August 15, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Tradition—Tennessee Lives and Legacies in the KMA Community Gallery through September 2. The exhibition was created by the Tennessee Arts Commission Folklife Program and is the result of 25 years of fieldwork experience by its director, Dr. Robert Cogswell. Tradition highlights photographic images from around the state in beautiful color renderings taken by photographer Dean Dixon of Nashville. A companion book by the same title featuring 25 engaging essays by Dr. Cogswell and over 150 of Dixon’s photographs is available for purchase in the KMA Gift Shop or by visiting www.tn4arts.org.

The Tennessee Arts Commission contracted Nashville photographer Dean Dixon to provide visual images to compliment Cogswell’s expressive essays. Dixon spent over 18 months traveling the state and provided stunning photography for the book. A supporting touring exhibition, produced by the Commission in partnership with The Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, highlights the photography. The first showing of the exhibit opens at the Hunter Museum on September 26, 2010 and will travel throughout the state to selected venues for a 3-year period.

The book and supporting exhibition testify to the strength and diversity of Tennessee’s grassroots cultural life, and to the importance of everyday people who continue to sustain art forms and practices through their mastery and dedication. The subjects—mostly individuals and a few pairs and trios of people—represent different parts of Tennessee, different ethnicities and different cultural specialties—from music and crafts to cooking and marble-playing. Dixon’s photographs capture the personalities of these interesting and mostly unsung people in settings significant to them.

About the Tennessee Arts Commission: With offices located in Nashville, the Tennessee Arts Commission is a state agency created in 1967 to fund and support quality arts experiences that add value to the lives of every citizen, and enhances the quality of life in Tennessee communities. For more information, visit www.arts.tn.us.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

July 23, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents two concurrent exhibitions August 24-November 4 Contemporary Focus 2012 and Fischli & Weiss: The Way Things Go.

Contemporary Focus is the KMA’s annual exhibition series that recognizes, supports, and documents the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. Each year, the exhibition series features the work of artists who are living and making art in this region, and who are exploring issues relevant to the larger world of contemporary art.

The three artists selected for this year’s exhibition have a common interest in referencing the urban environment, the boundaries along which nature and civilization intersect, and the way in which ordinary images can serve as metaphors for complex realities. Joshua Dudley Greer creates color photographs whose enigmatic imagery is informed by the artist’s interest in film, urban lore, the built environment, and its relationship with the natural world. He was included in a recent Oxford American article on 100 emerging Southern artists to watch. Greer is based in Johnson City, where he is a visiting assistant professor of photography at East Tennessee State University. Andrew Scott Ross creates elaborate sculptural installations made up of tiny hand-cut works on paper. His compositions resemble primordial landscapes populated by various human and animal characters. Ross is based in Johnson City, and currently teaches drawing as a member of the art faculty at the East Tennessee State University. Mark Bradley-Shoup produces small, intricately crafted paintings and works on paper based on his own manipulated photographs of local urban environments. The artist uses tape to create precise areas of thick paint that emphasize the surface texture of his compositions in a way that destroys any elements of photorealist illusion. Shoup is based in Chattanooga and teaches arts foundation courses at University of Tennessee Chattanooga and Chattanooga State Technical Community College.

The Way Things Go, a video installation by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, has earned a cult following since its premier at international art festivals in 1987. The Way Things Go documents a 30-minute chain reaction using ordinary objects, fire, fireworks, blasts of air, gravity, and a variety of corrosive liquids.

A free public opening for both exhibitions takes place Thursday, August 23 from 7-9pm. This event includes a cash bar and an opportunity to meet the Contemporary Focus artists. Additional programming for Contemporary Focus includes Dine & Discover presentations August 22, September 25, and October 24, all held at noon at the KMA.

Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Design, and WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

May 14, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art presents Artists on Location, its seventh annual “plein-air event, exhibition and sale” Thursday, May 31-Saturday, June 2, 2012.

Local and regional artists are invited to showcase their talent by producing a work or works of art on site at the location of their choosing in and around the Knoxville area and then exhibit and sell those works at the KMA Artist on Location exhibition.

Lori Putnam, a nationally known “plein air” artist and teacher from Franklin, Tennessee, (www.loriputnam.com) will give a painting demonstration on Thursday, May 31, at the UT Downtown Gallery, followed by the exhibition and sale on Saturday, June 2.

Schedule of events:

Thursday, May 31
7-9pm at the UT Downtown Gallery: Demonstration by Lori Putnam. Admission of $10 at the door includes light hors d'oeuvres. The UT Downtown Gallery is located at 106 S. Gay Street (parking is free after 6pm).

Saturday, June 2
7-10pm at the KMA: Exhibition and sale of “plein air” works completed by participating local & regional artists. The evening will include free hors d' oeuvres with live music and a cash bar. This event is free and open to the public.

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

For more information on how to be a sponsor, volunteer, or a participating artist in this event, contact Event Chairs Mike and Leah Berry at artistsonlocation@gmail.com or visit www.knoxart.org.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

May 9, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Beverly Semmes: Starcraft June 8-September 9, 2012.

Semmes, a Brooklyn-based artist, is known internationally for her unique multi-media installations. She challenges the conventional definitions of craft and “women’s work” by creating completely non-functional pieces out of traditional materials such as fabric, clay and glass. Her massively lush silk and velvet dresses evolved from costumes the artist designed for her photographic and video works, also featured in the exhibition. Semmes’ ceramic and crystal pots defy the time honored symmetry and beauty expected in pottery and glass. Although irregular and distorted, the crystal work poses a dazzling contrast to the lusciously colored, but misshapen, clay pots.

