Calvin Chappelle
Untitled - Bird
Transfer and acrylic on canvas

‘Staff Influxion’ closes this Sunday, August 24 at the UT Ewing Gallery. Visit the Ewing page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...). This exhibition features the work of UT staff members past and present who are actively involved in artmaking.

Support your local museums and galleries! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Ridley Howard
Untitled, 2007
Oil on canvas
5 x 7.5 inches,
courtesy of private collection (New York)

The exhibition, Size Matters: XS – Recent Small-Scale Paintings, closes Sunday August 24, 2008, at rhe Knoxville Museum of Art. Visit the KMA page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...)

The exhibition includes 42 works by some of America’s most important painters including Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, Justin Allen, and Francis Alÿs.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Doug is an artist with a camera and in the garden. Just look at those peppers and his tomatoes are to die for! It may have rubbed off on our web site. Art Museum Touring.com reached the 1 million pages viewed milestone on 8-13 after only 10-1/2 months of starting. Now if we had as much fertilizer from sponsors, ads, or investors we would be on a roll (to the bank). Sorry for all the cheezy allusions. I just couldn't resist. It is better than singing the 1930's song "Brother Can You Spare a Dime." We have added over 10 new museums this past month and half. Not really joking about wanting ads, sponsors, or investors. We need to hire, but that takes money.

Sherrie

A spotted sandpiper prowls the shore of the Douglas Dam impoundment, Memorial Day weekend 2008. Click to embiggen...

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that officials are rethinking the Technology Corridor, which has not been as successful as hoped and is not being actively promoted and marketed. There's discussion of opening it up for mixed use development that allows for residential, retail, and general office space.

There's no mention of the root problem. High tech companies aren't going to move to an area that doesn't support education and only graduates people qualified to work in call centers.

What's up with Knoxviews? When I do a search or attempt to go to a previous page, I get an error message from Cas Walker about table 'watchdog'.

I had hoped to attach this to a prior blog entry; but, since I can't, I'll post it here while it's current.

It appears it's time for TDOT to take a serious look at rail transit in East Tennessee given the recent post concerning Virginia's plans and the following from today's News-Sentinel:

Link...

Ode to a Summer Garden
Georgia Bailey (1922-2008)
quilt

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents "Legacy: The Quilts of Georgia Bailey", a new exhibition celebrating 40 creative quilts by Georgia Bailey (1922-2008). The quilts will be displayed for sale at a silent auction at the Emporium Center on August 1. Visit the Emporium page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...), or the Events page (Link...) for details.

The quilts will be on exhibition Aug. 1 - 29 at the Emporium Center.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Knoxville Museum of Art

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. Visit the KMA page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...)

Children of all ages have the opportunity to create art at one of the many art-making booths inspired by the current exhibits. 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.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Flowers In Morning
Mary Ann Valvoda
Loudon, TN

The 2008 Tennessee Watercolor Society Biennial Exhibition is closing Friday at the Emporium Center in Downtown Knoxville. Visit the Emporium page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...). The 31st statewide juried exhibition showcases representational and experimental paintings in watermedia by some of the most prominent artists from across the state. Sixty paintings from over 200 entries were selected for the exhibit by the juror, internationally known artist Cheng-Khee Chee, including 17 artists from the East Tennessee area.

Go see the show before its gone!

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Producer/blogger Katie Allison Granju is leaving WBIR and joining Scripps, where she will be "helping to evaluate and launch new media start-ups within the company."

WBIR's loss, Scripps' gain. Congratulations, Katie!

I meant to post something before the Knoxville Writers' Guild Summer Workshops got started, but -- alas -- I didn't. There are still two weeks of classes available. This week's sessions include:

--The ABCs of Marketing Poetry by Carole Ann Borges
--Creative Nonfiction for Beginners by Pam Strickland
--Three sessions on fiction writing by Cyn Mobley
--Poetry for Beginners: Letting Go by Carolyn Scarbrough
--Tell the Story Only You Can Tell by Ina Hughs
--Inner Pilgrimage by Doris Ivie (Magnolia Street Campus)
--Performance Poetry by Kali Meister

Next week's sessions include Katie Allison Granju on our favorite topic: blogging.

