Calendar of Events

Put on your jazziest attire and help us honor Patricia Robledo with the Spirit of East Tennessee Award at the second annual Biscuits & Bubbly, May 5, 10:30 am - 2:00 pm at the The Standard, 416 W. Jackson Ave.

Patricia Robledo is Knox County School’s first Latino community outreach specialist, a role in which she is working to increase engagement and improve communication with Spanish-speaking families and others who are not fluent in English. Robledo, who immigrated with her family from Colombia to the US at the age of 17 with limited English proficiency, understands the challenges and opportunities for Spanish-speaking families and immigrants.

Robledo is the founder of Robledo Translations, a local translation / interpretation business, and previously served as the City of Knoxville’s business and development liaison. She was also a founding member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee. Robledo has served on many non-profit boards and was in the inaugural class of the Lonsdale Community School Volunteer Hall of Fame in recognition of her role with a Girl Scout troop in Lonsdale.

Tickets at: https://easttnhistory.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/easttnhistory/event.jsp?event=508&
Proceeds benefit the East Tennessee Historical Society.

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

Register at https://www.knoxasianfestival.com/japan-outreach-program-event-registration/

Koinobori, carp windsocks, streamers or banners, decorate the landscape of Japan from April through early May, in honor of the Children's Day (originally the Boys' festival) on May 5.

In Japanese culture, the carp symbolizes courage and strength because of its ability to swim up a waterfall. The Boys' Festival was originally an event, expressing hope that each boy in the family will grow up healthy and strong like wild carps. During this festival, people set up a warrior doll or a yoroi armor set in the house, and Koinobori, large carp-shaped windsocks, outside the house. https://koinobori-japan.jp/koinobori.html

At East TN History Center, 601 S Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902
https://www.knoxasianfestival.com/events/

The market will be at our workshop (116 Childress St SW) on Sunday, May 5, from 12PM - 5PM.

Our spring Maker Market will be our biggest celebration of local makers yet! Fifty-six artists and craftspeople are set to show and sell their handmade wares. You can help judge an art contest and behold the spectacle of lethal cardboard robot fighting! We'll be offering tours of the fantastic Knox Makers workshop throughout the day. Several food trucks will be onsite, and both admission and parking will be free.

https://market.knoxmakers.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/events/springmakermarket7181620250650509312/about/

Date: Sunday May 5
Times: 11am-6pm
Location: The Mill and Mine, 227 W Depot Ave, Knoxville, TN 37917

Come celebrate ten years of bringing regional makers together in Knoxville! Shop ceramics, jewelry, artwork, candles, plants, soaps and even more from over 50 vendors!

https://www.retropolitancraft.com/
www.instagram.com/retrocraftfair

Knoxville's annual supply swap for artists. Sign up at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRhY3n10YRscyPBFfR-yaqe-qr0Rh_ohG2oddMUHhwff_Leg/viewform

(rain date Sunday May 12)
No fee for participation! A small donation of your choosing is encouraged from those who have a successful sale.

Please note: this is a used supply swap and bargain event, not a retail art market.

People should primarily bring art/studio supplies (tools, materials, equipment, studio furniture, old artwork (bargain-priced only, please) or other items that fit with the idea of a Garage Sale for Artists.

Setup will be outside along the side of our building.

Participants must bring everything they need for setup (e.g a table or blanket, lawn chair, cash box, garage sale stickers, signs, etc)

Relay Ridge is offering to take unwanted leftovers after the sale, provided they are in decent, useful condition. RR will work with local schools and nonprofit organizations to distribute these items, or retain them for future programming at RR. We ask that participants dispose of their own trash. Several large dumpsters are available nearby.

Relay Ridge, 4124 McKinley St, Knoxville. https://relayridge.org/ and https://www.instagram.com/relay_ridge/

Jubilee Community Arts presents the Tannahill Weavers at the Laurel Theater, May 5 at 8 pm.

Born of a session in Paisley, Scotland, and named for the town's historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill, the Tannahill Weavers have made an international name for their special brand of Celtic music, blending the beauty of traditional melodies with the power of modern rhythms. As one of the world's premier traditional Celtic bands, their diverse repertoire spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, original ballads and lullabies, and humorous tales of life in Scotland.

Since 2021, they have been joined by exciting piper and fiddle player Iain MacGillivray, who is also Scotland's youngest Clan leader. As the band celebrate the nomination of their 18th recording, Òrach (“Golden” in Gaelic) as album of the year, and themselves as band of the year, they are firmly established as one of the premier groups on the concert stage.

Tickets available at TicketLeap (jubilee-community-arts.ticketleap.com), by mail or at the door 30 minutes prior to show.

$25 at the door, $20 General Audience Advance, $19 JCA members, students & seniors 65+

Jubilee Community Arts at the Laurel Theater, 1538 Laurel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37916. Tickets: https://jubilee-community-arts.ticketleap.com. Information: 865-522-5851, www.jubileearts.org

We had such a blast last year....We care COMMITTED to doing it AGAIN! That's right...after years of educating the community on the importance of awareness of autism...we are still on a mission to make the shift to ACCEPTANCE! And because it's a big deal, we want to invite you and your family to come to hang with those who understand and more importantly support your journey.

Join us on Sunday, May 5th, 2024 at the World's Fair Park in Knoxville, TN from 10 am -2 pm for family, food, jump houses, bubbles, an inflatable obstacle course, entertainment, a sensory seeking tour, photo opportunity, face painting, giant connect four, giant Jenga, and so much more!