Semmes lives and works in New York. Her work has been the subject of numerous one-person exhibitions at institutions worldwide, including the Kunsthallen Brandts, Denmark, the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; the MCA Chicago; The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; I.C.A Philadelphia; and the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin. Although she grew up in Washington D.C., Semmes’s family has ties to the South with her grandmother hailing from Chattanooga. Her work can be found in numerous museum collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution; the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.

The KMA hosts a preview party Thursday, June 7, from 5:30-7:30pm. The party is free and open to the public and includes a cash bar. Semmes will host a gallery talk earlier that day at 4pm, and will attend the preview party as well.

Beverly Semmes: Starcraft is organized by the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee. KMA presenting sponsor is Lexus of Knoxville. KMA media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Design, and WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

This exhibition highlights the work of a group of eight American photographers who focused their lenses on the rapid social and political changes that transformed the nation during the turbulent 1960s. The featured images present a realistic, sometimes dire, view of America surveying the “outlaw culture” of bikers and chain gangs, Boston’s red light district known as the Combat Zone, Black Panthers, the gritty streets and neighborhoods of New York, the politically charged South, and fringe communities and subcultures around the country.

Streetwise builds on Swiss photographer Robert Frank’s “snapshot aesthetic,” which gained attention following the release of his groundbreaking book The Americans in 1959. Frank’s interest in seemingly random, ordinary subjects presented in cropped, off-center compositions influenced an entire generation of photographers including featured artists Diane Arbus, Ruth-Marion Baruch, Jerry Berndt, Bruce Davidson, Lee Friedlander, Danny Lyon, Garry Winogrand, and Ernest Withers.

Intent on redefining the nation based on what they saw, the photographers showcased in Streetwise were concerned with exposing a more realistic and challenging view of an America undergoing change. The underlying message was clearly that of a nation in flux and a defiant intent to capture the underground side of society. Many of the photographers featured in Streetwise spent time with their subjects and wanted their images to represent the view of a participant rather than an outside observer.

The public is invited to a preview party Thursday, May 3 from 5:30-7:30pm. This event is free and includes a gallery talk and cash bar.

Streetwise: Masters of 60s Photography is organized by The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego. Major funding for Streetwise is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Knoxville showing of Streetwise is sponsored by Texas Instruments. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Design, and WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

Dr. Don Bacigalupi, executive director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, will present an illustrated talk “From Vision to Reality: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.” (http://www.crystalbridges.org) Bacigalupi was responsible for the planning, organization, construction, and inauguration of Crystal Bridges, the nation’s newest major art museum, which the Washington Post calls “the most-talked-about new museum in the United States in a generation.” Since the November 2011 opening in Bentonville, Arkansas, Bacigalupi has overseen the key areas of professional staffing, governance, collections, exhibitions, and education programs.

Prior to joining Crystal Bridges, Bacigalupi served as president, director, and CEO of the Toledo Museum of Art, and executive director of San Diego Museum of 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 Frank and Virginia Rogers Foundation, The Melrose Foundation, and Wayne R. Kramer.

The event is free and open to the public but space is limited and reservations are recommended. To reserve a seat, please respond via email to kadams@knoxart.org by April 3.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

February 24, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Several Silences March 16-May 20, 2012.

Several Silences presents installations, videos, sculptures, and drawings by a diverse selection of contemporary artists from around the world who approach the theme of silence in distinctly individual ways. This group exhibition explores various kinds of silence—meditative, ambient, memorial, etc.—and calls attention to the rarity of the absence of sound in our growing “culture of distraction.”

Harry Shearer’s The Silent Echo Chamber is comprised of a cluster of televisions showing pirated video footage of numerous media personalities and politicians. The footage reveals each person’s quirks and mannerisms captured unknowingly by the camera in the minutes before going on air. In Troy Brauntuch’s untitled painting, stacks of folded men’s dress shirts are barely discernable within murky, muted settings. As it turns out, the images are based on photographs of the interior of a Wall Street clothier taken by the artist in the days immediately after September 11, 2001. Ryan Gander’s sprawling installation A sheet of paper on which I was about to draw, as it slipped from my table and fell to the floor consists of 100 glass spheres scattered throughout the gallery, each containing a laser-etched image of a blank sheet of paper.

Installation shot, Ryan Gander (foreground), Troy Brauntuch (background)

There will be an opening reception Thursday, March 15 from 5:30-7:30pm at the KMA. Free and open to the public. Cash bar.

Several Silences is organized by The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, which hosted the exhibition in 2009 and has assisted the KMA in reassembling it for this special presentation. KMA media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Design, and WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

February 16, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Horizons: Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir through February 2013.

Horizons is an installation by noted Icelandic artist Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir (pronounced Stay-nun Thorens-daughter). The exhibition includes 12 androgynous, life-sized iron figures in the KMA’s South Garden. Each is unique in pose and expression, and has a polished glass band inserted in its torso. The artist explains this juxtaposition of glass and iron, “The color of the iron signifies their primal quality—as if they are emerging from the earth” while “Glass as a material has a lot of different connotations. It can be fragile, yet dangerous. It can be translucent, or solid . . . It's like water, but also like air.”

Thorarinsdottir has exhibited widely in Europe, Japan, and Australia over the last 30 years, as well as in the United States, where Horizons has been traveling for the past three years. The installation is featured in the documentary Horizons by independent filmmaker Frank Cantor, which won the CINE Special Jury Award in Washington as the best documentary of 2008. Thórarinsdóttir’s work is held by collectors worldwide, and she has been commissioned by both the Icelandic and English governments for major sculptural installations. She has received numerous awards including the Order of the Falcon by the President of Iceland in 2009.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

January 30, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – Thanks to an outpouring of generosity from the community, the Knoxville Museum of Art has acquired a landmark 1913 Impressionist painting by East Tennessee native Anna Catherine Wiley (1879-1958). The colorful scene of a woman and child in a sun-dappled meadow was purchased at auction at Case Antiques in Knoxville on January 28, 2012.

