The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Vision, Language, and Influence: Photographs of the South by Baldwin Lee, Walker Evans, and Eudora Welty from May 14 – August 1, 2010.

Vision, Language, and Influence brings together for the first time the work of three photographers of the American South over a 50-year period. Walker Evans (1903-1976) is represented by incisive images of Alabama sharecroppers stemming from his epic collaboration with James Agee on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning Southern writer and photographer who traveled across Mississippi in the 1930s and early 1940s taking photographs and documenting rural and small-town life in her home state. Baldwin Lee (born 1951) is a professor of photography at the University of Tennessee, and a former assistant to Walker Evans. Complementing the 50 or so works by Evans and Welty are more than 30 of Lee’s images of African-American life in the South taken during the 1980s with the support of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Vision, Language, and Influence was organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art in collaboration with Baldwin Lee.

A members-only preview party is scheduled for Thursday, May 13 from 5:30-7:30pm which will include a gallery talk by Artist Baldwin Lee and Alexis Boylan, Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Tennessee.

Sponsors for this exhibition include the Tennessee Arts Commission. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Method Bureau, and WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents BLOOM, an outdoor exhibition running April 1 through August 1, 2010 in the museum’s North Garden.

BLOOM was designed and fabricated by Knoxville-based artists Jason S. Brown and Elizabeth Scofield. Created of synthetic nylon fabric and fiberglass, it consists of botanically inspired sculptures including 16-foot tall blades of nylon grass, large-scale synthetic flowers, and other plant-like shapes. The installation combines the order and geometry of a flower garden with the organic and shifting nature of a field exposed to the changing elements.

KMA Curator Stephen Wicks explains, “Jason and Elizabeth produce beautiful, thoughtful work that draws attention to the push-and-pull between nature and the built environment. BLOOM gives the KMA a chance to showcase some of the artists’ best work on a large scale at a time of year when everyone is trying to find every excuse to get outside.”

Jason S. Brown is associate professor of sculpture at the University of Tennessee’s School of Art. He and partner Elizabeth Scofield have been exploring public art projects and environmental issues as exhibiting artists for two decades.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Uncertain Terrain: Selections from the KMA Collection April 16 – August 29, 2010.

Uncertain Terrain features contemporary paintings, drawings, photographs, and new media works from the KMA collection by artists whose chief inspiration stems from the surrounding landscape—whether rural or urban, perceived or imagined. The exhibition examines the many ways artists make references to the external environment while calling attention to the artistic process. “Uncertain Terrain highlights the KMA’s recent progress in developing its collection of contemporary art, and brings together a strong selection of works that redefine or reinterpret notions about landscape art,” according to KMA Curator Stephen Wicks. Several works in the show are recent acquisitions that have not been previously exhibited, while others are old favorites that have not been seen in a long time. Uncertain Terrain also underscores the vital contributions of the KMA Collectors Circle, the support group that has provided funding for the bulk of the museum’s contemporary works.

Artists represented in the exhibition include Jim Campbell, Patty Chang, Herb Creecy, Tomory Dodge, Chuck Forsman, Natasha Kissell, Alison Moritsugu, Brian Novatny, Jered Sprecher, Darren Waterston, Roger Weik, and Charlotta Westergren.

Wicks will present a Dine & Discover luncheon presentation on Uncertain Terrain on July 7 at noon at the KMA.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Wind/Rewind/Weave, a major exhibition of work by Chicago artist Anne Wilson January 22–April 25, 2010.

Wind/Rewind/Weave investigates the process of craft and textile production through three separate works: Rewinds, Local Industry and Wind-Up: Walking the Warp.

Rewinds is the premier showing of an installation of glass bobbins, a “deconstructed carpet” of glass stretching 12 feet long. This work stems from Wilson’s artist residency at the Pilchuk Glass School, and at two subsequent residencies at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.

Local Industry, designed by the artist specifically for the KMA, invites museum visitors to consider textile production by spending time winding bobbins of thread. Inside, rows of hand bobbin winders recall the group dynamics of a textile factory. The wound bobbins will be used by a group of experienced weavers to make a single bolt of cloth on a loom set up in the gallery.

Wind-Up: Walking the Warp is a video documenting a group performance January 20-25, 2008, at Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago in which 10 participants perform the rhythmic act of building a 40-yard weaving warp on a 17' x 7' frame.

A members-only preview party is scheduled for Thursday, January 21 from 5:30 – 7:30pm.

A discussion with the artist is set for Saturday, January 23 at 3pm and is free and open to the public.

Anne Wilson, a Chicago-based visual artist and head of the fiber program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, creates sculpture, drawings, video animations, and installations that explore themes of time, loss, private and social rituals. Her work rests at the forefront of artwork connecting conceptualism and handiwork, activism and aesthetics. Through a diverse range of source materials and production methods, Wilson’s practice extends the relational in terms of labor, collaboration, and identity construction. Her work has been exhibited around the world.

