Calendar of Events

Every Wednesday (10 am – 1 pm)
Market Square, Knoxville (north end near Wall Avenue)

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. https://www.nourishknoxville.org/market-square-farmers-market/

Jim Barnhart is a fantastic local photographer who displays his work on wrapped canvas. Come see his gorgeous images of Knoxville's landmarks, skylines and natural places throughout May in the Ijams Hallway Gallery!

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920
https://www.ijams.org

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - May

Asian Culture Center of TN is exhibiting our country costume at Knox County Office 6th floor. We would like to invite you to see and enjoy "rich Asian Arts''.

FASHION IS A form of language. What we wear broadcasts critical information about us, significant power-packed symbols. They serve as a visible sign of profession, ethnicity and status.

An exhibition at Knox County Offices spotlights the visual symbols and meaning of clothing and objects of personal adornment in various cultures of SouthEast Asia. Each county displays an explanation of history and the story. This exhibition is Educational and FREE event for everyone. Enjoy.

Take the photo of your favorite costume and post with #knoxasianfestival on your social media. We will choose 20 people to get a FREE official Knox Asian Festival T-shirt.

City-County building hours are Mon-Fri 8 AM – 4:30 PM
www.knoxasianfestival.com

West High School's Theatre Department- Company West, is bringing a fun filled and whimsical play to the lawn at Ijams Nature Center this spring. Peter and the Starcatcher is a great, family friendly event that you won't want to miss.

The play will run from May 5-7, starting at 6:30pm. Doors open 30 minutes before play begins. Feel free to bring your own lawn chair or blanket for these performances. Masks will be required at check in and inside the visitor center and guests are asked to social distance on the hillside.

Tickets are $11 for adults and $9 for students. Each performance will be limited to 200 people per night to Tickets are $11 for adults and $9 for students. Each performance will be limited to 200 people per night to ensure proper distancing.

Peter and the Starcatcher, a prequel to Peter Pan based on the children’s book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. This is the humorous and fantastical story of what happened before Peter Pan met Wendy. In this wickedly imaginative play, we meet a poor orphaned child on the high seas simply called Boy because, in the absence of a mother and a father, he was never given a name. His sad and lonely world is turned upside down when he meets Molly. The daughter of famous Starcatcher Lord Aster, our heroine is on a mission to save the world and protect a treasure trunk filled with magical star stuff from getting into the hands of evil and greedy pirate Black Stache. As they travel aboard the Neverland ship headed for a faraway land, Molly and Boy learn about love, friendship and forge an unbreakable bond.

https://www.ijams.org/event-details/special-event-peter-and-the-starcatcher-presented-by-west-high-school
Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920

A public reading and discussion group

Wednesday, May 5
R.E. Toledo, Distinguished Lecturer of Spanish, MFLL
Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope
by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn

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Would you like to attend a terrific book discussion led by a UT expert without leaving your home? The UT Humanities Center now offers a free public book discussion online! Students, faculty, and members of the public are all welcome. With the support of Union Avenue Books, an independent bookstore, we will help you to keep reading and learning at all stages and walks of life.

On the day of the discussion, you can join a University of Tennessee faculty member in an online book discussion via Zoom. Our UT faculty read widely and deeply into perspectives ranging from the ancients to the moderns, from work in ancient archeology to contemporary poetry, new economic theory, and media studies. Join us to hear an expert in the field talk about the major ideas of a text that you have read, and engage in an enlightening discussion! Learn more: https://uthumanitiesctr.utk.edu/public/reading.php

“The Customs of Knoxville’s Custom House”

Join the East Tennessee Historical Society on May 5, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. via Zoom as we welcome Dr. Joe Jarret, Attorney at Law and Lecturer with the University of Tennessee’s Department of Political Science, as he tells the story of the United States Custom House and Post Office, which serves today as the East Tennessee History Center in downtown Knoxville.