“Catherine Wiley was not prolific, and her paintings rarely come on the market,” says KMA Curator Stephen Wicks. “This is one of her greatest works, from her best period, and shows why she is ranked among America’s premier Impressionists. We are pleased and grateful that this masterpiece will stay here.” Wicks added that he expects the painting to become a signature image for the KMA. “This acquisition supports in a very visible way the museum’s important strategic goal of celebrating the art and artists of East Tennessee.” The museum already owns two other works by Wiley, representing other aspects of her career.

“The KMA has no designated funding source to acquire works of art,” noted Executive Director David Butler. “We were able to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ­only because friends of the museum generously committed themselves to an additional gift above and beyond their annual operating contributions.” Two dozen donors pledged a total of approximately $120,000 to purchase the Catherine Wiley painting. This amount will cover the hammer price, buyer’s premium, cleaning, and conservation. A list of those who contributed to the purchase will be made available once all pledges have been received.

After the painting has been professionally cleaned, it will take place in Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee, the museum’s ongoing installation dedicated to the art of our region.

Catherine Wiley (1879-1958), Untitled, 1913, oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 32 3/4 inches

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

January 12, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art announces its line-up of Adult Art Classes for the first half of 2012. To register for a workshop, contact Rosalind Martin at 865.523.6349 or rmartin@knoxart.org.

• Knitting Workshop
• Instructor Veronica Ludlow
• Wednesdays, February 1, 8, 15, and 22
• 10am-1pm
• $100 KMA members / $125 non-members

Beginners workshop, bring your fancy yarns and work your way through lessons, and one...two...three...you’re knitting! Neck warmers and scarves will be the focal points.

• Basic Drawing Course
• Instructor Bobbie Crews
• Tuesdays, February 7, 14, 21, 28, March 6 and 13
• 10am-1pm
• $130 Members/ Non-members $160

Class begins by assessing where each student stands with his or her drawing skills, and progresses from there. Each student is unique and will receive encouragement and attention according to their needs. Demonstrations and critiques are an essential part of the class and materials used will consist of traditional drawing media.

• Oil Painting
• Instructor Kathy Holland
• Wednesdays, March 14, 21, 28, April 4, 11, 18, and 25
• 10am-1pm
• $130 KMA members / $160 non-members

This class is for all levels of painting ability, but especially those with little or no painting experience. Technical topics will include use of materials, painting supports, sound studio practices, use of color, and choice of source material. Topics will also include developing a personal approach to painting and the process of developing a painting from idea to finished work. Plenty of individual attention will be provided. Some previous drawing experience or instruction would be helpful.

• Exploring Mixed Media
• Instructor Donna Conliffe
• Tuesdays, April 3, 10, 17, 24, and May 1
• 10am-1pm
• $100 KMA members / $130 non-members

Have fun painting and experimenting using a variety of materials and techniques! By starting with texture, adding paint and collage, you will learn how to incorporate paint with various images and materials to recreate what you started with. At times, you will totally transform your original work. You will work with layering, transfer techniques and collage. Learn to personalize your paintings using found and treasured items. This is an evolving process that will allow each person to discover and actively participate in bringing their own experiences to each work.

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

January 9, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) – Liquid Light: Watercolors from the KMA Collection, January 27-April 15, 2012, celebrates the KMA’s growing watercolor collection and presents an exciting range of approaches to the medium.

The selection of more than 50 works includes landscape images by watercolor masters from East Tennessee. Thomas Campbell, Charles Krutch, George Galloway, Betsy Worden, and Hubert Shuptrine describe specific locations in detail. Others, like Richard Clarke, and Walter Stevens, use landscape as a point of departure into abstraction. Alongside works by these local masters are those by internationally known artists Red Grooms, Thornton Dial Sr., and Charles Burchfield, each known for highly expressive scenes rendered in bold contours.

Liquid Light also represents a variety of technical approaches to watercolor. Janet Fish, Alice Baber, and Whitney Leland exploit the medium’s inherent qualities in images made up of transparent pools of color. Jered Sprecher and Lee Walton build regimented compositions featuring hard-edged imagery and uniform color application. Red Grooms and Carl Sublett manipulate their paper support in order to introduce sculptural qualities to the painted surface.

Many of the works featured in Liquid Light were acquired recently through gift or purchase and have not been previously exhibited.

Walter Stevens (American, 1927-1980), Untitled, 1957, watercolor on paper, 20 7/8 x 29 1Ž4 inches, gift of the Carl Sublett family, 2010

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

East Tennessee miniature artisans and Thorne Room experts Annelle Ferguson and Jolie Gaston designed a display which includes eight period vignettes representing the American home during the holidays. The vignettes contain a variety of 1/12 scale furnishings, many of which are adorned with miniature needlework in the form of quilts, samplers, rugs, tablecloths, and chair seats hand crafted by Ferguson. In addition, Ferguson and Gaston transformed one of the KMA’s nine Thorne Miniature Rooms, the Victorian Parlor, by adorning it with a selection of miniature Christmas toys and a small decorated tree based on mid-19th century English designs.

Ferguson and Gaston hope to create additional designs for other rooms in the collection that can be used during future Thorne Room holiday displays at the museum.