Presenting sponsor for the exhibition is Jupiter Entertainment. Additional sponsors include Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass; Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts; the University of Tennessee Visual Arts Committee; and the Tennessee Arts Commission.

For more information about the exhibition and the artist, go to http://www.windrewindweave.com.

The Knoxville Museum of Art is featured on the cover of the new 2009-2010 AT&T Real Yellow Pages directory serving the greater Knoxville area. The museum’s lively and engaging schedule of exhibitions emphasizes emerging artists of national and international reputation, significant past and present regional artists, and fine crafts.

More than 680,000 AT&T Real Yellow Pages directories are being distributed throughout the Greater Knoxville area. Initial delivery began Dec. 22, 2009 and runs through mid-January. The directory will be made available to new residents and businesses throughout the year.

In addition to area residential and business listings, the AT&T Real Yellow Pages includes local, state and federal government listings, area attractions and events, arts, maps, emergency and 911 guides, severe weather tips and other important local information.

“We are so excited to feature the Knoxville Museum of Art on the cover of our new AT&T Real Yellow Pages,” said Alan Hill, AT&T Tennessee regional director, external affairs. “We always strive to make our directory covers special on the outside and to tailor the contents inside our print directories and online search options to best serve the needs of the greater Knoxville community.”

The foundation of the museum's exhibition program is a new permanent installation, Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee, which features works from the KMA collection as well as loans from individuals and institutions. Opened in 2008, the installation constitutes an important milestone in the museum’s short history and reflects a growing awareness of and pride in the area’s rich cultural history.  Annual exhibitions of significant regional contemporary artists bring the story up to the present, and exhibitions of emerging artists of national and international reputation acquaint local audiences with worldwide developments in contemporary art. “The museum has become a pioneer in innovative collaborations by focusing on interpreting changing exhibitions and partnering with other community organizations, East Tennessee colleges, universities and public schools,” said Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Jamie Woodson.

“The Knoxville Museum of Art is delighted to partner with AT&T and the Real Yellow Pages this year,” said KMA Executive Director David Butler. “We are proud of the remarkable support we receive from individuals, government, and our corporate community. This cover of The Real Yellow Pages gives us an opportunity to put this beautiful facility in front of all of our supporters and prospective visitors throughout the Greater Knoxville area. This is a new and creative avenue for the museum to reach hundreds of thousands who will be challenged, stimulated, and entertained as they enhance their understanding and appreciation for the arts.”

As new books are delivered, Knoxville area businesses and residents are encouraged to recycle their outdated directories. AT&T Real Yellow Pages directories are recyclable, and the paper used to print the directories contains recycled materials. Residents and businesses can call the AT&T Real Yellow Pages Project ReDirectory help line, listed on the directory cover, at 800-953-4400 for directory recycling information in this community.

Combined, AT&T’s print and online products receive more than 5 billion consumer searches a year for local business information, and provide more than 1 million advertisers with valuable sales leads to help their businesses grow. We offer a full suite of advertising search products that enables businesses and customers to connect anytime, anywhere. In addition to our print directories, we provide information through YELLOWPAGES.COM, RealPagesLive.com, YPmobile, YP411 and more.

For more information on the print directory or YELLOWPAGES.COM, please call AT&T Advertising Solutions at 1-800-392-2355, or visit online at http://www.1800getreal.com.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

The Knoxville Museum of Art invites children and parents to celebrate the holidays at Family Fun Day on Saturday, December 12 from 11am to 3pm. All events at Family Fun Day are free thanks to the generous sponsorship of Regal Entertainment Group.

Children of all ages have the opportunity to create art projects at one of the many activity stations including flowers, collages, and abstract paintings made from recycled newspaper.

Families can tap their feet to the music of the LoneTones, participate in gallery talks given by docent guides, and have the kids’ faces painted, all for free. Decorations are provided by Par-T-Balloons by Darlene Geter.

Artist Bill Capshaw will demonstrate the ceramic process and Premier Martial Arts Group will perform martial arts moves.

Refreshments from FATS BBQ will be for sale.

The Knoxville Museum of Art announces the acquisition of Dawn, Autumn Forest, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee (1948) by legendary American photographer Ansel Adams.   Adams (1902-1984) is best known for his timeless black-and-white images of Yosemite National Park and other natural wonders of the American West.  In 1948, however, he traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park—his first and only recorded visit to Tennessee—in order take photographs as part of a Guggenheim Fellowship on America’s national parks and monuments.

Evidence suggests Adams discovered the Smokies to be an intimidating subject. In a letter of October 9, 1948, the artist confides that “The Smokys [sic] are OK in their way, but they are going to be devilish hard to photograph...”  Adams only published four images from his visit.  Prints of these are little known and exceedingly rare.  The KMA was able to acquire one of the four, Dawn, Autumn Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, thanks to generous financial support from Patricia and Alan Rutenberg and Mary Ellen and Steve Brewington.

