Calendar of Events

Thursday, August 8, 2024

Beck Cultural Exchange Center: 2024 Eighth of August Jubilee

  • August 8, 2024

Category: Festivals, special events, Film, Fundraisers and History, heritage

Eighth of August Jubilee Red-Carpet Event.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2024
At Historic Tennessee Theatre in Downtown Knoxville
VIP - 4 PM | General Admission - Doors open 5:30 PM; Program 6 PM
VIP 4P - $55 | General Admission 6P - $10
Special: Beck Members, $50 VIP & $5 General Admission

ABOUT THE FILM - WILLIAM H. HASTIE: GOOD & NOBLE
An excerpt from a letter from William H. Hastie Sr. to his son in 1913 reads, “Always aim high, never aim low. If you aspire to lofty things, you have accomplished much even though you have not reached the topmost round. What most concerns your mother and myself is not how perfect you have been but how much your heart yearns for what is good and noble.”

https://www.beckcenter.net/eighth-of-august-jubilee

Union Ave Books: A Launch Party with Erica Wright

  • August 8, 2024

Category: Free event and Literature, spoken word, writing

Union Ave Books is excited to present Erica Wright for the launch party for Hollow Bones! This event will take place on Thursday, August 8th at 6pm at our bookstore. This is a free event.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Wright's latest mystery novel is Hollow Bones, a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. She is the author of seven previous books, including the essay collection Snake and the crime novel Famous in Cedarville. Her debut mystery The Red Chameleon was one of O, The Oprah Magazine's Best Books of Summer 2014. Her poetry collections are Instructions for Killing the Jackal and All the Bayou Stories End with Drowned. She was the senior poetry editor at Guernica Magazine for more than a decade. She holds degrees from New York University and Columbia University. Currently, she teaches at Bellevue University while living with her family in Knoxville, Tennessee.

https://www.unionavebooks.com/event/launch-party-erica-wright
At 517 Union Ave., Knoxville, TN 37902

Mabry-Hazen House: Stories of Emancipation

Category: Festivals, special events, Free event and History, heritage

At 1711 Dandridge Ave, Knoxville, TN, United States, Tennessee 37915

Join us to celebrate Eighth of August, Tennessee's Emancipation Day with stories of historic emancipation and triumph from struggle in the lives of the enslaved at Mabry-Hazen House! From self-liberation to the 13th Amendment, “Stories of Emancipation at Mabry-Hazen House” will explore the various ways enslaved people broke down the oppressive institution of American chattel slavery and fought to gain their personal liberty.

Mabry-Hazen House will share stories, objects, and research related to the historic house museum, local enslaved communities, and their stories of emancipation. Visitors will learn about the lives of African-Americans connected to Mabry-Hazen House, their achievements and struggles, and the various ways they gained their freedom.

The museum will open offer three tours at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. Admission is free, but tours are limited to 24 (twenty-four) visitors per tour. Reservations are encouraged and donations are appreciated. Walk-up tickets will be available, but not guaranteed.

Eighth of August, also called Emancipation Day in Tennessee, commemorates a new birth of freedom in the state. While the origins of the date are a mixture of folklore and fact, it was on this day in 1863 that Andrew Johnson freed his slaves, personally initiating a move many enslaved Tennesseans had already chosen with their feet. As the Union Army conquered the majority of the state in 1862, it was seen by enslaved people as an army of liberation, offering freedom and liberty from their bondage. But it was in the years after the Civil War, when African-American communities across East Tennessee and western Kentucky celebrated their hard won liberty, that the Eighth of August gained its significance. It became a holiday for Black Tennesseans, a day of jubilee with picnics, speeches, games, and dances.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1161953878479026/1161953885145692/

Knoxville Children's Theatre: Tom Sawyer

Category: Kids, family, Literature, spoken word, writing and Theatre

Performed Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; and Sundays at 3 PM.

Tom Sawyer may be the most famous resident of St. Petersburg, Missouri, but he’s a down to earth character who not only knows how to cure warts with stump water and live the swashbuckling life on the high seas, he can also whitewash a fence in no time flat. Mark Twain’s homage to the imagination and high adventure of youth on the mighty Mississippi features Tom and a cast of characters who live at the very heart of Americana: Huck Finn, Aunt Polly, Becky Thatcher, the Widow Douglas, Muff Potter, and more.

The play is performed by 17 talented young actors and designed by 9 talented young designers from ages 9 to 16.