The Knoxville Museum of Art's Thorne Rooms are among America's most well-known miniature diorama groups. They were developed in the 1930s and 40s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne of Chicago. In 1962 IBM, which had purchased 29 rooms, gave nine of the original Thorne Rooms to Knoxville’s Dulin Gallery of Art, the KMA’s predecessor. The Knoxville Museum of Art is one of five museums in the country to have a collection of Thorne Rooms.

A lifelong miniature enthusiast, Jolie Gaston received BA and JD degrees from the University of Tennessee and a BS from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After teaching Hospitality Law at UNLV for 11 years, Gaston returned to her passion for miniatures and is an avid collector and maker of scale items. She is member of the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts (NAME) and the International Guild of Miniature Artisans (IGMA). Additionally, Gaston has served on the board and is a past president of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans.

Annelle Ferguson is a fellow member and former president of IGMA and a member of NAME. She has been an occasional instructor at Guild School and Guild Study Programs where students learn basic needlepoint techniques and the process of creating and designing 1/12 scale needlework. Presently, Ferguson serves as US representative for the Miniature Needlework Society. The society was organized in England in 1997 to encourage all forms of miniature work with needle and thread.

Jolie Gaston and Annelle Ferguson make adjustments in the Victorian Parlor, Thorne Rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

December 6, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) - Celebrate the holidays with the Knoxville Museum of Art’s Family Fun Day Saturday, December 17 from 11am to 3pm. This holiday-themed day is packed with fun art-making activities, artist demonstrations, continuous entertainment on stage, and docents in the galleries.

Children of all ages can create art at one of the many art-making booths inspired by current exhibitions Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee, After the Fall, or the Sixth Annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition.

In addition, the Thorne Rooms have been decorated to reflect the holidays, including 18th- century miniature vignettes of the season, presented by The International Guild of Miniature Artisans (IGMA). Members of IGMA will be on hand to answer questions and help families make miniature wreaths.

Entertainment for Family Fun Day includes live music by the Lonetones, dance performances by Austin East Honors Academy Dance Company under director Peggy Burks Denny and assistant director Olivia Riggins, and free face painting by Kelly Mules of Faces Gone Wild.

Cabot Creamery will provide free cheese samples and Green Mountain Coffee will provide a special take home gift. Additional snacks will be available for purchase. Family Fun Day is free thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Regal Entertainment Group, Tennova Healthcare, Laura & Jason Bales, and the Artreach Fund

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

November 14, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art and the Tennessee Art Education Association present the sixth annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition November 25, 2011-January 8, 2012. The exhibition features artwork created by middle and high school students and offers students the opportunity to display their talents and be honored for their accomplishments in a professional art museum environment.

The East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition is open to students in grades 6-12, attending public, private, or home schools in East Tennessee. The Best-of-Show winner will receive a Purchase Award of $500, and the artwork will become a permanent part of the collection of Mr. James Dodson, on loan to the Knoxville Museum of Art's Education Collection. Students, family, friends, and the public are invited to an opening reception and awards ceremony Wednesday, December 7 from 6-8pm.

Best in Show 2010, Lauryn Darby, Wilderness, 12th grade, Halls High School

The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

After the Fall is one of the first major surveys devoted to the exciting art being produced by a new generation of artists from Eastern Europe’s former communist countries. Most of the artists represented are in their thirties, and several are quickly becoming widely known after being featured in international biennials, art fairs, and museum exhibitions. Most were born under Communist rule but their art training occurred following the fall of Communism. Despite being involved in the global art world, these artists are devoted to living and maintaining studios in their home towns. Their work offers a variety of inside perspectives on Eastern Europe’s complex cultural legacy.

The idea was formulated by Marc and Livia Straus, internationally recognized collectors and curators, and founders of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, New York, where the exhibition premiered. The couple’s visit to hundreds of studios across Eastern Europe confirmed their belief that the region contained a wealth of important new work being created by young artists. Rather than present a massive survey exhibition, the Strauses instead elected to offer audiences a show of greater depth by selecting roughly 40 works—mostly large-scale paintings—by only 18 of the most promising artists. The KMA will present a slightly smaller version of After the Fall, and is only the second venue to host this groundbreaking exhibition.

Opening reception Friday, November 4 from 6 to 8pm, in conjunction with Alive After Five. Free and open to the public.

Editor’s note: Electronic image is attached. Caption for image is as follows: Zsolt Bodoni (born Elesd, Romania, 1975), Tito’s Cadillac, 2010, oil and acrylic on canvas, 82.7 x 76.8 inches, courtesy of Ana Cristea Gallery, New York, and private collection, Armonk, New York

After the Fall is organized by the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in partnership with the KMA. Catalogue sponsor is the Romanian Cultural Institute, New York. KMA sponsors include the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. KMA media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Design, and WBIR.

The Knoxville Museum of Art

The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10am–5pm and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

August 29, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art presents the 2011 Artscapes auction in two parts: a Preview and Silent Auction Opening Tuesday, September 20 6-9pm, and Live Auction and Gala Dinner Friday, September 30 6:30pm-9:30pm.

Approximately 75 works of art will be on view at the KMA beginning September 20. Silent or live auction bids may be submitted in person or by phone in the museum gift shop until 5pm Friday, September 30. Throughout the run of the Silent Auction, visitors can pay a "buy it now" price if they want to acquire any work immediately.

Artists of regional and national reputation are represented, catering to a broad range of tastes and budgets. One highlight to the auction is a rare and beautiful watercolor by Knoxville’s own American impressionist Catherine Wiley. In the contemporary world, a signature “poppy” work by American pop artist Donald Sultan will be presented, as well as a wide collection of works demonstrating the talent of artists in the region.

