Calendar of Events

Oak Ridge Playhouse closes out its eighty-first season of shows in technicolor with an exciting revamp of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s beloved masterpiece, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT.

From dreams to destiny, this is the extraordinary story of Joseph. Witness his meteoric rise from favored son to betrayed brother, from prisoner to right-hand man. Blessed with prophetic dreams and one very colorful garment, experience Joseph’s dazzling journey like you’ve never seen before.

With funky choreography, mesmerizing disco sounds, and hypnotic tales told through nightclub glitterati, this new spin celebrates the 1970’s in all its groovy glory. The infectious melodies of iconic hits like ‘Any Dream Will Do’, ‘Close Every Door’, and ‘Go, Go, Go Joseph’ thump into the late-night hours.

JOSEPH… has seen several different Broadway & West End revivals, national tours, even a film, but in this version by visionary director Reggie Law, the story peaks in the late seventies at the height of Studio 54. Bringing a new twist to a classic tale, this is a theatrical experience that invites audiences to let loose, have fun, and dance the night away.

Leading the live orchestra is musical director Braxton Chase Kiser. Purchase online at www.orplayhouse.com, or by calling the Box Office at (865) 482-4877, Tuesday – Friday, noon – 5:00 p.m.

Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Information and tickets: 865-482-9999, https://www.orplayhouse.com/

Spring is here and so is Shakespeare On the Hill – our spring collaboration with the Mabry-Hazen House. This year’s play will be our longtime favorite Much Ado About Nothing playing in the glorious springtime from May 9 – 19, outdoors at the Mabry-Hazen House. We had such a gloriously good time with our first two Mabry-Hazen collaborations, Kings and Crowns in 2022 and Richard II in 2023 and we are so looking forward to presenting our favorite comedy.

This most perfect romantic comedy centers on Shakespeare's wittiest lovers, Beatrice and Benedick: two people determined to avoid the foolishness of love at all costs. Verbal sparks between these two light the fire for some of Shakespeare's best writing. Along the way, we meet young lovers, chaos-causing villains, and Shakespeare's answer to the Three Stooges: Dogberry and The Watch. Of course, like all good comedies, everyone ends up with their Happily Ever After -- more or less. "But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?"

Our 2024 Knoxville Shakespeare on the Hill production will be produced at the gazebo on the grounds near the Julia Meek Guest House. We will have some chairs available, but you are encouraged to bring your own outdoor chair.

Thursday, May 9 7:30 pm
Friday, May 10 7:30 pm
Saturday, May 11 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 12 2:30 pm

Thursday, May 16 7:30 pm
Friday, May 17 7:30 pm
Saturday, May 18 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 19 2:30 pm

Doors open thirty minutes before the show, with the show beginning promptly at 7:30.
Individual Tickets: $15.00

Group Rate of 4 Tickets: $50.00

Neighborhood Resident Ticket: $10 with proof of 37915 or 37916 zip code, to be purchased at the Mabry-Hazen House Office or at the door of the event.

All Children Under 6 Are Free

We will honor Penny for the Arts, covering children up to age 15. For more information, visit www.KnoxAlliance.com/penny-4-arts/

https://www.simpletix.com/e/shakespeare-on-the-hill-much-ado-about-not-tickets-167045

The Frothy Monkey is currently exhibiting artworks from the Tennessee Artist’s Association’s show of “Take Care of One Another” from May through July at the Frothy Monkey, 419, S. Gay St. Knoxville, TN 37902.

The Frothy Monkey is the perfect stop for coffee, conversation and community. The restaurant serves breakfast through dinner, and loves it when a coffee chat turns into a lunch or dinner date. The Frothy Monkey seeks to provide a safe and welcoming environment that can nourish guests and build community relationships.

Tennessee Artists Association; A great place to learn and grow as an artist. Monthly programs of TAA include practical art demonstrations, discussions, and opportunities for individual artists to get involved in learning, community and shows. More on TAA can be found on the web at https://tnartists.org or on Instagram at @tn_artists, and on Facebook at TNArtistsAssociation.

Pen, Ink and Colored Pencil drawings of weathered barns throughout the Midwest, Kentucky and Tennessee by Curt Imerman

“Blessed are the Meek” and “Animal Spirits” : Wildlife drawings by Cheri Jorgensen

Westminster Presbyterian Church Schilling Gallery, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-R 9-4, Fri 9-1. Information: (865) 584-3957 or www.wpcknox.org

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/

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from May 3-31, 2024. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Nicholas Horner, DJ Morrison and Maggie Tharp.

M. Kobe is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They earned an MFA in Painting from Boston University, a BFA in Painting, and a BA in Art History from Louisiana State University. Kobe is a storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist working primarily with textiles, found natural materials, and lucky objects. Drawing upon her experiences growing up in the American South, her work contends with the religious mythologies of her upbringing, superstition, notions of home, and cultural inheritance. Kobe is currently an Artist in Residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and was recently a resident at Azule.