KCT is East Tennessee’s leading producer of plays for children and families.
Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com

Nourish Knoxville: Restaurant Week

  • August 5, 2024 — August 11, 2024

Category: Culinary arts, food and Festivals, special events

Join Nourish Knoxville and some of your favorite local restaurants, bars, breweries, and coffeehouses for an exceptional week celebrating our vibrant local food scene! With featured breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drink menu items across Knoxville highlighting local ingredients grown within a 150-mile radius, there will surely be something to delight every palate.

Need more reasons to join us? Check out which of your favorite spots are participating:

Baker Boy Pizza Company
Bistro by the Tracks (Bearden)
The Farmacy
Fly By Night
Frothy Monkey
Lilou
The Plaid Apron
Wild Love Bakehouse
+ more

Pro Tip #1: Be sure to ask for the Nourish Knoxville’s Restaurant Week dish or drink!
Pro Tip #2: While specific menu items are still under wraps, you can start planning your itinerary to hit all the locations listed on our website below.

https://www.nourishknoxville.org/restaurant-week/

Art Market Gallery: Kathy Holland and Debbie Corley

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event

First Friday Reception: August 2nd, 5:30 - 9 pm

A native of Virginia, Kathy Holland attended the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCUarts) in Richmond, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and printmaking in 1978. The following summer she studied with master wood-engraver Blair Hughes-Stanton at the Central School of Art and Design in London, England. Ever since graduation from VCUarts, Kathy has worked continually as an artist, exhibiting drawings, etchings, relief prints, and paintings in juried national and international exhibitions and solo shows. In addition to her studio practice, she has worked over the years as a freelance graphic artist, medical illustrator, mura lpainter, portrait artist, art show juror, and drawing instructor. In 1986 she emigrated to Canada, lived in the small rural town of Deep River, Ontario for over11 years, and exhibited her work extensively in solo exhibitions at public galleries throughout Ontario and in juried shows across the US.

Debbie Corley of DC Pottery creates pieces that are mostly wheel thrown, but she constructs some hand-built pieces as well, focusing on functional ware that is intended to be used and enjoyed in daily life. Inspired by the dynamics of the outside world, the changing seasons, and the organic patterns and textures found in nature, her work includes surface designs are created by employing carving techniques to expose the clay material underneath underglazes, hand painting to emphasize and highlight to create contrast and interest, and layering of patterned transfers, textures, and decals.

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

HoLa Hora Latina: "Sueños" by Sergio Martínez, Valeria Martínez & Estefano Martínez

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

This upcoming First Friday we will be showcasing “Sueños,” an exhibition that celebrates the artistry of Honduran artists Sergio Martínez, Valeria Martínez, and Estefano Martínez.

https://holahoralatina.org/current-exhibit/
865.335.3358

Dogwood Arts: Dogwood Regional Exhibition

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

Emporium Center + Dogwood Gallery
Reception: August 2nd / 5-8PM
Details TBA

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

Arts & Culture Alliance: Fluid Art by Farhad Naimy

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

My creations come to life on Gesso boards or framed wooden painting panels, where I breathe vibrancy into each drop with acrylic paint. The final touch is a resin overlay, which enhances and illuminates the colors making them dance with brilliance and vitality. My paintings are a dance of contemporary and modern style, infused with the hues of nature. Each piece is a vessel of energy, capturing the essence of the world around us.

Farhad Naimy trained professionally as an engineer and later brought his passion for architecture, design and creative use of space to his custom-built multi-million dollar homes that now span across the landscape in San Francisco and other cities throughout the Pacific Northwest. His love of the Eastern Tennessee mountains and his family brought him back to Knoxville where he draws from his international experiences of a lifetime to create art. Naimy is captivated with Fluid Art because of his deep connection to nature and color. In both there is infinite variety, and like love, infinite expressions.

Instagram @fluidartbyfarhad

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. 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.

Arts & Culture Alliance: Life is a Fairy Tale by Steven L. Griffin

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

Classic fairy tales are deep and complex, reflecting reality: light and dark, good and evil, life and death. Unlike modern interpretations, they don’t sugarcoat the hard truths to make them more palatable. Monsters, tricksters, and haters still exist; not every story ends happily ever after. Each new day, we are challenged to navigate through the unknown, making choices when we can, reaping the consequences of choices made before, and reacting to both the actions of others and the whims of providence. Fairy tales offer a treasure trove of human experience and wisdom that we can learn from and apply to our lives, hopefully avoiding the common pitfalls found by those who’ve gone before. I find inspiration in the captivating depictions of these stories created during the Golden Age of Illustration by artists such as Arthur Rackham, John Bauer, and Edmund Dulac. To create my artwork, I use a scroll saw to “unsew” various shapes from domestic and exotic woods carefully selected for their color, grain, and density. Utilizing a rotary tool and various sanders, the pieces are shaped, textured, finished, and fitted together, resulting in a three-dimensional effect. I’ve adapted a mixed media technique to increase the dimensionality by “floating” figures in multiple layers on a background scene, all enhanced by paint, stains, dyes, pyrography, acrylic resin, gemstones, and/or other materials.