According to KMA Executive Director David Butler, "The museum has recently refined its mission to include the rich history of the visual arts in East Tennessee; the acquisition of this masterwork by Ansel Adams represents a strong commitment to this exciting new direction.  This photograph is just one of the many high points in a long, fascinating, and largely unknown story that the KMA is proud to celebrate."

Dawn, Autumn Forest, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee will be on display in the KMA main lobby before being incorporated into Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee, the museum's permanent installation devoted to the art and artists of our region.

The KMA is seeking prints of Adams’ other three published images of the Smoky Mountains with the hope that it can become the first museum to acquire a complete set.

The Tennessee Art Education Association and the Knoxville Museum of Art present the fourth annual East Tennessee Student Art Exhibition November 27, 2009 – January 3, 2010 at the Knoxville Museum of Art.  The competition offers students the opportunity to display their talents and be honored for their accomplishments in a professional art museum environment.  Student artists will be honored at a reception and awards ceremony on Tuesday, December 1 from 6-8pm in the Great Hall at the Knoxville Museum of Art. The event is free and open to the public.

The Best-of-Show winner receives a purchase award of $500, and the artwork becomes a permanent part of the collection of James Dodson, on loan to the Knoxville Museum of Art’s Education Collection.

Categories for the competition include ceramics, drawing, digital imagery, mixed media, painting, computer graphics, sculpture, traditional photography and printmaking.  The competition includes works from middle and high school students, grades six through 12, from public, private or home schools in East Tennessee, and is being juried by art professionals.

The exhibition is made possible by presenting sponsor Regal Entertainment Group, with additional sponsorship from Carton Services Incorporated, Home Federal Bank, All Occasion Catering, Coleman’s Printing & Awards, Jerry’s Artarama, Morris Creative Group, Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Tennessee Art Education Association.   

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Devorah Sperber: Threads of Perception October 30, 2009– January 24, 2010. The New York artist puts a new spin on the history of Western art, using digital technology to recreate and reinterpret familiar masterpieces.

Interested in the links between art, science, and technology through the ages, Devorah Sperber deconstructs familiar images to address the way the brain processes visual information versus the way we think we see. “As a visual artist,” she says, “I cannot think of a topic more stimulating and yet so basic than the act of seeing—how the human brain makes sense of the visual world.”

Sperber’s work is based on the technology of mechanical reproduction and how it alters images and the scale of artworks as they exist in “the mind’s eye.” Using ordinary spools of thread, she creates pixilated, inverted images of well-known masterpieces including famous paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci and Jan Van Eyck, which appear as colorful abstractions to the naked eye. When viewed through optical devices, however, the works becomes immediately recognizable.

Sperber has exhibited extensively at museums and galleries around the world, and is represented in a number of private and public collections in the United States. To see more of her work go to www.devorahsperber.com.

A members-only exhibition preview party and opportunity to meet the artist takes place Thursday, October 29 at 5:30–7:30pm. Additionally, the public is invited to a lecture by Sperber will be held at the University of Tennessee Wednesday, October 28 at 7pm in the Art & Architecture building in room 109. Sponsors for this exhibition include the University of Tennessee Visual Arts Committee. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, digital media graphix, Method Bureau, and WBIR.

Fine Art and Crafts Auction to Benefit KMA Education Programs

The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art presents the 2009 Artscapes Extravaganza Friday, October 2 from 6 to 9:30pm. The event showcases a new one-night format with a live and silent auction and cocktail buffet.

Over 100 works of art will be on preview beginning September 19 through the evening of October 2. Additionally, art can be viewed at the KMA web site. The auctions offer selected glass, painting, photography, sculpture, pottery and jewelry.

Tickets are $100 per person and include art auctions and cocktail buffet. For reservations, contact Carol Overbey at 865.539.2776.

The KMA is strongly committed to providing creative experiences for young people and making its offerings available to all with free admission to the museum.

Presenting sponsor for the event is Cherokee Distributing Company. Additional sponsors to date include Ann and Steve Bailey; David Butler and Ted Smith; Dorothy and Caesar Stair; Rosemary Gilliam, The Gilliam Montgomery Group of UBS; Pinnacle Financial Partners; and Friends of Artscapes.

The Knoxville Museum of Art introduces Contemporary Focus, a new series that recognizes, supports, and documents the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. Each year the KMA will feature several emerging artists who work in new and experimental ways. Contemporary Focus 2009 presents the work of three remarkable artists: Hunt Clark, Patricia Tinajero, and David Wolff. The exhibition will run from September 4 – November 8, 2009.

The opening reception at the KMA on Thursday, September 3, 2009, from 7-9pm is free and open to the public. 

Hunt Clark studied art at the University of Tennessee with a focus in painting and sculpture. Clark is best known for his intricately curved, organic shapes that he carves out of large blocks of wood or constructs with large inflatable structures. 