As an artist from the American South, primarily Louisiana and North Carolina, I make work that is informed by my own natural history and questions what it means to live in these regions now. Building off the myths of my religious upbringing, folk tales taught in elementary school, and my love for country music, I navigate these superstitions and examine what it means to write my own. The art objects I make, tapestries and sculptures, are embedded with found natural or "lucky" materials and imbued with personal narrative. I am learning what it means to love a place that can be hard to love, to love a landscape that loves me back. I make my work with gratitude and admiration and as a critical yet redemptive response to the complicated places I call home.

www.madelainekobe.com | Instagram @madelainekobe

Dongyi Wu was born and raised in China. She is a contemporary jewelry artist and is currently an Artist in Residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She received her master's degree in Metal and Jewelry Design from Rochester Institute of Technology; a bachelor's degree in Jewelry Art Design from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China; and a dual degree in Fashion and Engineering from the same undergraduate school in China. Wu has shown nationally and internationally and recently presented her sixth solo exhibition at the Clamp Light Studios & Gallery in San Antonio, Texas. Her works have been featured in many publications, such as Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design and New Brooches: 400+ Contemporary Jewellery Designs. Her work is permanently collected by Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School & Academy, in Florence.

My works span across contemporary jewelry, body jewelry, fashion art, sculpture, and conceptual installation, and contemporary jewelry is the primary medium of my current artistic research. I treat jewelry as a tool to explore the relationship between human bodies and their surrounding spaces as well as a visual language that is delivered to others without real words. I liken myself to a storyteller who narrates stories that seem to be trivial and common but express strong and genuine emotions. I categorize materials according to their colors/shapes/texture and spend time exploring the connections between the selected materials and my personal experiences/preferences. In this case, all the materials that appear in my work speak of my personality and feelings.

www.dongyiwu.com | Instagram @dongyi.w

The exhibitions will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday (May 4 & 11), 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and 5:00-7:00 PM on Fri May 10 for a Gallery 1010 opening. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

Dogwood Arts is proud to announce the 2024 Epiphone Guitar Design Contest. The contest is open to all high school and middle school students living in East Tennessee. Several guitar designs created by youth artists will be selected for implementation and exhibition. The art guitars will be displayed at the Dogwood Arts Gallery in Knoxville, TN. The guitars will be auctioned to benefit Dogwood Arts’ youth art programs.

Online auction will be live from May 3-31, 2024

Guitars will be displayed in the Dogwood Arts Gallery (Knoxville) May 3-31, 2024

An exhibition reception and awards ceremony will take place on Friday, May 3rd at the Dogwood Arts Gallery from 5-8 PM (Awards at 6 PM)

Select guitars will also be on display at the Southern Skies Music Festival (May 11, 2024)

Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from May 3-31, 2024. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Nicholas Horner, DJ Morrison and Maggie Tharp.

CT Kellar was born the son of a Southern Baptist minister and counts as his heritage the red dirt and green pines of the Sierra foothills. Wanderlust has led him to live on a boat in Monterey Bay, a repurposed orphanage in Northern California, a restored Victorian in Juneau, Alaska, and now in his current art-filled bungalow in Knoxville. Kellar has reinvented himself multiple times, on both the professional front as sportswriter, house painter, high-tech sales guy, and social worker as well as creatively as frontman for an indie rock band, poet, playwright, and currently: collage artist.

Servitude to the muse is nothing new for me, but working as a visual artist was not something I had done until 2022. Two things happened that lit my creative fuse: I watched a documentary about collage artist Lance Letscher, and I moved to Juneau, Alaska. The lack of sunshine there due to the weather and the shortness of days became a bit debilitating. The idea of assembling elements of color without being constrained by form or direction was an immediate mood lifter. Snow, rain and darkness become much more bearable when caught up in the work of creating pieces leaning heavily on primary colors. While I now live in Knoxville, my immersion in this medium has continued. The satisfaction I gain from making art owes much to randomness, spontaneity and surprise.

Instagram @juneau.blade.runner

The exhibitions will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday (May 4 & 11), 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and 5:00-7:00 PM on Fri May 10 for a Gallery 1010 opening. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from May 3-31, 2024. A free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features music by Nicholas Horner, DJ Morrison and Maggie Tharp.

Rulla Habiby is a multi-media artist, painting in abstract and figurative styles, working with concrete and various clays, and using experience with Graphic Design in her works. Her paintings are characterized by bold and dramatic colors, combined into a fluid harmony. She was born and raised in the city of Haifa, Israel, and moved with her family to Knoxville over twenty years ago.

Early in life, Habiby showed a passion and talent for painting and strives to paint her life onto the canvas. Her unique background brings together the East and the West into a dazzling blend of her colors, feelings, and soul.

www.rullahabiby.com | Instagram @art_by_rulla | Facebook: Art by Rulla

The exhibitions will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday (May 4 & 11), 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and 5:00-7:00 PM on Fri May 10 for a Gallery 1010 opening. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.