Art can be viewed at the KMA website www.knoxart.org and at the Artscapes 2011 Facebook page, beginning in September. The auctions offer selected glass, painting, photography, sculpture, and ceramic. A wearable art section highlights the art of jewelry.

Tickets for the Preview and Silent Auction Opening on September 20 are $25 per person with food and wine presented by Chez Liberty. Tickets for the Live Auction and Gala Dinner on September 30 are $150 per person with food presented by the Northshore Brasserie. For reservations, email rsvp@knoxart.org or visit www.knoxart.org.

Presenting sponsor for this event is Cherokee Distributing Company. Additional sponsors include TJ Development & Management, LLC; Ann & Steve Bailey; David Butler & Ted Smith; Rosemary Gilliam, Gilliam, Montgomery Group of UBS; April & Stephen Harris; June & Rob Heller; Nancy & Stephen Land; Planet Energy, LLC; Pinnacle Financial Partners; Dorothy & Caesar Stair; and 21st Century Mortgage Corporation. Media sponsor is Kurt Zinser Design.

Editor’s Note: Electronic images are attached. Captions for images are as follows:

Catherine Wiley, Haystacks, watercolor on paper, 16 x 12 inches Donald Sultan, Poppies, June 7, 2011, color silkscreen with flocking, 39 x 39 inches

The Knoxville Museum of Art

The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10am–5pm and Sunday 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

The exhibition consists of faxes submitted by nearly 100 artists sent to the initial showing of FAX at The Drawing Center, New York, along with seminal examples of early telecommunications art. The KMA will invite additional artists to submit works through a working fax line in the gallery throughout the duration of the exhibition. All the transmitted pages will be archived or displayed together with the active fax machine, which may produce new faxes from invited artists at any moment. The result—an ongoing cumulative project—is a show concerned with ideas of reproduction, obsolescence, distribution, and mediation. Here, reproducible yet erratic faxes displace traditional notions of the hand‚ still commonly associated with the medium of drawing, and foreground the role of drawing as a generative process.

FAX is a traveling exhibition co-organized by The Drawing Center, New York, and Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, and circulated by ICI. The guest curator is João Ribas. The exhibition and the accompanying catalogue were made possible, in part, by members of the Drawing Room, a patron circle founded to support innovative exhibitions in The Drawing Center’s project gallery; and by support to ICI from The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and ICI Benefactor members Agnes Gund, Gerrit and Sydie Lansing, and Barbara and John Robinson.

Opening reception is Thursday, August 25. KMA members are invited from 6-7pm, with the event opening to the public at 7pm.

KMA sponsors include Image Matters and the Tennessee Arts Commission. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Design, and WBIR.

Contemporary Focus is an annual KMA series that serves as a vital means of recognizing, supporting, and documenting the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. Each year the series presents emerging artists who work in new and experimental ways. Contemporary Focus 2011 features three artists who work through different methods but share an aesthetic concern exploring concepts of space in innovative ways. John Bissonette uses traditional materials such as paint and canvas to produce colorful scenes of urban decay. His images reference banners or flags from abandoned storefronts and display windows once used to attract the attention of passersby, but now exist as mute abstract shapes. Brian Jobe transforms three-dimensional objects using brightly colored zip-ties. The thousands of ties extend otherwise ordinary objects into new, imposing forms. Greg Pond works with computer technology to program interactive, responsive sculptures, often using sound as a primary medium. His structures act as generative bases for tracking, manipulating, and projecting sounds made by audience members as they move through the exhibition space. Opening reception is Thursday, August 25. KMA members are invited from 6-7pm, with the event opening to the public at 7pm. Artists will be on hand for questions and a cash bar will be provided. Throughout the run of Contemporary Focus 2011, each artist will present a lecture or workshop about their artwork: Saturday, September 17, 1-4pm Artist in Action with Greg Pond Friday, September 23, 1-4pm Artist in Action with Brian Jobe Wednesday, October 19, noon-1pm, Dine & Discover with John Bissonette Saturday, October 22, 1-4pm, Artist in Action with John Bissonette Presenting sponsors for Contemporary Focus are Jennifer and Greg Dunn with additional support from the MacLean Foundation. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Design, and WBIR.

July 16, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Art by the Kids, For the Kids in the KMA Education Gallery through August 29, 2011. The exhibition showcases artworks created by the oncology and hematology patients of East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. Organized by University of Tennessee Dance Marathon, the exhibition is part of a year-long effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer and other blood diseases. UTK’s Dance Marathon specifically benefits the oncology and hematology patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. For more information please visit activities.utk.edu/dance-marathon.

May 19, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Kwang-Young Chun: Aggregations, new work June 10-September 4, 2011.

Korean artist Kwang-Young Chun (b. 1944) began work on his series of Aggregations in the 1990s. Today, he is recognized internationally for these sculptural forms. The basis of his work is individual, triangular, Styrofoam shapes. Individually, these shapes are minuscule. Taken together, however, their visual impact is immense. This concept of the aggregate is what drives Chun’s work.

The Styrofoam shapes are covered in Korean mulberry paper. In Korea, the paper is a mainstay and has many utilitarian uses from floor and window coverings to candy and medicinal wrappers. It also resonates with personal meaning for the artist, who recalls trips to an herbalist as a small child. Medicines wrapped in mulberry paper hung from the ceiling of the shop, the paper protecting the contents from dampness and insects.

Chun uses pages recycled from old books to cover the geometric forms. These pages are covered in Korean and Chinese characters, adding another layer of cultural and personal meaning. He hand ties the paper over each shape, twisting pages into string to complete the wrapping. In this way Chun is able to integrate traditional materials into a contemporary context.