Patricia Tinajero is an assistant professor in the department of sculpture at the University of Tennessee.  Born in Quito, Ecuador, Tinajero often uses her work to raise questions about cultural identity and social practice.  As part of Contemporary Focus, Tinajero has built a large sculpture in KMA’s south garden. 

David Wolff, a 1991 graduate of the University of Tennessee, paints with a delicate and thoughtful touch. Deeply inspired by Renaissance and Medieval art, Wolff’s abstract scenes become intensely realistic. Wolff runs the Fluorescent Gallery in downtown Knoxville which has become a backbone of Knoxville’s downtown arts district.

Presenting Sponsors of this exhibition are Jennifer and Greg Dunn. Additional support is provided by Arts Build Communities, Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, digital media graphix, Method Bureau, WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art announces the acquisition of a painting and seven drawings by Knoxville-based artist Jered Sprecher and a photograph by Israeli artist Ori Gersht.

The museum purchased Jered Sprecher's painting, A Type of Magic, with the assistance of more than a dozen KMA patrons. In honor of the purchase, the artist donated seven of his drawings. Sprecher, University of Tennessee faculty member, has received widespread national attention for his innovative approach to painting. Using fragments of imagery adapted from art history, pop culture, and everyday life, he creates intricate, elusive works that shift between abstraction and representation. The artist, who has received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for 2010, has exhibited widely around the United States .
The KMA Collectors Circle, a special membership group, provided funds to purchase Untitled 4, an important photograph by noted Israeli artist Ori Gersht. The photograph is part of a series in which bouquets of flowers are soaked in liquid nitrogen, detonated with explosives, and captured on high-speed film at different micro-seconds of the explosions. Gersht's unusual approach reflects his interest in traditional flower painting and reverberates with his memories of a Middle Eastern childhood marred by fears of sudden violence. His work has been featured in recent one-person shows at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Yale Center for British Art, Tel Aviv Museum, and Tate Britain, and is represented in the collections of major museums around the world.

Stephen Wicks, Barbara E. and Bernard W. Bernstein Curator, noted that "both acquisitions fit perfectly with the KMA's overall collecting goals. As an institution, we want to celebrate and support outstanding artists working in East Tennessee past and present, while bringing in important new works by artists of national and international reputation."

The Knoxville Museum of Art has commissioned sculptor Richard Jolley to create a permanent installation in glass and metal for the walls of the museum's Great Hall.

The as-yet-untitled work is the gift of Ann and Steve Bailey, longtime supporters of the KMA. Steve Bailey is a former KMA board chair.

Sculptor Richard Jolley, celebrated nationally and internationally primarily for his achievements in glass, lives and works in Knoxville. He has been the subject of numerous one-person exhibitions around the country, and his works are collected by art museums, corporations, and individuals throughout the United States and in Germany and Japan.

The museum's Great Hall, used for community events and educational programs, measures approximately 100 x 40 feet. Jolley's work is expected to cover most of the upper walls of this monumental space.

According to KMA Executive Director David Butler, "This is a transformative gift for the KMA, and we are grateful to Ann and Steve Bailey for providing this unparalleled opportunity for the museum and for the artist. The project imposes tremendous technical and aesthetic challenges, and will result in the one of the largest and most significant sculptural glass works anywhere. "He adds that that "this signature artwork by Richard Jolley, in one of the city's grandest spaces, enhances the landmark status of the museum building." The KMA was designed by renowned American architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and opened to the public in 1990.

The project is expected to take three to four years to complete. Design is still in its initial phases, and no starting date for fabrication and installation has been set.

The Knoxville Museum of Art is pleased to host the Star Spangled Kids Zone during the city's Festival on the Fourth Celebration.

The Star Spangled Kids Zone will have numerous hands-on art activities for children of all ages during the celebration. The KMA tent will be open from 2 – 8pm.

Art activities include:

Gem Magnets
Making a magnet is so simple. Using a gem as a guide, cut a circle from a favorite photo. Add a little glue and a magnet, and the gem magnet is complete.

Sun Print Photo
Let the sun do the work. Using found objects and the sun, children and parents can create a Sun Print.

Bracelets
Using beads and the alphabet personalize and make unique bracelets.

Magic Wands, Princess, and Wizards Hats
Let magic be the guide to make a wand and hat.

Sand Painting
Sand Painting has been done for decades. Using different colors of sand create abstractive painting.

Creative Unique Sun Visors
Keep the sun at bay and design a unique sun visor. Embellish with shining stars, flowers, rhinestones, glitter, and more.

Treasure Chest
Using amazing animal and global print paper, which represent every part of the world, create a special chest.

Side Walk Chalk
Create artwork using chalk on the sidewalk.

Painting Wooden Stars and Moons
Paint beautiful large wooden stars and moons.

Face Painting with Kelly Mules

The Knoxville Museum of Art invites children and parents to celebrate summer at Family Fun Day on Saturday, June 13 from 11am to 3pm. All events at Family Fun Day are free thanks to the generous sponsorship of First Tennessee and Laura and Jason Bales.

