Calendar of Events

March 11, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Mature Oak-Hickory Forest Tour
March 11, 2014 SCIENCE CAFÉ: Subglacial Lakes of Antarctica
March 11, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: River Sports Outfitters Group Run
March 12, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Homesite History Hike
March 12, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Increase Your Mileage (~2 miles)
March 12, 2014 SPECIAL EVENT: Yoga with Leslie Wagner
March 13, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Little Tykes Hike
March 14, 2014 SPECIAL EVENT: Luck O’ the Ijams
March 15, 2014 PUBLIC PROGRAM: Wagging Walk
March 15, 2014 PEG’S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
March 15, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 15, 2014 TN Naturalist Program
March 15, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 15, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 15, 2014 SPECIAL EVENT: Family Drum Circle
March 16, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Celebrity Hike with Red Hickey
March 16, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Woodland Creature Dress-up Hike
March 16, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Celebrity Hike with Ed McAlister
March 17, 2014 - March 21, 2014 NATURE DAY CAMP: Spring Break Camp
March 17, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Discovery Hike
March 18, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Stroller Stroll
March 18, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Fun Run with River Sports Outfitters
March 19, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Increase Your Mileage (~3 miles)
March 19, 2014 SPECIAL EVENT: Yoga with Leslie Wagner
March 20, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Ijams Wildflower Hike
March 20, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Little Tykes Hike
March 21, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Bouldering Hike
March 22, 2014 IJAMS BIRDING SERIES: Spring Birding Hike
March 22, 2014 CHILDREN'S PROGRAM: Ijams Superhero Academy
March 22, 2014 PEG’S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
March 22, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 22, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Mountain Bike Meet-up
March 22, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Relax with a Massage
March 22, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 22, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Celebrity Hike with Sam Venable
March 22, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 24, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Discovery Hike
March 25, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Chaos in Nature Hike
March 25, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: River Sports Outfitters Group Run
March 26, 2014 PUBLIC PROGRAM: Wagging Walk
March 26, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Increase Your Mileage (~4 miles)
March 27, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Little Tykes Hike
March 27, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Tharp Trace Trek
March 28, 2014 IJAMS FAMILY WILDLIFE SERIES: Night Sounds
March 29, 2014 PEG’S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
March 29, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 29, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 29, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Cedar Barrens Hike
March 29, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
March 29, 2014 IJAMS GARDENING SERIES: Wildflower Hike
March 29, 2014 HIKE-A-THON: Hiker's Ball!

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Austin East Magnet High School will be performing David Auburn's "Proof" March 11th and 12th at 7:30 p.m. Cost is only $5.
According to the director, Doug James, "IT IS AN AMAZING PRODUCTION!"

2800 Martin Luther King Jr Ave
Knoxville, TN 37914

Guest artist; Professor of Cello at University of Southern Mississippi

At the Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall, Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, 1741 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus. Unless otherwise noted, concerts are FREE and open to the public. *For individual or small group performances, please check the web site or call the day of the event for updates or cancellations: 865-974-5678, www.music.utk.edu/events. View additional UT Music concerts and events including all student recitals on the website.

The UT Jazz Singers is a choral group of young adults who perform with zest, enthusiasm and beautiful harmony under the direction of well-known area jazz pianist, Wendel Werner. The UT Jazz Singers will perform a concert at the Blount County Public Library on Tuesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. For the past five years, the Singers have launched their spring break choir tour with a premier performance at the library, and this year is no exception.

Werner, the director of the UT Singers, UT’s jazz choir, is the former director of the Athens Area Children’s Choir, the Knoxville Children’s Showchoir, and Just in Time, an a cappella women’s jazz choir. As a composer, Werner has had pieces commissioned by the Knoxville Community Chorus, the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, the Little Traverse Choral Society, as well as college choral programs in five different states, and choral programs in seven different high schools in East Tennessee. He was named 2003 Composer of the Year by the Knoxville Piano Teachers Association and was nominated for the 2003 Composer of the Year by the Tennessee Piano Teachers Association. As a performer, Wendel has been an opener for acts such as Tony Bennett, Tuck & Patti, and Herbie Hancock. He tours regularly and released his fifth solo recording in 2006 with the arrival of his “Spiritual” album.

Free and open to the public, the program is sponsored by the Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville. For further information about library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the Web site at www.blountlibrary.org . To sign up to receive a monthly calendar by email, go to the library’s Home Page, click on the “News and Events” tab, and then “Calendar of Events Signup” and type in your email address. Also check out Facebook at “Blount County Public Library” and Twitter at “Blount_Library”.

