Calendar of Events

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.

Charles McTyere Parker III: Attention Deficit: collected works 2021-2024
Attention Deficit highlights the artist’s working process where projects move in multiple directions as focus abruptly shifts and works remain ever in flux. Over varied subject matter, cohesiveness develops through experimentation with a wide range of materials and found objects. Themes of isolation, anxiety, memory, death, decay and self-assessment merge with surreal and abstracted formal concepts like windows, doors and landscapes, providing an introspective dreamlike experience for the viewer. This exhibition is dedicated to the artist’s son, Jude, and the memory of his own father, Charles McTyere Parker, Jr. “Charlie” (1942 - 2023).

Charles McTyere Parker III, born in 1982, is a Memphis native now living and working in Knoxville for the past two years. A self-taught artist, with his only formal training being as an actor (performing on stage and in independent film productions), he has incorporated artmaking by hand to expand his creative output. Working with several medium, including paint, film photography, collage, found objects and repurposed materials, Parker’s work serves as a means of conveyance and documentation of his place in the world.

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.