an equally-diverse soundtrack, ranging from Eric Church and Kenny Chesney to Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Good Charlotte and Blink-182. A self-taught writer fusing heartland storytelling with hard-edged intensity, Marlowe broke out with an attention-grabbing cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” in 2021, changing the lyrics to reflect his own backwoods story and resulting in more than half-a-million TikTok followers. Marlowe went on to drop a series of self-penned singles and EPs like “Record High” and Dirt Road When I Die, eventually racking up more than 282 million global career streams as an artist, while co-penning Jon Pardi’s Number One hit, “Last Night Lonely.” The 2023 anthem “Boys Back Home” (feat. Dylan Scott) has accounted for more than 112 million streams while becoming his first country radio single, and Marlowe has continued to cultivate an audience on tour with Cole Swindell, Hardy, Brantley Gilbert and more. Building on the momentum with 15 co-written tracks, Mid-Twenties Crisis fuses Nashville story craft and country-punk energy with angsty defiance and a clever smirk, as Marlowe captures the beautiful torment of the 20s decade. Standing apart from his peers while staying true to himself, the rising star reminds country fans that authenticity doesn’t have to be boring. And in fact, the expected might be overrated.

KJYO to Perform with Jazz Trumpeter Pat Harbison February 13, 7:00 PM, at Pellissippi State Community College in the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the Hardin Valley campus, part of the Spring Concert Series. The concert is free and open to the public.

Jazz trumpeter and educator Pat Harbison is Professor Emeritus of Jazz Studies at Indiana University, where he taught from 1997-2023. He currently serves as Clinical Professor of Jazz Trumpet at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana). He was previously on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music from 1984-1997. He was on the faculty of Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops from 1976-2019. He is also the founding director of Jazz Retreats, which stages small group jazz improvisation learning sessions for adults.

Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

Thursday, February 13 at 7 pm via Zoom

In the late 1800s, all birds were seen as opportunities for target practice. The shooters did not know the difference between a finch and a wren. Bird feathers were a fashion status symbol, and birds were hunted almost to extinction to supply fashion houses. Then the conservation-minded creators of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda came to the birds’ defense and started placing free bird cards into the boxes of their bicarbonate of soda. Each illustrated card identified a different species with the slogan "For the good of all, do not destroy the birds."

Join UT Arboretum education coordinator, Michelle Campanis, and naturalist/author, Stephen Lyn Bales, via Zoom for their 50th First Thursday Nature Supper Club presentation, "How Baking Soda Helped Save the Birds," Due to a scheduling conflict, the First Thursday program for February will be held on the second Thursday, February 13 at 7 pm.

The UT Arboretum Society hosts the monthly Nature Supper Club presentations. The class is free, but you must register to receive the Zoom link and recording. Register at www.utarboretumsociety.org under Programs. Closed captions are available. Please contact Michelle at mcampani@utk.edu for any questions or registration issues. Everyone who registers will be entered to win a copy of a book by Stephen Lyn Bales as we celebrate our 50th program! To contact Stephen Lyn Bales or buy one of his UT Press books, email him at hellostephenlyn@gmail.com.

The Smithsonian’s National Collection of Fishes X-rays represent more than 70 percent of the world’s fish specimens and is the largest and most diverse collection of its kind in the world. Although the X-rays featured in the national collection were made for research purposes, the strikingly elegant images demonstrate the natural union of science and art and are a visual retelling of the evolution of fish. X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside Out, an exhibition from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), showcases these dramatic prints exposing the inner workings of the fish.

The exhibition features 32 black-and-white digital prints of different species of fish. Arranged in evolutionary sequence, these X-rays give a tour through the long stream of fish evolution. The X-rays have allowed Smithsonian and other scientists to study the skeleton of a fish without altering the specimen, making it easier for scientists to build a comprehensive picture of fish diversity.

The exhibition also includes specimens from the collections of the McClung Museum, the Etnier Ichthyological Collection, and the Vertebrate Osteology Collection to highlight research happening with fish specimens at the University of Tennessee.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Tu-Sa 9-5, Sun 12-4. Information: 865-974-2144, https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/