Calendar of Events

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 7-28, 2024. As part of a special First Friday Block Party, a free gathering with the artists will take place on Friday, June 7, from 5:00-9:00 PM. Additionally, the night will feature more than 20 artist vendors and live music with The Merlin’s Nest and Nief-Norf faculty outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues.

Alex Smith: Moved by Stillness
I’ve lived in the hustle and bustle of New York and in the East Tennessee countryside. Whatever my surroundings, I’ve been very aware of being in the present moment when I’m working. As an artist, I hope I bring viewers the ability to be still, to put down their phones and silence the noise of the world. My works are from scenes in my life where I’ve found inspiration; each painting has its own story that a viewer can only find by being still.

Alex Smith is a native Knoxvillian. He is a graduate of Carson-Newman University, studied at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, and completed his MFA at The New York Academy of Art. Smith received an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant, an Artist’s Teaching Residency at the Altos de Chavon School of Art and Design, and a Bailey Opportunity Grant. He has been the featured artist at the Dogwood Arts Festival and ArtXtravaganza in Knoxville. His work has been exhibited at the Emporium in Knoxville and numerous galleries in New York, including Sotheby’s, Panepinto Galleries, Dacia Gallery, and the Wilkinson Gallery at the New York Academy of Art. www.alexsmithstudios.com | Instagram @alexsmith_artist

Jan Muir: Stop and Smell the Flowers!
The main influence in my life and art has always and will always be the natural beauty of the outdoors. As a wildlife photographer, I am able to focus on the eyes of the wild while having my spirit melt into the immensity of open landscapes. Each continent has its particular feel. Each continent holds multiple memories. My glass art is similar. I embrace beauty, place, and function. The current series reflects nature through the use of flowers. Some pieces arose from photographic images that I’ve taken, while others I designed to elicit joy.

Jan Muir grew up in Las Vegas and has lived in Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico; she now resides in Vonore, Tennessee. The beauty of place and the warmth of community make East Tennessee an ideal place to call home. Expressing herself through art became part of her journey while in college, and she graduated with a Ceramic Arts Degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She then worked in pottery for many years until a love of photographing wildlife and traveling absorbed her. As a photographer, she was a guest photo lecturer aboard National Geographic/Lindblad Expedition ships and became a contributing photographer to a leading Stock Photo Agency. In 2020 and 2022, her photography was featured on the covers of National Geographic Kids and Little Kids Magazines. In 2002, she began to work with blown glass at Pilchuck School of Glass. Muir has since studied and taught glass art fusing, casting, and blowing in the Czech Republic, Turkey, New Zealand and stateside at the Corning Institute of Glass. www.janmuir.com

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. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Wednesday, June 19 for the holiday. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at https://www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

"In a big family, it is often chaotic and I have found that photographing even the less than ideal moments is cathartic and it helps me to be present in the moments that matter and will not last forever. Documenting my life in this way records this passage of time in a beautiful and meaningful way."

The exhibit will be available starting June 7th from 5 PM – 9 PM and will remain at Casa HoLa Gallery for the rest of the month. We will also feature in our Tienda HoLa with merchandise, locally made and imported artisan crafts, accessories, jewelry, cards, ornaments, piñatas, alebrijes and more. As always, Hot Tamales will be available for purchase!

https://holahoralatina.org/current-exhibit/
Info: 865.335.3358 or enrique.cruz@holafestival.org
HoLa Hora Latina’s Casa HoLa Art Gallery and Artisan Gift Shop
Bottom floor of the Emporium for the Arts (corner of Gay and Jackson streets in downtown Knoxville), 100 South Gay Street, Suite 112, Knoxville, TN 37902

Kid A’ Riffic Fun in the Park is an event for children offering hands on crafts and activities provided by City departments and entities. Kid A’Riffic will be held on Wednesdays in June and July from 10am-1pm at a different park each week. Come enjoy making crafts, playing games and so much more while making fun memories over summer vacation. All activities are free!

June 5 - Baxter Ave Park & Fire Station #3, 204 E. Baxter Ave
June 12 - Chilhowee Park with Touch-A-Truck, 401 Lakeside St
June 26 - Fort Kid, 1049 World's Fair Park Drive
July 10 - Morningside Park, 1600 Dandridge Rd.
July 17 - Fountain City Park, 117 Hotel Rd.
July 24 - West Hills Park, 410 N. Winston Rd
July 31 - World's Fair Park, 910 World's Fair Park Dr.