Strips and Strings, 2005
Mary Lee Bendolph

Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee’s Bend Quilts and Beyond opens Thursday, July 10 at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Visit the KMA page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...). Twelve dramatically designed, richly colored, improvisational quilts created by Mary Lee Bendolph and her family members—her mother Aolar Mosely, her daughter Essie B. Pettway, and her daughter-in-law Louisiana P. Bendolph—are presented alongside complex and evocative found object sculptures by noted African American self-taught artist Thornton Dial and visionary “yard art” artist Lonnie Holley. Both of these Alabama-based artists have been influenced by the quilts and the quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Republicans have made a tranformation I don't fully understand, from rock-ribbed Bush backers to embarrassed by Bush's big-spending ways. To help me understand this change, I am inviting local conservatives to submit essays in response to the question below.

I will award prizes for Most Charming entry and for Firmest Grip on Reality. Contest starts at sundown and ends at sunrise on July 14.

By way of Josh Flory's Property Scope blog, here's an online "we want Costco in Knoxville" petition at wewantcostco.com.

We concur. It really should be in Blount Co. though. West Knox already has Sam's.

(The Mrs. and I were just talking this morning about how we wished we had a Costco.)

• Fourth of July Independence Day celebrations kick off at midnight tonight (12AM July 4th) in Gatlinburg with the nation's first parade. 100,000 people are expected to attend. Fireworks are scheduled for Friday, July 4th at 10PM, and will be visible along the Parkway through downtown Gatlinburg.

• The City of Knoxville presents Festival on the 4th at the Worlds Fair Park. Opening ceremonies are at 2PM in the Amphitheater. There will be live entertainment beginning at 3PM on the WDVX Stage. The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will present their 24th Annual Free Independence Day Concert on the south lawn main stage at 8PM, and fireworks begin at 9:35PM.

• Kingston Parks and Recreation over in Roane Co. will be "Smokin' the Water" beginning at noon with drag boat races, followed by a parade, a car show at Roane County High School, a homemade raft race, a home run derby at Byrd Field, live music at City Park by Tall Paul, vendors at the Gravel Pit and City Park, and finishing off with fireworks over Watts Bar Lake at 9:30PM.

• In case you don't get enough fireworks, Lenoir City will be Rockin' the Docks, Saturday July 5th at the Lenoir City Park-Cove on the banks of Fort Loudoun Lake, with live music starting at 3PM, food, children's play area, and fireworks at 10PM.

NOTE: Please be careful with fireworks. Ongoing drought conditions plus fireworks equals a big fire hazard. There's also the safety risk to yourself and others, and fireworks are illegal in most jurisdictions. Be safe, leave the fireworks to the pros.

SEE ALSO: Event roundups at the Knoxville News Sentinel and WBIR (including local fireworks regulations).

In the wake of the recent split of Scripps cable/online and newspaper/broadcast units, KNS Editor Jack McElroy announces some changes. There will be expanded coverage of regional news, and news operations will be organized around a 24 hour "Continuous News Desk" with Tom Chester at the helm. Jack Lail has the cool new job title "director of innovation."

In a another post, McElroy relates a message from the newspaper division's new CEO. Noting that national and international news are now commodities, E.W. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne says their mission is "Local. The opportunity to be uniquely and passionately local. To be so woven into the fabric of a community that there's no way we can't be the information marketmaker of choice," adding that they will "ooze into every crack of the markets we serve."

Two Links in a Long Chain
Jerry Taliaferro
From Women of a New Tribe exhibtion

The exhibition Women of a New Tribe closes Sunday July 6 at the KMA. Visit the KMA page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...). It is a striking photography exhibition honoring African-American women, their strength, beauty, and their role in American culture. In 2004, sixteen women from Knoxville and the surrounding area were selected from community nominations and photographed by artist Jerry Taliaferro to join the Women of a New Tribe. This exhibition organized by the Literacy Imperative features fourteen of these portraits.

Just a reminder, the KMA is charging no admission through December 31 as part of a special promotion.