A federal custom house was traditionally a building that housed government officials who oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country. What you will learn during this presentation is that Knoxville’s Custom House was so much more than that! Built in 1874, the Custom House served as home to Knoxville’s U.S. Post Office and offices of the Treasury and Justice Departments, including federal court, as well as various other federal offices tasked with regulating trade along Tennessee’s navigable waterways. The building’s rich history reflects a bygone era when law abiding citizens and scoundrels competed for control of the riverboat commerce that helped shape the soul of a community and region.

This program is one in a series of Zoom Brown Bag programs and Saturday lectures to be offered this spring and summer. Sponsored by the Albers Family Foundation in memory of Harriet Z. Albers and by Gentry-Griffey Funeral Home in Knoxville, the East Tennessee Historical Society is privileged to share the good work of history being done around East Tennessee, by East Tennesseans, and about East Tennessee’s story with our members and the public.

“The Customs of Knoxville’s Custom House” program is free. We do ask that those interested in participating in the live Zoom program email eths@eastTNhistory.org to register. We will share the Zoom link in an email just prior to the program.

601 S. Gay Street | Knoxville, TN | (865) 215-8824
www.eastTNhistory.org

TUESDAY, MAY 4
Smorgasbord Class: “Watercolor Doodles,” with Vera Bogle, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Cost is $20 for both members and guests. Number of students: Minimum is 2 and maximum is 8.

FRIDAY, MAY 7
ARTiE Training: Web Review, with John Hufford, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Members only.

TUESDAY, MAY 11
Paint Along with Sam Hill, watercolor demonstration class, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Cost is $20 for AG members or $25 for guests. Students should bring their own watercolor supplies. Number of students: minimum is 4, maximum is 9.

THURSDAY, MAY 13
Home School Children’s Art Class, “Waterfall Landscape” inspired by Canadian artist, J.E.H. MacDonald (1920) 12:30 – 2:00 p.m., with instructor Rosemary Wawro.

TUESDAY, MAY 18
Monthly Members Meeting: 9:30 a.m. In-person attendance will be limited due to social distancing.
Also, browse through “Endless Possibilities,” the AG’s fine arts and craft shop. Attendees should practice social distancing, including wearing face masks.

THURSDAY, MAY 20
“Chain Maille Jewelry: Summer Sky,” with George Gallant. 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Registration and materials cost (including a $30 materials fee) is $60 for members or $65 for guests. Number of students: minimum is 2, maximum is 6.

FRIDAY, MAY 21
Watercolor 101 for Beginners, “Blue Daisies” with Vera Bogle. 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Registration and materials cost (including $5 materials fee) is $35 for members or $40 for guests. Number of students: minimum is 2, and maximum is 8.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 26
Life Drawing, with Dena Whitener, 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. A live model will be available for artists to sketch. Bring your sketch pad, media of choice, and camera to capture the pose. Cost is $5 model fee.

Art Guild at Fairfield Glade at the Plateau Creative Arts Center, 451 Lakeview Drive, Fairfield Glade, TN 38558. Information: 931-707-7249, www.artguildfairfieldglade.net

2021 Summer Showcase Exhibition: Prints by UT Knoxville Undergraduate & Graduate Students, Faculty and Staff

Each summer for the past few years the Printmaking Program in the UTK School of Art presents an exhibition of recent prints by undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. The works represent a wide variety of methods and approaches, including intaglios, relief prints, lithographs, and screenprints, reflecting a diversity of ideas and approaches. The MFA Program in Printmaking at UTK is ranked #3 among public universities nationally by US News and World Report.

The Art and Architecture building is accessible to the public through the summer weekdays from 8am-5pm. Individuals who are not vaccinated for COVID-19 are asked to wear a mask.

Printmaking Showcase Gallery
Art & Architecture Building, second floor
1715 Volunteer Blvd.
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

https://art.utk.edu/printmaking-showcase-gallery-summer2021/

Tennessee Artists Association is having a group show at the Schilling Gallery in Westminster Presbyterian Church. Please call the church office for more information and hours available.