There will be an exhibition preview party Thursday, June 9, 2011 from 5:30-7:30pm.

Curated by Susan Moldenhauer. Funded in part by the National Advisory Board of the UW Art Museum and the Wyoming Arts Council through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming State Legislature.

May 12, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art presents Artists on Location, its sixth annual “plein-air event, exhibition and sale” Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11, 2011.

Local and regional artists are invited to showcase their talent by producing a work or works of art on site at the location of their choosing in and around the Knoxville area and then exhibit those works at the KMA Artist on Location exhibition.

Schedule of events:
Friday June 10: Demonstration at 7pm at the KMA by Nashville Artist Dawn Whitelaw Admission of $10 at the door includes light hors d'oeuvres.

Saturday June 11: Artists create “en-plein” air at the location of their choosing sunrise until 3pm. Artists on Location exhibition and sale 7:30-10pm at the KMA. Free and open to the public. Free hors d' oeuvres and cash bar with live music by the Dennis Dow Trio.

Proceeds from Artists on Location benefit the Knoxville Museum of Art in memory of Betsy Worden. Presenting Sponsors for this event include The Gilliam Montgomery Group of UBS and Strata-G.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Anne Wilson: Local Industry May 13-August 7, 2011. This is the first public exhibition of the Local Industry Cloth, produced in 2010 by 2,100 volunteers alongside 79 experienced weavers at the Knoxville Museum of Art. The cloth, 75’ 9” long, was created over the course of three months during the artist’s project Local Industry, part of the exhibition Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave. The Local Industry Cloth was formed entirely from donated fibers, often from mills facing closure throughout the southeastern United States. The thread was prepared on hand-crank bobbin winders by visitors to the KMA. Wound bobbins were then used by experienced weavers to compose this single bolt of cloth, made up of only stripes, on one loom inside the gallery space. Once made, the cloth was donated to the Knoxville Museum of Art by the artist alongside an “Archive of Production” identifying all contributors to Local Industry. The “Archive of Production” is on view alongside the cloth during this exhibition. The public is invited to the Knoxville Museum of Art Thursday, May 12 from 5:30-7:30pm for the opening reception. Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave was a project organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art and visual artist Anne Wilson to investigate the global crisis of production and skill based textile labor. The catalog Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave with essays by Glenn Adamson, Jenni Sorkin, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Laura Y. Liu, and Philis Alvic is available for purchase in the museum gift shop, and is now available through distribution by WhiteWalls and the University of Chicago Press. Editor’s Note: Electronic image is attached. Caption for image is as follows: Anne Wilson, Local Industry Cloth, 2010 The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10 am–5 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn (Ceramic Works, 5000 BCE-2010 CE) May 13-August 7, 2011. This is the first solo exhibition of works by the prominent Chinese artist to be presented in the United States outside of New York. Ai Weiwei is perhaps China’s most famous contemporary artist. His artworks simultaneously celebrate and call into question Chinese culture and history. Organized by Arcadia University Art Gallery, Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn features a selection of ceramic works and photographs ranging from 1993 to the present. In these works, Ai Weiwei transforms ancient ceramic objects, including 7,000-year old Neolithic urns and Han dynasty vessels, by painting them with a “Coca-Cola” logo, dipping them into vats of industrial paint, smashing them on the ground, or grinding them into powder. The largest piece in the exhibition is what appears to be a large pile of tiny sunflower seeds, a common street snack in China. Each seed, produced to scale, was painstakingly hand-crafted from porcelain. Weighing precisely one ton, the porcelain seeds were created by a team of workers in the town of Jingdezhen, China where porcelain has been produced for the past 1,700 years. KMA Executive Director David Butler emphasizes the importance and timeliness of having this exhibition in Knoxville given the world-wide publicity about the artist’s contentious relationship with Chinese authorities: “Ai Weiwei is an artist of tremendous international stature whose work speaks to universal values and human rights and demonstrates the power of art to move us both intellectually and politically.” An exhibition catalog is available, produced by Arcadia University in collaboration with the Office for Discourse Engineering, distributed in the United States by RAM Publications. Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn is curated by Richard Torchia and Gregg Moore. The exhibition is organized by Arcadia University Art Gallery and supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibition Initiative. KMA presenting sponsors include Nancy and Stephen Land. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Kurt Zinser Designs, and WBIR. Editor’s Note: Electronic image is attached. Caption for image is as follows: Ai Weiwei, Coca Cola Vase, 1997, vase from Neolithic Age (5000-3000 BCE) and paint, height 11 7/8” x diameter 13” Courtesy André Stockcamp & Christopher Tsai (USA) The Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10 am–5 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

April 1, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents the fourth annual Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer lecture on Tuesday, April 12 at 6pm. The event is free and open to the public but space is limited and reservations are recommended. This year’s speaker, Valerie Cassel Oliver, is senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Cassel Oliver has organized numerous solo and group exhibitions including the acclaimed Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970 (2005), Black/Light/White Noise: Sound and Light in Contemporary Art (2007), and, with Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image (2008/09). Prior to her 10-year tenure at CAMH, she was director of the Visiting Artist Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and program specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2000, she co-curated the Biennial for the Whitney Museum of American Art. Most recently, she was named the 2011 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize by the High Museum of 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. To reserve a seat, please respond via email to cmolinski@knoxart.org or call 865.934.2037.

Amplified Moments is the first major US exhibition to survey the work of Xiaoze Xie (pronounced shout-zah shee-ay), an important Chinese contemporary artist. More than 30 works document his achievements in painting, drawing, photography, installation, and video, and represent his use of books and newspapers to symbolize the fragile nature of history and memory.