Children of all ages have the opportunity to create art at one of the many art-making stations inspired by current exhibitions. Families can tap their feet to the music of Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle, participate in gallery talks given by docent guides, and have the kids' faces painted, all for free.

Artists Suzanne Devan, Holly Errigo, and Jessie Van der Laan will demonstrate painting, 3D works, and bookmaking respectively.

Spotlight Performance Center Company will perform E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in the KMA auditorium at noon and 2pm. Knoxville and Oak Ridge actors range from nine to 14 years old.

Refreshments from Dave's Dog House will be for sale.

The Knoxville Museum of Arts presents Art from the Ashes in its Community Gallery through June 28, 2009.

The exhibition, which will culminate in a silent auction, includes a selection of objects donated by concerned artists and other individuals from across the country who want to help the families affected by last December's coal ash spill in Kingston. The spill dumped 2.6 million cubic yards of the wet gray sludge about 400 acres six feet deep which left over 11 homes damaged and evacuated.

The exhibition organizers hope to raise money for the victims by featuring a variety of works ranging from original paintings and sculptures to photographic reproductions, prints and other items. The works on display will be auctioned on Sunday, June 28, at 3pm with all proceeds going to the United Mountain Defense, a local environmental advocacy group whose mission includes raising funds to provide medical assistance for residents affected by the ash spill. For more information about UMD, please visit www.unitedmountaindefense.org .

The KMA Community Gallery is open to regional not-for-profit visual arts and cultural organizations. This outreach gallery is intended to create exhibition opportunities and increased visibility for area arts groups, and call attention to a wide variety of local creative talent.

The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art presents Artists on Location, its fourth annual paint-out and sale Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7, 2009.

On Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6, more than 50 local and regional artists will gather at four locations-downtown Knoxville, including Historic Market Square Mall, the Knoxville Zoo, and the UT Campus and Gardens, and Sequoyah Park-to paint and photograph local sites. The public is invited to watch the artists at work from 9am to 4pm on both days.

Artworks created on Friday and Saturday will be displayed for sale in the museum's Great Hall on Sunday, June 8, from 1 to 4pm. Tickets to the event are $15 for adults and $5 for children 14 and under, which includes lunch by Back Yard Burger and Marble Slab Creamery. Winners of cash awards will be chosen by juror Neely Crihfield Hyde, director of exhibits and digital media for the Association for Visual Arts in Chattanooga.

In addition to the lunch and sale on Sunday, children from second through eighth grades can participate in Quikdraw, with local artists teaching them how to paint en plein air (outside). There are no additional charges for Quikdraw materials and instruction.

Proceeds from “Artists on Location” will benefit the Knoxville Museum of Art in memory of Betsy Worden.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Made in Hollywood: Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation , May 8 – September 6, 2009.

Drawn from the rich archive at the John Kobal Foundation in London, this exhibition focuses on the stars, the sets, and the scenes created by the film industry and memorialized by the most important photographers who worked in Hollywood from 1920 to 1960. Featuring more than 90 vintage prints, Made in Hollywood offers a glimpse into the world of fantasy, glamour, and perfection that the image makers produced. John Kobal (1940-1991) was a leading Hollywood historian who collected prints by some of most important photographers working in Hollywood during its golden era: Ernest Bachrach, Margaret Bourke-White, Nikolas Muray, Clarence Sinclair Bull, Eugene Richee, George Hurrell, and many others. Their subjects are drawn from the pantheon of the greatest stars produced during the golden age of Hollywood: Garbo, Dietrich, Swanson, Cooper, Harlow, Gable, Hepburn, Bogart, and many others.

From Knoxville the exhibition travels to West Palm Beach, Frankfurt, and London.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Arms, Legs, Feet, Heart & Soul : The Cumberland Furniture Guild from April 21 through August 9, 2009.

This unique exhibition, featuring 34 painstakingly-crafted creations by some of Tennessee 's most talented artists, blurs the distinctions between functional object and fine art. All the artists included in the exhibition are members of the Cumberland Furniture Guild, a select group of Tennessee artists who combine the best of contemporary and traditional furniture design with some surprising sources of inspiration. Their work is defined by variety rather than an identifiable regional characteristic, ranging from Greg Pennington's traditional Windsor settees to Scott Thompson's carved references to Craig Nutt's whimsical vegetable furniture.

Other Cumberland Furniture Guild artists represented in the exhibition include Chris Barber, Allen Brooks, Graham Campbell, Stephen Crump, Scott De Waard, Mark Dillon, Miles Fields, Peter D. Fleming, J. Michael Floyd, Tom Fuhrman, James Hopper, James L. Horne, Al Hudson, David Knudtson, Bob Marsh, Dale McLoud, DiAnne Patrick, Mitch Roberson, Brad Sells, Alf Sharp, Christopher Somerville, Worth Squire, Michael Summers, Matthew Teague, Scott Thompson, and Kimberly Winkle.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents the second annual Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer art lecture on Wednesday, April 1 at 6pm in the museum's auditorium. The event is free and open to the public but reservations are recommended.

