Calendar of Events

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from November 6-24, 2020. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, November 6, from 5:00-8:00 PM. All visitors to the Emporium are asked to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing guidelines. Most of the works will be for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store.

In this second collaboration, artists Stephen Brayfield and Tonya Wunder explore darker themes through a kind of eccentric, personal mythology. At times, Wunder will provide poetic captions for Brayfield’s original paintings, and conversely, he is inspired to paint by something she reads. It is not always a smooth and painless process, and with this new exhibition, Brayfield experiments with a different presentation of watercolors. Departing from the traditional mat, frame and glass, he mounts them on cradled panels and seals them with cold wax medium.

About Stephen Brayfield: While I respect the more traditional subject matter of landscape/still life associated with watercolor, I prefer art with a narrative using portrait and figure as a springboard. My earlier work was influenced by surrealism but I have since merged this with an Americana element that I refer to as "southern gothic”.

About Tonya Wunder: I enjoy various streams of poetry, but it was Emily Dickinson who gave me the courage to discard rules and Andre Breton’s automatism that gave me the freedom to ramble nonsensically.

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed Wednesday-Friday, November 25-27, for the holidays. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.