Westminister Presbyterian Church, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-R 9-4. Info: (865) 584-3957 or www.wpcknox.org

Portraits were the “social media posts” of the American colonial and antebellum periods. Today, social media allows users to not only visually document and share life’s moments but also curate how others see themselves. Early Tennessee portraits afforded the sitter the same duality. “They are,” as one art historian puts it, “the rhetoric–not the record–of self-representation.” As viewers two centuries removed, how are we to understand early portraiture in East Tennessee? Is it history, fiction, or perhaps a bit of both? This exhibition of works by Samuel M. Shaver, East Tennessee’s first native-born artist, provides interesting examples for discussion.

About Samuel M. Shaver (1816-1878)
Samuel Moore Shaver was the youngest or next to youngest child born to David and Catherine Barringer Shaver on Reedy Creek (near present-day Kingsport) in 1816. Little is known about his formative years. He may have studied at Jefferson Academy in Blountville; a Leonidas Shaver is listed as a teacher there, and his older brother David, Jr., operated a tavern nearby. In 1833, William Harrison Scarborough (1812-1871), a traveling portrait painter from Middle Tennessee, visited Sullivan County. What impact did Scarborough’s stay have on 17-year-old Shaver? Did he watch Scarborough paint the portraits of his neighbors? Or did he simply benefit by imitating the works Scarborough left behind? Whether by native talent, with formal instruction, or both, Shaver possessed the skill set to begin producing competently done portraits by the late 1830s.

Shaver: An Artist of Rare Merit traces the artist's maturation through the 19 portraits held by the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library. The exhibition is organized on the occasion of three recent Shaver acquisitions, making the East Tennessee History Center the largest repository of the artist's works.

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

For the past twelve years, the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville and the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (McGhee Tyson Airport) have partnered to present a biannual exhibition entitled “Arts in the Airport”. This juried exhibition was developed to allow regional artists to compete and display work in the most visited site in the area. The selected art features contemporary 2- and 3-dimensional artwork and will be displayed through October 18, 2021. View works at https://www.knoxalliance.store/product-category/airport-24/.

Exhibiting artists include: Gabrielle Barnhart, Lynda Best, Meredith Boatman, Orel Brodt, Jan Burleson, Nancy S. Campbell, Tina Curry, Barbara Enloe, Casey Field, Brian Horais, David Johnson, Judy Kelley Jorden, Anne Kinggard, Judy Lavoie, Peggy Kretchmar Leland, Ilana Lilienthal, Bill Long, Ling Lu, Siobhan McAuley, Steven McQuilkin, Brian Melton, Amalia Fotini Mermingas, Allen Monsarrat, Chico Osten, Amber Patty, Carrie Pendergrass, Mera Ragsdale, Ted Richards, Adam Rowe, Mary Ruden, Pamela Salyer, Gayla D. Seale, Renee C. Suich, W. James Taylor, Marilyn Avery Turner, Gena Tussey, Rick Whitehead, Carl Whitten, Marcy Wielfaert, Anne Wilkerson, and Marianne Woodside.

We’ve opened our new Clayton Family Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Campus.

We Dare You to Enter! The new, state-of-the-art Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Campus is ready for you! Come explore 12,000 square feet of rare, venomous, beautiful and mysterious snakes, tortoises, frogs, and Cuban crocs. You might see Joe the sloth overhead, too!

The ARC is our commitment to animal conservation, where we will protect 85 species—38 of which are endangered. We can’t wait for you to experience this and help our mission of saving animals from extinction.

Tickets: https://store.zooknoxville.org/WebStore/Shop/ViewItems.aspx

Zoo Knoxville, 3500 Knoxville Zoo Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914. Open every day except Christmas. Information: 865-637-5331, www.zooknoxville.org