Calendar of Events

Awaken Coffee will host artist Michelle Barillaro for First Friday, Sept. 6th from 6-9pm.

Barillaro works in acrylic, oil and cold wax. Her style is abstract with a multi-textural and often ethereal feel. Michelle says, “to me an abstract is so pleasing because it allows the viewer to conjure the meaning in the image and tell a story from their life experiences.”

Come join us for refreshments, beautiful art and of course great coffee!

Awaken Coffee is a live music venue, espresso bar, craft beer & wine bar and organic restaurant in the heart of downtown. Awaken Coffee, 125 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902

First Friday Reception, September 6th 5-9pm, UT Downtown Gallery

Artist gallery talks will take place at 6:30 and 8pm.

The passing back and forth of ideas in painting is like the relay and return of the knotted patterns in the game of cat’s cradle. Each painting is a string configuration that we hold out to be received by another, or that we receive and respond to by adding something new, by proposing another knot, another net. We play cat’s cradle with ourselves, with each other, with art history. Entangled in a myriad of configurations, we start from a place that doesn’t wipe out what comes before – we make paintings of inheritances and remembering.

10 X Relay includes artists: Kylie Heidenheimer, Pinkney Herbert, Erick Johnson, Jackie Meier, Laura Newman, Pierre Obando, Jennifer Riley, Russell Roberts, Lisa Taliano, and Chuck Webster. It is a celebration and recognition of these artists’ indebtedness to each other as friends and painters. Companions in conflict and collaboration, the artists in this show are tied together by the threads of making, thinking and doing, entangled in a painting dialog, bound together in a knotted net of past, present, and future.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sa 10-3. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

Opening Fri Sep 6, 7-10 PM

Participating artists: Bethany Springer, Brianna Rigg, Christine Rebhuhn, Christy Singleton, Hannah Walsh, Kayla Green, Mika Agari, Skye Gilkerson, SLINKO and Stephanie Loggans.

Organized and curated by Stove Works, which endeavors to serve the Chattanooga community by providing local, national, and international artists a venue for the production of, exhibition of and education through contemporary works of art.

C for Courtside is an artist-run curatorial project space located just north of downtown Knoxville. Founded in the fall of 2017 with the intentions of facilitating multiple creative activities, the Directors (Eleanor Aldrich, Joshua Bienko, Eric Cagley, Lynne Ghenov, John Powers) will work to add to the exciting artistic development and momentum already at foot in the Southeast. In addition to exhibitions, C for Courtside will host artist lectures and guest speakers, live performances, pop-up shows, experimental theatre, justice seeking organizations in need of a place to meet, and other situationist aligned activities. Each endeavor will aim to extend the space of the gallery beyond its physical limitations, while fostering a community based in and on the exigencies of art-making. The launch and operation of the space has been made possible in part by the support of an Ann and Steve Bailey Opportunity Grant.

C for Courtside, 513 Cooper Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: cforcourtside@gmail.com, www.cforcourtside.com

Visitors to the Museum of East Tennessee History will have an opportunity to view special items associated with the “Freedom Engine,” a tribute gift from East Tennesseans to New York City following the events of September 11, 2001. East Tennesseans contributed more than $940,000 to purchase and equip a 95-foot tower ladder truck for Harlem-based Ladder Company 14, helping the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) replenish the largest vehicles in the city's firefighting fleet. The so-called "Freedom Engine," went into service during March 2002 and was dedicated on September 11th of that year.

FDNY typically retires their trucks from regular service after about 10 years. The Freedom Engine went into reserve status in 2013. Upon retirement, several artifacts associated with the truck, including a bucket door, captain's helmet, memorial plaque from the people of East Tennessee, and a presentation plaque containing a piece of World Trade Center metal, were returned to East Tennessee and donated to the East Tennessee Historical Society. These items will be on display through October 13, 2019, at the Museum of East Tennessee History, along with a video about the project. You may view the exhibit and artifacts online at the ETHS website at www.easttnhistory.org/exhibits/freedom-engine.

Each Sunday is Family Day and is free to the public.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

A personal visit to invented places as seen by the mind’s eye

Reception: Friday, September 6, 6 PM – 8 PM.......food, drinks, & music

At Michael’s Fine Art and Framing, 1325 Dug Gap Road, Dalton, GA
706-278-8840

by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, CBT Mainstage

There’ll be a whole lotta shakin’ going on at the Clarence Brown Theatre when the Tony Award winning musical “Million Dollar Quartet” takes the mainstage August 28, 2019 to September 22, 2019!