The fountains will be on and the playground open! It's FREE and for the first 200 registrants will receive a FREE goodie bag! Click the link, grab your tickets, and if you feel moved...make a small contribution for AUTISM ACCEPTANCE month!

https://givebutter.com/FamilyFunDay

Union Ave Books is excited to present Brian Griffin for Single Lens Reflex. This event will take place on May 5th at 3pm at our bookstore. This is a free event. Please RSVP via the webform here: https://www.unionavebooks.com/event/author-event-brian-griffin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Griffin holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia. His fiction, poetry and essays have been widely published in literary journals and anthologies, and his collection Sparkman in the Sky and Other Stories was chosen by Barry Hannah to receive the Mary McCarthy Prize for Short Fiction. Single Lens Reflex was selected as a finalist for the National Poetry Series’ 2018 competition. He has taught writing at The University of Virginia, Pellissippi State Community College, and the University of Tennessee. He is former Director of Lifespan Religious Education at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

ABOUT THE BOOK
A gunman opened fire on the congregants at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in 2008. Brian Griffin bears witness to his experience surviving this tragedy and living in its aftermath in his collection of poems, Single Lens Reflex.

Drawn from the remarkable collection of John Hechinger, a hardware store magnate, and art collector, the 68 featured works in the exhibition present images of the most familiar tools as extraordinary works of art. Encompassing photographs, paintings, works on paper, and sculptures, the exhibition celebrates the value of labor and honors the creativity of builders, artists, hobbyists, and self-reliant DIYers. Featured artists include Colleen Barry, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Maria Porges, James Surls, and Wayne Thiebaud.

The renowned art collection of the late hardware magnate John Hechinger exemplifies this practical and artistic universality. Over his long career, Hechinger devoted much of his energy, playfulness, and passion to this collection, seeking out works from numerous genres and artists of many backgrounds, all of them bound by a common theme: the democracy of the tool. In Work and Play, curator Sarah Tanguy explores interlocking principles: tools as icons of labor; labor as a component of creativity; creativity as a form of play; and the art of tools as the most incisive expression of their interrelatedness. This exhibition celebrates the virtues inherent in the art of the tool and highlights the astounding breadth of the Hechinger Collection by illuminating this unique, but ubiquitous, idiom.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tu-Sa 10-5, Su 1-5. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org. Admission and parking are free.

Join us for the opening of “Pottery From Somewhere Else Entirely” by Michael Arpino on May 3rd from 6-8 pm.

Arpino's unique pieces are each a statement of individuality!
https://www.instagram.com/arpinoceramics/

Rala: Regional and Local Artisans, 112 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Mon-Thu & Sat 11-6, Fri 11-8, Sun 11-5. Information: 865-525-7888, https://shoprala.com or www.instagram.com/ShopRala

First Friday Reception: May 3rd, 5:30 - 9 pm

Vincent Drake was born in 1976 in Udon Thani, Thailand to a Thai mother and American father and spent his formative years in a working class neighborhood in southeast Los Angeles. He attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and the San Francisco Art Institute where he studied Fine Art Painting. Drake's art can be seen as an exploration of society's struggle with the individual and our human nature. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Canada. He currently finds himself home in Knoxville, Tennessee. Drake is inspired by the absurdity of modern American society; the irrational ideals we're convinced to accept, the relentless marketing and propaganda, the tribalism, disgust, perverted romanticism and violence that has become characteristic of us. In his art, Drake is unconcerned with beauty or idealization. He is interested in investigating our culture's influence on our identities and the confusion, panic, and suffering that results. His subjects are people; sometimes we as individuals, sometimes us as a group. They are part mechanical construction, part hallucination; both comical and uncomfortable; suffering, confused, and trapped by their emptiness and proselytized ambitions.

Artist Julie Fawn Boisseau-Craig works in glass and porcelain, but also utilizes metals and wood as necessary to create her sculptural pieces. Julie designs and creates many functional and wearable works at Wild Pony Studio, her personal studio in Rockford, Tennessee, and does hot shop glass works at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro, North Carolina. Boisseau-Craig has shown nationally and participated in many workshops and demonstrations. Her work directly responds to the contradictions of life. Julie received her Master of Fine Arts degree in December of 2012, after which, she taught at Western Carolina University and still teaches at Southwestern Community College in North Carolina. Julie is currently the Chapter Representative of the East Chapter of Tennessee Craft as well as a board member. Julie is also the President on the board of the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville, in addition to being an exhibiting artist at the gallery. Julie also concentrates on her studio work, art shows across the country, and teaching workshops.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-6, Su 1-6. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net, www.Facebook.com/ArtMarketGallery

Friday, May 3, from 6-8 Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for artist Amber Purdy.

Amber Purdy makes mixed media collages that blend vintage imagery, nature themes, and up-cycled materials into arresting new compositions. She usually begins with old books, papers, or photographs that she has spent years collecting. She enjoys the challenge of combining images both old and new in an unexpected way. Her pieces often reference nature, dreams, memories, and the ever-present link between the past and the present.

Please join us for some amazing art, light refreshments, and of course great coffee!

Awaken Coffee, 125 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Open daily. Information: 865-951-0427, www.instagram.com/awaken_coffee or www.facebook.com/awakencoffeeoldcity/