The Athens Area Council for the Arts announces the annual High School Art Show showcasing art from McMinn county high school students. The work can be viewed at The Arts Center, 320 North White Street, Athens, Tennessee. The goal of this show is to promote art by local high school students and to provide them with an opportunity to participate in an open art exhibit. The Visual Arts Committee of AACA will sponsor a gift certificate for art supplies as a “Best in Show” prize. The show features over forty pieces in a variety of media from pencil to printmaking and papier mâché. The opening reception is Friday, March 14 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. The reception will include light refreshments and is free and open to the public. Evening with the Stars, AACA’s annual event featuring local performing talent, starts immediately after at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students.

For more information, go to www.athensartscouncil.org, call 423-745-8781, or stop by The Arts Center at 320 North White Street in Athens, TN.

Annual Used Book Sale: March 8-16, 2014

Over 100,000 books go on sale each March at the Knoxville Convention & Exhibition Center, 501 W. Henley Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The sale is located in Exhibit Hall #1 on the downstairs level of the Holiday Inn Select, facing World’s Fair Park Drive. All proceeds benefit the Knox County Public Library.

Members Only Day: Saturday, March 8, 2014, 11-6
Reserved for Friends members who are invited to shop on the opening day of the sale. For more information or to become a member, call (865) 215-8775

Special Bag Sale for Teachers & Educators: Friday, March 14, 3-7
Teachers get first chance at bag sale shopping in our early bird special!

Bag Sale Weekend: Saturday March 15, 11-6 and Sunday, March 16, 1-6
During the final two days of the sale, customers can fill a bag with books of their choice for $5.
http://www.knoxfriends.org/

Blount Mansion is proud to host the works of East Tennessee’s own Richard LeFevre. He focuses on the history of the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) through 32 of its most significant battles. LeFevre combined his love of history and his skill as an illustrator, using inventive mixed-media techniques to create powerful images inspired by his personal investigation into that most terrible and definitive era. As part of the First Friday’s the opening reception will be from 5:00 to 7:30 on Friday March 7th here at the Blount Mansion Visitors Center at 200 West Hill Avenue in Knoxville. There will be drinks and light refreshments available. It is a free event and all are welcome. The exhibition is on loan from Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture, University of Tennessee, and is supported through the Tennessee Arts Commission & Knox County Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. www.knoxcivilwar.org and will run through the end of May 2014. More information is available at our Facebook page, facebook.com/blountmansion

Blount Mansion Visitors Center, 200 West Hill Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902; 865-525-2375 or www.blountmansion.org

Free and open to the public. Opening reception March 7 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m. Exhibit runs March through April 2014.

Terri Swaggerty: Where Soul Meets Body (from the song “Soul Meets Body” by Death Cab for Cutie)
Where soul meets body . . . the first time I heard those words on the radio they resonated deep within my being. I realized those four words were the perfect articulation of where I exist when I am discovering or creating art. I can dwell there for hours, or just for a moment. The journey begins with looking and seeing. Sometimes I am actively looking for art but more often, not. I find art, or maybe it finds me, at any moment any day. Traversing a sidewalk in Apalachicola, or strolling through our city, I discover it. Driving down a country road I find it. Walking through the woods, looking at the beauty, the contrast, the compositions, textures and patterns around me, I am living there . . . where soul meets body. Often during my creative processes the tangible becomes abstract. Sometimes the colors begin to blaze and complement and breathe new life into old structures. And sometimes the magic is already there and the image is perfect for the beholding. Terri Swaggerty is a native of Knoxville, TN. She studied Fine Art at the University of Tennessee and has worked as a professional photographer for the past 16 years.

Christine Beard: The Nature of Graphite
I am a pencil artist. I have been drawing my whole life. During my school years and growing up I took every art class that was offered. As an adult I took several drawing courses at the local community colleges, but for the most part I would have to say I am a self-taught artist, always learning new and different things every time I create a new drawing. Graphite pencil is my medium of choice. It’s all about the detail for me; I create each piece with as much detail as possible. Graphite is such a versatile medium and can also be very forgiving. Various techniques can be executed with graphite, such as layering, shading, blending with blending stumps and lifting out areas with an eraser. In the art world I feel there can and should be more recognition for works done with graphite pencil. Hopefully I can change that with each and every graphite drawing I create.

Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

Paulk + Co. presents a unique First Friday Event this March 7th, 6-10pm, featuring artisan food in addition to the Fine Art of Denise Stewart-Sanabria. The show Eat Me Two will be on exhibit in the newly renovated Paulk + Co Alternative Art Space. Sushi Academy of TN will be demonstrating the art of sushi making. Organic produce and artisan baked goods will be available from local vendors. Free, covered parking is available adjacent to Paulk + Co. in the City lot under the bridge.

Eat Me Two
An exhibit of Paintings of Culinary Drama, by Denise Stewart-Sanabria
Humans do things that amaze, entertain, and occasionally horrify Stewart-Sanabria. If she documented them literally, she would probably have constant censorship issues. As a solution to this dilemma, she uses food as a stand in for humans, figuring that not only would it be amusing, it could even be delicious! Over the years, she hasimpaled maraschino cherries on nails, had pears enact Inquisition scenes, and encouraged donuts to enact the seven deadly sins and various fertility rites. Still Lifes, or Vanitas, which is the genre these works most closely fit in with, were originally domestic images containing items symbolic of life and death. The items in Stewart-Sanabria’s act out dramatic narratives.She is also known for her life size charcoal figurative drawings on plywood, which are cut out, mounted on wood bases, and staged in installations. Several of these will also be on exhibit. Denise Stewart-Sanabria was born in Massachusetts and received her BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. She has lived in Knoxville, TN since 1986. Recent exhibits include: Continuāre: The Figurative Tradition in Contemporary Art at Ewing Gallery at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the 55th Mid-States Art Exhibition, Evansville Museum of Art, Evansville, IN,In the Flesh, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA, The 26th Tallahassee International, at theFlorida State Museum of Fine Arts, 2012 Red Clay Survey at the Huntsville Museum of Art, 2012: Contemporary RealismBiennial at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, American Art Today:Figures, at The Bascom, Highlands, NC, and "From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands", at the William King Museum, Abingdon, VA, 2013. Denise Stewart-Sanabria: www.stewart-sanabria.com, www.denisestewart-sanabria.blogspot.com

After March 7, call for a viewing appointment: 865-414-8641.
510 Williams Street, Knoxville, TN 37917, events@paulkandco.com.

Photographer Dennis Sabo and jeweler Kristine Taylor are the Art Market Gallery’s featured artists for March. Their recent works will be on exhibit at The Art Market Gallery through March 30, with an opening reception to be held from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Friday, March 7, during the monthly First Friday Art Walk in downtown Knoxville. At the opening reception visitors may enjoy complimentary refreshments and live music performed by Sunshine Station.

Dennis Sabo of Loudon is an award-winning fine-art photographer specializing in natural contemporary abstracts and landscapes.

Kristine Taylor's jewelry art has evolved into a contemporary look inspired by the ethnic cultures she grew up around in California and the beautiful natural colors of East Tennessee.

Owned and operated by 63 professional regional artists, the Art Market Gallery, at 422 S. Gay St., is a few doors from Mast General Store and next to Downtown Grill & Brewery. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday. The gallery is wheelchair accessible, and parking in the abutting garage and on the street is free on weekends and after 6 p.m. weekdays. For more information, call 865-525-5265, or visit artmarketgallery.net, or facebook.com/Art.Market.Gallery.

Bliss Home is pleased to present Knoxville artist, Rick Whitehead, for March's First Friday. Bliss Home, located at 29 Market Square, will host an opening reception on Friday, March 7th from 6pm to 9pm. Complimentary Steamboat Sandwiches will be provided and Rick's art will be featured for the month of March.

Richard Whitehead was classically trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in painting and drawing. Rick's work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, and In Antwerp, Belgium, and Murcia and Barcelona, Spain.

Rick's March exhibit will tell a story of exploration, which is told through compressed charcoals, solarized photos of clouds and paintings inspired from aboriginal art.

Bliss Home, 29 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-329-8868, www.shopinbliss.com

At Rala 323 Union Ave Knoxville, TN 37902
Opening Reception: First Friday March 7, 6-9pm
Work on display through March 30

Artist Statement: Back in Knoxville, there are hand-painted signs all over, my favorites being an ice-cream cone and miniature football players holding up a giant hoagie. I go square dancing and watch hipsters dance with silver-haired sweethearts. And then there is this other side of things. I drive around singing the lyrics of catchy pop songs and follow some of the world's most famous fashion designers on Instagram. Some artists use innovation as their driving force while others have tradition in mind. Some people paint a sign without thinking too much about anything at all. Through my artwork, I give a nod to what is esteemed today while delving deeper into the rich heritage of The South. http://withbearhands.com/withbearhands/2014/3/5/art-opening-march-7-at-rala