A Pay What You Can Preview performance, where patrons can name their own price, will be held Wednesday, August 28 with proceeds from these tickets benefitting The Joy of Music School. A pre-show reception for Clarence Brown Theatre Society members will take place prior to the Opening Night performance on August 30. A Behind the Scenes Sunday event focusing on what it takes to make the music happen on stage will take place following the September 1 matinee performance. An Actor Talk Back will take place Sunday, September 8 following the matinee performance. The Open Captioned performance is Sunday, September 15 at 2:00 pm. An additional “Broadway at the Keys” performance featuring Levi Kreis will take place September 23rd at 7:30 pm.

If you loved “Always, Patsy Cline,” “Honky Tonk Angels,” and “Lost Highway,” you don’t want to miss this Tony Award winning musical based on actual events! It’s December 4, 1956 in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash hold an impromptu jam session at Sam Phillips’ Sun Record Studios. “No doubt you will enjoy the music as you see familiar characters come to life, however you will not see impersonators but a cast of great musicians recreating the time, the music, and one day in American musical history. They are spirited, passionate and filled with youthful optimistic energy as they fight and find individual successes at the beginning of their careers,” said director Kate Buckley.

Free and convenient parking is available in the McClung Tower Garage on Volunteer Boulevard.
Clarence Brown Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE RECEPTION AND AWARDS CEREMONY: OCTOBER 18, 6 - 8 PM

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts presents the National Juried Invitational Exhibit, "Bridging the Gap: Contemporary Craft Practices," featuring artists who seek innovative approaches to traditional craft practices and create historically conscious work, while resonating with newer audiences and current issues. This exhibit recognizes artists under 35 years of age who are making significant strides in their craft in bold and diverse ways.

For more information about the show and participating artists, visit: www.arrowmont.org/bridging-the-gap-contemporary-craft-practices/

Sandra J. Blain Galleries, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Gallery hours: M-R 8:30-5, Fri 8:30-4, Saturdays call ahead. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

Whistler & Company includes nearly a dozen works by Whistler accompanied by more than 50 etchings by some of his most accomplished American and European contemporaries. Whistler’s gritty images of the River Thames, views of Venice, and Parisian scenes are among works featured in the exhibition. Other artists who participated in the etching revival include Francis Seymour Haden, James McBey, Edwin Edwards, David Young Cameron, Muirhead Bone, Mortimer Menpes, Charles Meryon, Maxime Lalanne, Joseph Pennell, and Frank Duveneck, among others.

Although best known for innovative paintings such as Arrangements in Gray and Black No. 1 (popularly known as “Whistler’s Mother”), Whistler was a talented printmaker. The exhibition Whistler & Company examines the artist’s influential role in the etching revival of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This revival took hold in France, England and the United States. Artists set out to reestablish etching—the art of incising lines with an etching needle into a thin copper plate which was then inked and pressed into paper with the help of a printing press to create impressions—as an art form that could stand on its own. Inspired by Rembrandt, and the old masters, practitioners created remarkable original and expressive compositions that gained popularity with refined collectors and the broader public.

The legacy of expatriate American artist, James Abbott McNeill Whistler (Lowell, Massachusetts 1834-1903 London) was far-reaching, and his sphere of influence included early 20th-century East Tennessee. The Nicholson Art League, for instance, Knoxville’s leading art group of the period, dedicated its entire December 1, 1911 program to Whistler. Led by noted impressionist Catherine Wiley, the gathering featured presentations including “Whistler’s Influence on American Art,” and Whistler, His Life and Work.”

All of the works in in the exhibition are drawn from the Reading Public Museum’s permanent collection of works on paper, which numbers more than 10,000. Whistler & Company: The Etching Revival is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

The Ewing Gallery is excited to kick off the fall semester with an exhibition of works by American sculptor, Ronald Bladen.

Angle / Edge / Plane features a collection of models, drawings, and photographs from the Estate of Ronald Bladen and the Loretta Howard Gallery.