Although Xie intended to pursue a career in architecture, the violent military crackdown on student protesters at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 compelled him to shift his energies. He left the People’s Republic of China three years later after completing his training as a painter, and began using symbolic imagery derived from newspapers, decaying books, museum libraries, and media images of current events. For Xie, stacks of printed pages represent not only cultural memory and the passage of time, but the ways in which history is interpreted and recorded according to various belief systems and political agendas.

Xie’s labor-intensive paintings consist of successive layers of pigment applied over several weeks. Working largely from photographs, the artist paints in a manner that is influenced by his camera. Some imagery appears cropped, blurred, and hazy, as if viewed through a photographic lens or perhaps through the filter of memory. The resulting compositions reach near-photographic precision without losing the evidence of the artist’s masterful brushwork.

KMA members are invited to an exhibition preview Thursday, March 10, from 5:30 to 7:30pm. The artists and exhibition curator Dan Mills will present a short gallery talk at 6:30pm. A cash bar will be available.

Xie is the Paul L. and Phyllis Wattis Professor in Art at Stanford University. His works are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and several distinguished private collections.

Xiaoze Xie: Amplified Moments is organized by Samek Art Museum, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Sponsors for this exhibition include the Tennessee Arts Commission. Media sponsors include AT&T Real yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Method Bureau, and WBIR.

January 25, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Peter Sarkisian: Video Works, 1996-2008 from February 11 through April 24, 2011. Sarkisian’s art lies at the intersection of film, video, and sculpture. Sarkisian began his career as a filmmaker in the late 1980s, but later began to experiment by projecting moving images onto three-dimensional forms to free video from the confines of flat, rectangular viewing areas. The resulting works create the illusion of video in the round, a heightened viewing experience marked by perceptual conflicts between image, contour, and surface.

Peter Sarkisian: Video Works, 1996-2008 includes nine works representing the best of this internationally acclaimed artist’s innovative experiments in multi-media art. Members can attend a preview and meet the artist Thursday, February 10, from 5:30-7:30pm. Additionally, through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Sarkisian will teach workshops at Fulton and Austin East high schools.

A Dine & Discover lunch and talk with Peter Sarkisian takes place Wednesday, February 9, from noon to 1pm. This event is free and open to the public. Participants may bring their lunch or call Chris Molinski at 865-934-2037 in advance to order lunch from the Lunchbox. The cost for lunch is $10.00 (cash only, please).

The exhibition is organized by the University of Wyoming Art Museum. Sponsors for the exhibition include the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the City of Knoxville and Knox County. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Digital Media Graphix, Method Bureau and WBIR.

Students from grades six through 12 showcase their talents at the Knoxville Museum of Art during the fifth annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition November 26, 2010 – January 9, 2011. The exhibition, 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 7 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.

The student art exhibition is made possible by presenting sponsor Regal Entertainment Group, Home Federal Bank, and Pharma Packaging Solutions, with additional sponsorship from All Occasion Catering, Aside Project Studio, City of Knoxville, Coleman’s Printing & Awards, LLC, James Dodson, Jerry’s Artarama, Knox County, Knoxville Museum of Art, Morris Creative Group, Steve and Mary Ellen Brewington, Tennessee Arts Commission, Tennessee Art Education Association.

Best of Show, Lauryn Darby, Wilderness, 12th Grade, Halls High School

The Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Friday 10 am–8 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

Students from grades six through 12 showcase their talents at the Knoxville Museum of Art during the fifth annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition November 26, 2010 – January 9, 2011. The exhibition, 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 7 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.

The student art exhibition is made possible by presenting sponsor Regal Entertainment Group, Home Federal Bank, and Pharma Packaging Solutions, with additional sponsorship from All Occasion Catering, Aside Project Studio, City of Knoxville, Coleman’s Printing & Awards, LLC, James Dodson, Jerry’s Artarama, Knox County, Knoxville Museum of Art, Morris Creative Group, Steve and Mary Ellen Brewington, Tennessee Arts Commission, Tennessee Art Education Association.

Best of Show, Lauryn Darby, Wilderness, 12th Grade, Halls High School

The Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Friday 10 am–8 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

The 16th annual Holiday Home Tour presented by the Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art continues a holiday tradition this December. Tours will be offered on Friday, December 10, from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm and will include six homes plus a festive luncheon at Cherokee Country Club.

The Knoxville residences are decorated for the season and are concentrated in Sequoyah Hills, and Sherwood Oaks, and include a Schmid & Rhodes home. These homes combine innovative renovation, historic detail, great interior design, and distinguished architecture, all presented with creative holiday flare.

Tickets must be purchased in advance and are $65 per person. Visit www.knoxart.org to reserve your ticket online. For more information, contact Sandy Lucas at 804.387.6092 or sandy.knapp@longandfoster.com.

Sponsors for the event include presenting sponsor Schmid & Rhodes Construction Company, as well as Mercy Health Partners, Todd Richesin Interiors & Bobby Todd Antiques, Anderson Strudwick, @Home Audio/Video, BlueJack Concrete Surfaces, Mr. & Mrs. Jim Ethier, Friedman’s Appliances, Prestige Cleaners, Sheena McCall of Merrill Lynch, and The Outdoor Lights, Inc.

The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art was established in 1995 to raise funds to support museum activities.

The Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Friday 10 am–8 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

In recognition of outstanding leadership in art education in the state of Tennessee, the Knoxville Museum of Art was presented with the prestigious Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) Friend of Art Education award for 2011.