*No events on June 19 and July 3

https://www.knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_departments_offices/special_events/kid_a__riffic_fun_in_the_park

Flights of Fancy: Artworks inspired by Hummingbirds by Cheri Jorgenson

Artist statement: My wildlife artwork began after our Covid isolation, when I finally became aware of these animals. I became an appreciator and observer of our local residents, particularly hummingbirds, and began to create artwork inspired by them. In 2022, our art group was invited to do an art show at Ijams Nature Center, home of the Annual Hummingbird Festival, and many of these were exhibited there.

Bio: Cheri Jorgenson has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alabama and a Masters of Science in Art Education from the University of Tennessee. Originally a graphic designer, she was then an art teacher for Knox County Schools for 20 years, retiring from the L&N STEM Academy in 2020. She was the 2012 Tennessee Art Educator of the Year and the 2021 National Art Honor Society Sponsor of the Year. In 2004, she co-founded COMMA, an air group that meets weekly at UT Gardens. Ms. Jorgenson lives in South Knoxville with her husband in a very old farmhouse surrounded by natural habitat.

June & July 2024
South Knoxville Library Gallery, 4500 Chapman Highway, Knoxville, TN 37920
Hours: M/T/R: 10am – 8pm, Wed: 10am – 5:30pm, F/S: 10am – 5:30, Sun: Closed. (Closed Juneteenth and Independence Day)

A new solo exhibition of mixed-media, image-text artworks
www.underwoodartworks.com

Opening with a public reception, Saturday, May 11, 2024, 1pm to 5pm

Also showing work by Jennifer Simon in an adjacent gallery

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

A new solo exhibition of collage artwork
Instagram @burdenhill_tribe

Opening with a public reception, Saturday, May 11, 2024, 1pm to 5pm

Also showing work by David Underwood in an adjacent gallery

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

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.

Join us on Market Square, located in the heart of Downtown Knoxville, for free concerts during the summer of 2024! Concerts on the Square presented by Comcast will feature a variety of Jazz music on Tuesdays in May, June & September from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. and a variety of music genres on the Third Thursdays in the months of May-September.

May 7 - Joe Wilaniskis Quintet
May 14 - Greg Tardy Quintet
May 21 - Taber Gable Trio
May 28 - Sam Adams
June 4 - Mark Boling Trio
June 11 - Ken Brown Quartet
June 18 - Vance Thompson Quartet
June 25 - Larry Vincent Quartet
September 3 - Matt Nelson Trio
September 10
September 17
September 24

Free parking is available in all City owned garages after 6pm. Market Square Garage, Locust Street Garage, State Street Garage, and Langley Garage are the closest to Market Square. https://www.knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_departments_offices/special_events/concerts_on_the_square

Stay informed about the bands performing and any weather-related cancellations by checking the City of Knoxville Special Events Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CityofKnoxvilleSpecialEvents.

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

Get ready for an exciting kickoff to the 2024 season of the New Harvest Farmers Market! Join us on Thursday, April 25th, from 3-6 PM at New Harvest Park for a fantastic event packed with fun activities and fresh, local goods! Here's what's in store for you:
FARMERS MARKET: Explore a diverse array of local produce, baked goods, meat, eggs, crafts, and more at our vibrant market stalls!
NOURISH MOVES: Lace up your sneakers and join us for the launch of the 2024 season of Nourish Moves! Learn more about how you can turn your steps into Produce Bucks by visiting nourishknoxville.org/nourish-moves/
SNAP & SNAP DOUBLING: shoppers with SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps) are able to swipe their EBT cards at the info booth for tokens to spend on groceries at the market! Plus Nourish Knoxville will be doubling those dollars, up to $20/day, in Double Up Food Bucks tokens to spend on fresh fruits & vegetables! Learn more about this program at nourishknoxville.org/programs/snap/

Thursdays from 3 pm – 6 pm
New Harvest Park, 4775 New Harvest Lane, Knoxville, TN 37918

https://www.nourishknoxville.org/new-harvest/