Ronald Bladen (1918 – 1988) was a Minimalist best known for his large-scale sculptures. He is often credited with influencing fellow Minimalists Carl Andre, Donald Judd, and Sol LeWitt. Sculptures by Ronald Bladen have been featured in exhibitions at important public institutions including at the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Detroit Institute of Arts, Documenta 4, Kassel, Germany, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Jewish Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, Vancouver Art Museum, The Walker Art Center, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York among others.

Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

"It’ll Tickle Yore Innards!”: A (Hillbilly) History of Mountain Dew

Special Members Preview: Thursday, June 27, 2019, from 4:00-6:00 p.m.

The exhibition highlights the drink’s history, from the origins of the term “mountain dew” and the development of the marketable hillbilly image that influenced media and culture, to becoming the third most popular soft drink brand.

The exhibition includes more than 200 artifacts highlighting the drinks history, moonshining, and the hillbilly image. The exhibition begins with video footage of early moonshine busts and a visit to a moonshine still in Cocke County in 1938. A variety of liquor jugs, dating from as early as the 1890s are on display with other moonshine paraphernalia. There is an assortment of artifact reflecting the early color writers and their effects on the hillbilly image, as well as artifacts from Knoxville’s 1910 Appalachian Exposition. One case contains a variety of “hillbilly” memorabilia, including Beverly Hillbillies dolls, comic books, Lil’ Abner items, and a pair of Hee Haw overalls.

The exhibition features a 1900 carbonation machine from the Roddy Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Knoxville and a sizeable display of rare and highly collectable bottles, including a few dating to Knoxville in 1927, a progression of Mountain Dew bottles over the years, and a variety of other vintage soft drinks from around the region. Of special interest are the “Barney and Ally” bottles, which were the first Mountain Dew bottles ever produced. In 1951 and 1952, the Hartman Beverage Company produced 7 oz. green and clear bottles. The applied color label’s bare the name of the creators of Mountain Dew. In the early 1950s, green bottles were reserved for “colorless” flavors, while clear bottles were used for drinks where the color would reflect the actual flavor. Mountain Dew was originally bottled as a set of flavored drinks and not as a specific flavor like today. Also displayed are a variety of items relating to the Hartmann family.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

Just like at your favorite meat n’ three, the WDVX Blue Plate Special® is served up piping hot. This fresh and free daily helping of live music during the lunchtime hour that features performers from all over the world and right here in Knoxville has put WDVX on the map as East Tennessee’s Own community supported radio.

The WDVX Blue Plate Special® is a live performance radio show held at noon, with your host Red Hickey Monday through Friday and Doug Lauderdale on Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor Center. It’s always free to join in so please don’t be shy. Make yourself at home as part of the WDVX family. From blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, folk to funk, rockabilly to hillbilly, local to international, it all part of the live music experience on the WDVX Blue Plate Special. You’re welcome to bring your lunch.

Previous performing artists include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Old Crowe Medicine Show, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Nickel Creek, Red Stick Ramblers, Rodney Crowell, String Cheese Incident, The Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien, Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, Claire Lynch Band, Brett Dennen, Tommy Emmanuel, Uncle Earl, The Infamous Stringdusters, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne, John Oats, Mary Gauthier, Darrell Scott, and many many more! There’s plenty of great music to go around! http://wdvx.com/program/blue-plate-special/

Free 2-hour visitor parking located next door to the Knoxville Visitor Center. One Vision Plaza, 301 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-544-1029, http://www.wdvx.com

Hours: Wednesdays from 11 am – 2 pm
Saturdays from 9 am – 2 pm

The Market Square Farmers’ Market is an open-air farmers’ market located on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. Everything at the MSFM is grown or made by the vendor in the East Tennessee region. Products vary by the seasons and include produce, eggs, honey, herbs, pasture-raised meat, bread, baked goods, salsas, coffee, artisan crafts, and more. With interactive fountains, delicious local food, and surrounded by shops and restaurants, the MSFM is a perfect family destination.

Free parking is available on Saturdays at several parking garages downtown including the Market Square, Locust Street, Walnut Street, and State Street Garages, as well as in commercial loading zones. Parking is $1 per hour on Wednesdays in all four garages. Short-term parking meters around Market Square are in effect Wednesday and Saturday, and are $1.50 per hour. See downtownknoxville.org for more information on downtown Knoxville parking options. https://www.nourishknoxville.org/market-square-farmers-market/