Steven L. Griffin is a retired Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), having worked in health system leadership for more than 30 years. Originally from Dalton, Georgia, he currently resides in the Possum Creek area near Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. Being a lifelong learner and avid DIY’er (along with a touch of ADHD!) has led to broad accumulation of hobbies and skills. He and his wife are aspiring world travelers, having visited 39 countries to date. His current passion, mixed-media intarsia, began as a pandemic pastime but rapidly grew as he discovered the satisfaction of incorporating many of his previous skills into a unique art form.

Instagram @gryphon_intarsia
https://slgryphon1.wixsite.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. 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.

Arts & Culture Alliance: Smorgasbord 1 by Drew Turner

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

This exhibition is twelve years in the making and came together from my past works and inspirations throughout those years. It is a portrait of my inspirational process and a look across the variety of objects that I have challenged myself to make (mostly in glass with a few ceramic pieces). I have always enjoyed leveraging my creative talents to make things that I like just because I like them. It is a very freeing feeling when you’re making what you want to make just because you want to make it. From my desire to craft chop sticks to eat sushi I love to my curiosity about glass dice for use in games, this exhibition displays some of my diverse interests and burning desire to turn them into art.

Drew Turner initially worked in clay, taking classes at Farragut High School, Mighty Mud Studios, and Pellissippi State with Jim Darrow. He has also taken classes in metalworking, including wire wrapping, soldering, and enameling. For the past ten years, Turner has worked with blowing glass, first at a small-scale production studio and later studying at Penland School of Crafts on multiple occasions. He also started flameworking and fusing glass around the same time. Additionally, he works with stained glass in panels, having studied at Fountain City Stained Glass. All the while, he has pursued Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering from Pellissippi State and Tennessee Technological University, respectively. Turner has always been curious about how the world works and making things with that knowledge.

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. 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: Dogwood Regional Exhibition

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, August 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM. As part of a special First Friday Block Party sponsored by the Alliance and City of Knoxville, the free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature nearly 20 artist vendors and live music with Robinella outside along the 100 Block of Gay Street, which will be open to pedestrians only from 4-10 PM between Jackson and Vine avenues. Inside the Emporium, music will be provided by Rodney Lee and Too Easy (Rachelle and Kenneth Navy).

Hosted by Dogwood Arts, the Dogwood Regional Exhibition showcases artwork of all styles and genres created by emerging and professional artists working within a seven-state region. This year, they received 403 artwork submissions from 160 artists working throughout the Southeast. The 2024 exhibition, juried by Knoxville-based artist Chris McAdoo, will include work by 49 artists from six states:

Lauren Adams, Michael Baggarly, Stacia Baldwin, Keith Bryant, Jordan Butzine, Michelle Carr, Caitlyn Clark*, Virginia Derryberry, Vincent Drake, Garrett Durland, Nathaniel Ely, Robert Felker, Gordon Fowler, Deana Fulton, Hannah Hancock, Kathy Holland, Tyler Jamison, Donald Keefe, Gaiane Khachaturian, Hannah Langer*, Carolina Lebar, Megan Lingerfelt, Gared Luquet, Elysia Mann, David Marquez, Brian Melton, Allison Meriwether, Caroline Murphy, Leslie Nichols, Michael Nichols*, Brent Oglesbee, Carrie Pendergrass, Amber Purdy, Jacob Robertson, Wesley Roden*, Autumn Roe*, Adam Rowe, Dennis Sabo, Stephen Simmerman, Kelly Spell, Sarah Spillers, Eric Standley*, Jason Stout, Sarah Stringfellow, Sonia Summers, Marc Ward, Chase Williamson, Megan Wolfkill, Laura Woodson.

*In addition to the display at the Emporium, the Dogwood Regional Exhibition includes large-scale installations in the Dogwood Arts Gallery (just down the street from the Emporium at 123 W. Jackson Avenue). The five artists with an asterisk will exhibit their work in the Dogwood Arts Gallery. Over $2,000 will be awarded to participating artists on Friday, August 2. www.dogwoodarts.com/regional

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. 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.

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