This year's speaker, Tom Otterness, is one of America's most celebrated sculptors. His whimsical figures enliven public parks and cities around the world, most notably New York City at Rockefeller Park and in the 14th Street/8th Avenue subway station. Otterness is included in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Israel Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The lecture series honors the memory of Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer and her many years of tireless, enthusiastic, and dedicated service to the Dulin Gallery of Art and the Knoxville Museum of Art. The event is made possible by the Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer Fund and is supported by The Rogers Foundation, The Melrose Foundation, and Wayne R. Kramer.

The Knoxville Museum of Art hosts its 6 th annual L'Amour du Vin wine auction & dinner Saturday, March 7, 2009 .

The extraordinary event begins with a wine tasting and silent auction at 6pm followed at 7:45pm by dinner and live auction. The five-course dinner will be prepared by guest chef Eric Ziebold of CityZen at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C. and the chefs of Blackberry Farm, a Relais & Chateaux property in Walland, Tennessee. The guest vintner is Matt Dees, winemaker of Jonata, and each dinner course will be paired with Jonata wines. This remarkable Santa Ynez Valley estate is under the same ownership as Napa Valley's Screaming Eagle, and is now producing some of the most remarkable wines to emerge from California. Jonata wines are only available in the state of Tennessee at Blackberry Farm, and for one night only at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

L'Amour du Vin , one of the premier food and wine events in the region, is organized by the KMA Guild. Tickets are $300 per person with all proceeds supporting the exhibition and education programs at the KMA.

Sponsors for the event include Lexus of Knoxville, Blackberry Farm, Bistro By The Tracks, Mercy Health Partners, Regions Bank, and many others.

Top auction items include a week's vacation for four at Relais du Chateau d'Arche hotel in Sauterne, France, near Bordeaux; a seven-night stay for two at the luxury lodge Mosaic Farm in South Africa; a week's vacation in a luxury six-bedroom home on the beach in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; a 14-bottle vertical Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet; a Blackberry Farm three-day food and wine event for two, additional trips, culinary experiences, plus the finest wine from around the world, including large format bottles.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents On A Mission: KMA Collectors Circle Acquisitions from January 22 through March 22, 2009.

On a Mission represents the first-ever display of the more than 20 works acquired for KMA by the museum's Collectors Circle. The exhibition features a variety of works of art that have become the core of the KMA's contemporary holding by artists such as Bessie Harvey, Sarah Hobbs, William Morris, Nancy Rubins, Robert Stackhouse, Robert Van Vranken, Andrew Saftel, Brad Sells, Darren Waterston, William T. Wiley, and others.

Formed in 1995, Collectors Circle is a special KMA membership group that helps support the museum's purchase of works of art. Collectors Circle has been vital to the growth of the KMA collection. Each year the group gathers for the Purchase Reception, during which members consider several works of art earmarked by the museum. The group then votes on the work(s) of its choice and those are then purchased using funds established by the group's membership dues.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Josh Simpson: A Visionary Journey in Glass February 6-April 19, 2009. This major exhibition highlights three decades of achievements by one of America's most acclaimed glass artists. More than 100 works trace Simpson's journey from his early goblets and vessels to the spectacular multi-layered sculptures of the present.

Many of Simpson's objects evoke the mysterious realms of outer space or NASA photographs. This extraterrestrial inspiration is especially powerful in his Planets and Megaplanet - transparent spheres encasing colorful and intricately detailed worlds made of glass. Simpson's work has been shown around the world and is in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the White House Collection of American Crafts, and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.

The KMA hosts a members-only party Thursday, February 5, 5:30-7:30pm, which includes a gallery talk at 6pm by exhibition artist Josh Simpson.

Josh Simpson: A Visionary Journey in Glass is organized by the Huntsville Museum of Art in cooperation with Josh Simpson Contemporary Glass. Sponsors for the exhibition include the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, and Friends of Contemporary Glass. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Method Bureau, digital media graphix, and WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art announces it will continue free admission indefinitely. This action extends the six-month trial of free admission that was due to expire at the end of December.

"The unanimous decision by the KMA Board of Trustees to continue with free admission represents tremendous confidence in this community and in this institution. It sends a clear message that the KMA is a truly public resource, to be used and enjoyed by everyone, without barriers. Attendance and public participation went up dramatically when we implemented free admission on a trial basis this year, and we expect that upward trend to continue," said Executive Director David Butler.

With money tight on many fronts, people can now make free and frequent visits to the KMA and enjoy the ever-changing schedule of exhibitions. Parking is free at the museum as well.