The museum will be honored at the TAEA Professional Development Conference in Nashville in early November. The award recognizes the “invaluable contribution to students in the field of art education” and acknowledges the KMA’s “significant positive impact on Tennessee art students.”

“This award represents the emphasis and focus we place on education,” said KMA Executive Director David Butler. “We are proud to be the recipient of such a prestigious award and plan to continue our efforts to reach as many East Tennessee children as possible.”

The Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Friday 10 am–8 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

The exhibition includes more than 40 works Bates produced in response to Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it brought to the Gulf Coast. His iconic images capture in dramatic fashion destroyed property and displaced people, as well as the emotional devastation in the wake of this event. Many of the paintings are monumental in scale, including The Storm, a triptych that measures 21 feet in width. In this series, Bates’ paintings affirm both horror and life and serve as powerful reminders of the ability of art to represent the spectrum of human experience.

Bates, a well-known Texas artist who has long chronicled the people and places along the Gulf Coast, is based in Dallas. His work has been presented around the country in solo exhibitions at major galleries and in numerous important group shows.

The Knoxville Museum of Art is the only venue in the eastern United States hosting this exhibition, which is organized by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri.

A members-only preview party is scheduled for Thursday, October 28 from 5:30 – 7:30pm and will include a gallery talk by the artist.

The Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Friday 10 am–8 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

Participants will learn about the creative process of controlling dyes and will create a wearable scarf or wall hanging of silk or velvet. Fee includes all materials. To register, contact Rosalind Martin at rmartin@knoxart.org or 865.523.6349.

Silk Scarves
Tuesday, October 5, 1-4pm
KMA members $100, non-members $110

Burnout Velvet Scarves
Tuesday, October 12, 1-4pm
KMA members $100, non-members $110

Silk Wall Hanging
Tuesday, October 19, 1-4pm
KMA members $100, non-members $110

Thanks to a Museums for America grant from the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Knoxville Museum of Art will receive funding for educational and curatorial programming surrounding the ongoing KMA exhibition Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee.

“Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services is intensively competitive,” said KMA Executive Director David Butler. “Applications to this federal agency are rigorously reviewed by national leaders in the museum field. The success of the KMA’s application validates the quality, value, and strategic direction of the museum, especially its expanded focus on the art and artists of our own region.”

Museums for America (MFA) is the Institute’s largest grant program for museums, providing more than $19 million in grants to support the role of museums in American society to sustain cultural heritage, to support lifelong learning; and to be centers of community engagement. Museums for America grants strengthen a museum’s ability to serve the public more effectively by supporting high-priority activities that advance the institution’s mission and strategic goals.

“This year’s MFA grant recipients are truly an exciting and diverse group of museums, representing the remarkable ways that large and small institutions are serving communities,” said IMLS Acting Director Marsha L. Semmel. “The work of these institutions will educate and inspire citizens of all ages. IMLS is pleased to support museums as they engage their communities through programming tailored to their specific needs, and this round of MFA grants furthers this work.”

IMLS
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

The Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee, presents new art and new ideas, serves and educates diverse audiences, and enhances Knoxville’s quality of life. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Friday 10 am–8 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

September 2, 2010 (Knoxville, TN) - The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art presents the 2010 Artscapes auction Friday, September 24 from 6 to 9:30pm. The event includes a live and silent auction as well as cocktail buffet.

Approximately 84 works of art will be on preview beginning September 14 through the evening of September 24. Artists of regional and national reputation are represented as well as some rare works by renowned artists such as James McNeil Whistler and Joan Miro. Art can be viewed at the KMA website www.knoxart.org . The auctions offer selected glass, painting, photography, sculpture, pottery and jewelry.

Tickets are $100 per person and include the two art auctions and cocktail buffet. For reservations, contact Susan Muse McGuire at 865.247.6020.

Presenting sponsor for this event is Cherokee Distributing Company with additional support by Pinnacle Financial Partners and Friends of Artscapes.

Knoxville Colorline is presented in conjunction with Filament, an exhibition at the University of Tennessee’s Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture that features the sculpture of FitzGibbons and mixed media work by fellow artist Creighton Michael.

FitzGibbons received his BFA from the University of Tennessee and has become internationally known for his large-scale public art projects. In 1991 FitzGibbons was selected as a Fulbright Scholar for the Hungarian Art Academy in Budapest. He has been the Executive Director of the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center since the summer of 2002 and serves on the board of directors of the International Sculpture Center.

The artworks in this exhibition were created during the MySpace Art Project, a two-day workshop held in late March 2010 at the Marcella Center for the Arts and Education in Sweetwater, Tennessee. The project was designed to introduce teens with autism to the concepts and skills required to create architectural design based on what they learned. MySpace Art Project is a program of VSA Arts Tennessee. Sponsors of this exhibition include Mark Holcomb, State Auto Insurance and the Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons.

The mission of VSA Arts Tennessee is to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in and express themselves through the arts and arts education and it achieves its mission through the primary goals: Arts in Education, Awareness of Abilities of People with Disabilities, and Professional Development. The KMA Community Gallery is open to regional and 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. If you know of a group that might be interested in having an exhibition in the KMA’s Community Gallery, please contact the museum at cgillespie@knoxart.org.

South has achieved international attention for her innovative mixed-media constructions that blur the lines between drawing, sculpture, installation art, and architecture. Born in Manchester, England, she draws inspiration from the industrial urban character of her hometown and of her adopted home in Brooklyn, New York, where she has resided since 1989.

The public is invited to a free exhibition preview at the KMA Thursday, August 26 from 7 to 9pm. Artist Jane South will be on hand to meet with guests, who can also enjoy the opening of Contemporary Focus 2010 on the same evening. 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.