"During this time of economic uncertainty, it's not easy to walk away from any income source, but we feel strongly that free admission makes the KMA stronger and more stable. And we're very happy that anyone can plan an enlightening and enjoyable trip to the museum with their family without worrying about the cost," Butler said.

The Knoxville Museum of Art invites children and parents to celebrate Family Fun Day on Saturday, December 13 from 11 am to 3 pm. All events and museum admission are free thanks to the generous sponsorship of Regal Entertainment Group and Anderson News.

Family Fun Day is packed with art activities, artist demonstrations, continuous entertainment on stage, face painting, balloon twisting, docent tours, and fantastic art-making activities inspired by the museum's current exhibitions and the holiday season.

Entertainment is provided by the music duo of Jeff Barbra & Sarah Pirkle. Center stage also hosts Einstein, the 19-year old Congo African parrot from the Knoxville Zoo.

Artist Harriet Schneider, Roane State Community College instructor Bryan Wilkerson, and others will be on hand for demonstrations and a Gilliland Farm draft horse will be outside turning the antique ice cream churns.

Refreshments, popcorn, and food will be available for sale.

Visit some of Knoxville's most significant private homes during the Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art's 14th annual Holiday Home Tour. Two holiday home tours will be offered; an evening candlelight tour including a cocktail buffet on Thursday, December 11, 6:30 - 9pm, and a day tour of homes including lunch on Friday, December 12, 9am - 4pm.

Thursday evening's candlelight takes place at a Sequoyah Hills home. This grand colonial-style home was recently renovated and welcomes guests with vibrant colors and décor.

The Day Tour includes a restored Westmoreland cottage, a new home in Sequoyah Hills, a new Schmid & Rhodes house in Oakleigh, and three condos in the historic Holston on Gay Street. Also included in the day tour is lunch at Cherokee Country Club, the Orangery, or the Knoxville Museum of Art with Cedric Coant of Le Parigo catering.

Tickets must be purchased in advance and are $65 per person for the day tour, $85 per person for the candlelight tour. Go to www.knoxart.org to reserve a ticket online.

Sponsors for the event include presenting sponsor Schmid & Rhodes, as well as Sharon Bailey and Dick Brower Realty Executives, Bluejack Concrete, Friedman's Appliances, Mercy Health Partners, Prestige Cleaners, David B. Reath, M.D., Todd Richesin Interiors and Bobby Todd Antiques, and Mimi and Milton Turner.

The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art was established in 1995 to encourage participation in the programs, exhibitions and events of the Knoxville Museum of Art. The Guild's main function is to raise funds to support museum activities.

Students from grades six through 12 showcase their talents at the Knoxville Museum of Art during the third annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition November 26, 2007 - January 11, 2008 . The competition, presented by the Tennessee Art Education Association and the KMA, offers students the opportunity to display their artwork and be honored for their accomplishments in a professional art museum environment. The awards ceremony for the artists on Tuesday, December 2 at 6pm at the KMA is open to the public and free of charge.

Awards for students total over $600,000. The Best-of-Show winner receives a purchase award of $500, and the artwork becomes a part of the collection of James Dodson, on loan to the Knoxville Museum of Art's Education Collection.

Categories for the competition include ceramic, drawing, digital imagery, mixed media, painting, computer graphics, sculpture, traditional photography, and printmaking. The competition includes works from middle and high school students, grades six - 12, from public, private or home schools in East Tennessee, and is being juried Amanda Dillingham , gallery curator at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee, Bill Hickerson , curator of the West Tennessee Regional Art Center, Humboldt, Tennessee, Elizabeth Stephanie Cramer, coordinator of art education and assistant professor at University of Tennessee, and Martha Caulkins, retired art educator.

The exhibition is made possible by presenting sponsor Regal Entertainment/Regal Foundation Group, with additional sponsorship from Home Federal Bank, All Occasion Catering, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Coleman's Printing & Awards, College for Creative Studies, Corcoran Gallery of Art/College of Art & Design, Crayola, James Dodson, Jerry's Artarama, Maryland Institute College of Art, Memphis College of Art, Morris Creative Group, Nossi College of Art, Jan & Sylvia Peters, Ringling College of Art & Design, SCAD, Tennessee Arts Commission, University of Tennessee College of Architecture & Design, Watkins College of Art & Design/Film School.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Tradition/Innovation: American Masterpieces of Southern Craft and Traditional Art October 4, 2008 - January 18, 2009. This major exhibition features more than 100 artworks created by masters living and working in the South today. Tradition/Innovation is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, and is designed to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy.

Works by 58 traditional artists and contemporary craftspeople from nine Southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) are accompanied by a rich array of artist interviews, stories, and background information on the artists and their process. Visitors can view works in glass, clay, fiber, metal, wood, paper and mixed media. The combination of contemporary craft and traditional art in this exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to explore the "threads" between two different approaches to creating artwork, and also to compare the approaches of traditional and contemporary artists.

The KMA hosts a members-only party Thursday, October 23, 5:3 - 7:30pm, which includes a gallery talk at 6:30pm by Kathleen Mundell, co-curator of the exhibition.

Tradition/Innovation curators are Jean McLaughlin, Penland School of Crafts, and Kathleen Mundell, Cultural Resources; the exhibition's education curators are Martin Rollins, Isaac Shelby Elementary School, Louisville, Kentucky, and Judy Sizemore, Kentucky Arts Council.

Tradition/Innovation: American Masterpieces of Southern Craft & Traditional Art is a project of the Southern Arts Federation, and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. The Southern Arts Federation, a non-profit regional arts organization founded in 1975, works in partnership with nine state arts agencies to build on the South's unique heritage and enhance the public value of the arts in our communities by promoting and supporting the arts in the South; enhancing the artistic excellence and professionalism of Southern arts organizations and artists; and serving the diverse population of the South. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are partnering states. SAF is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, member states, foundations, businesses and individuals.

Ceramics and photographs created by migrant and local youth will be on display at the Knoxville Museum of Art from October 1 through October 30, 2008. The public is invited to a reception celebrating the exhibition Sunday, October 12, 2 - 5pm.

This multi-media exhibition is the result of Telamon Corporation's successful collaboration with Rhea County Migrant Education Program and The University of Tennessee Extension 4-H Programs in Cocke, Rhea, and Bledsoe counties. The artwork was created by over 40 children ages 9 through 16, from both migrant farm worker families and rural Tennessee families, as part of Telamon's statewide Youth Initiative, Growing Tennessee: Rural Youth Cultivate Common Ground. The program seeks to unite youth and adults from various cultural backgrounds through community based art projects. The program is made possible by funding from Office of Head Start, Tennessee Arts Commission, and Peyton Manning's PeyBack Foundation, as well as donations of digital cameras from Olympus America Incorporated.

About Telamon

Telamon Corporation, founded in 1965, provides employment and training services, early childhood programs, housing, and other initiatives in eleven states. Since 1995 Telamon has been the only provider of Migrant and Seasonal Head Start services in Tennessee . The children and families of migrant and seasonal agricultural workers receive education, nutrition, health, and social services at five childcare centers across the state.

Some of the region's finest art and craft will be available for viewing and purchase during the 10th annual Artscapes Art Auction on October 2 and 3, presented by the Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art.

Over 140 works of art will be on exhibit at the KMA for three weeks prior to the auction, beginning September 13. During this time, interested parties can also preview work at the KMA web site www.knoxart.org. Absentee and advance bids will be accepted.

The exhibition culminates in a silent auction and cocktail party Thursday, October 2 and a live auction and dinner Friday, October 3. The auctions will offer selected glass, painting, photography, sculpture, pottery, and jewelry by local, regional, and national artists.

Tickets for the Thursday night silent auction are $50 per person. Tickets for the Friday night live auction are $150 per person, or $250 for patron level. Patron tickets admit the holders on both evenings. Proceeds from ticket sales and auctioned art will benefit the Knoxville Museum of Art.

The Knoxville Museum of Art showcases works of the Morristown Art Association through September 15, 2008.

The exhibit features works from members of the Morristown Art Association (MAA) of East Tennessee. The selected works represent a variety of techniques and media, ranging from watercolor to metal sculpture.

The MAA was organized in 1968 by a group of artists interested in the furtherance of visual arts in the community. The goal of the organization is to promote and encourage the appreciation, understanding and practice of art.

Members volunteer their time teaching workshops for the association, as well as volunteering in community art projects. They enter their work in area shows and Exhibitions, work with the Rose Center to teach classes and donate their work for area non-profit agency fundraising events.

Membership is open to all artists and individuals having an interest in and an appreciation of the visual arts. Visitors are welcomed and encouraged to join the organization and participate in MAA events.

The Knoxville Museum of Art invites children and parents to celebrate summer at Family Fun Day on Saturday, July 26 from 11am to 3pm. All events at Family Fun Day are free thanks to the generous sponsorship of Anderson News, LLC, First Tennessee Bank and Regal Entertainment Group/Regal Foundation.

Children of all ages have the opportunity to create art at one of the many art-making booths inspired by the current Exhibitions. Families can tap their feet to one of the many musical and entertainment acts that are performing all day, as well as listen to the gallery talks given by the docent guides.

Artist and Middle School Art Instructor Michael Weininger will demonstrate the art of mixed-media collage while artist and educator Heather Brack will demonstrate mixed-media painting. Spinning wool will be demonstrated by Carmen Bonnell.

Children can find inspiration in the Higher Ground exhibit and paint in the style of Beauford Delaney. Quilters from the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild of Tennessee will provide materials and direction for kids to make ornaments out of fabric in the style of the museum's Gee's Bend quilt exhibition.

The Hominy Mamas as well as the LoneTones will be entertaining throughout the day with face painting by Faces Gone Wild. Refreshments will be for sale.