Support your local museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

The EPA has issued an air quality "Orange Alert" (unhealthy for sensitive groups) for East Tennessee today.

The primary pollutant is ozone. The health message is "Active children and adults, and people with lung disease, such as asthma, should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors." The particulate matter secondary pollutant is rated "Moderate."

Anvil Shoot yes that little tiny thing towards the top of the picture is the anvil, not a big bird!

4th of July Activities!
The Museum of Appalachia's July 4 Celebration & Anvil Shoot is a truly nostalgic, old-fashioned, and family-oriented way to celebrate Independence Day and to experience summertime in Old Appalachia. Visit the Museum of Appalachia page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...) and the Events page (Link...) for more information about all their 4th of July activities.

The dramatic anvil shoot is the highlight of the July 4 event. Several times during the day, excitement builds as crowds gather to watch as gunpowder is packed under the anvil and ignited. With a loud boom, the hunk of iron bursts from a cloud of smoke, catapulting as high as the treetops some 125 feet into the air. The earth literally shakes, and the deafening boom, it is said, can be heard as far away as 15 miles.

Support your local museums and galleries! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee is having a "Teen Lock-In Live Action Camp."

According to PPMET:

The first day will be packed full of human sexuality education and overnight will be movies, games, baking and other educational fun activities.

The second day we will be organizing advocacy efforts with the teens. Students will participate in letter writing, voter registration, a comprehensive sex ed petition drive, and more.

The lock-in will be July 24th and 25th and the cost is free. High school juniors, seniors, and 2008 grads are invited. Under 18 requires parental notification and approval. Registration must be received by Friday, July 4th.

For more information or to register, contact PPMET Community Health Educator Ginny Winter at 865-385-3333 or ginnyw@ppmet.org

KNS: Brunswick to close four plants, cut 1,000 jobs

Locally, 270 employees will lose their jobs at the Sea Ray plants in Knoxville and Vonore. Another 40 employees at the U.S. Marine plant in Dandrige, Tenn. will also be let go.

Notice the headline says "Brunswick," not "Sea Ray". Other outlets are reporting 2700 job cuts. No word yet on which four additional plants will be closed.

From the official Brunswick statement:

Brunswick stated that its $300 million cost savings target will be achieved in part by further shrinking its North American manufacturing footprint. The company plans to have 17 or fewer boat plants by the end of 2009, compared with the 29 it had in 2007. This will require the closure of four plants in addition to eight plant closures already completed or announced.

The company said that it had notified employees today that it would be reducing its hourly and salaried work force at certain of its marine plants by 1,000. Further work force reductions of approximately 1,000 hourly and 700 salaried employees across the company's marine business units and staff functions are contemplated as additional plant closures and consolidations and other cost-cutting measures are completed.

One of the cost cutting measures "will more efficiently provide common support functions and administrative services across all Brunswick business units, lowering spending in all functional and operations activities, and reducing its work force." What this means is that job cuts won't be limited to just blue-collar production workers.

Watercolor by
Tony Kampwerth

The Tony Kampwerth exhibition at Blount Mansion in the center of Downtown Knoxville's government district closes, Sunday, June 29. The show features watercolor landscapes from the Smoky Mountains to the coast of Maine plus portraits of the people of East Tennessee.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Everybody picks on Newport and Cocke Co. because, well, they're such an easy target (although Knox Co. and Blount Co. are competing for the bullseye). But this is a little much.

The starstruck Knoxville News Sentinel reports on CMT's new "reality" comedy show, "Outsider's Inn," which recently began production in Cocke Co. The premise is that "big Hollywood stars" run a backwoods country inn, hilarity ensues.

According to the KNS, the hilarity includes a goat in the kitchen, guests bringing pigs and mules, and the Sheriff riding in on horseback, while the elite, culture-shocked stars react.

The report also says one scene was filmed at a "small medical center" instead of the regional hospital to emphasize "the quaintness of a small town feel."

(Bobby Brown is also said to have taken some guests out on a bear hunt. We hope TWRA wasn't around. Bear season isn't until November.)

The article says that the show isn't strictly "reality," because all the situations and gags are set up to capture the "honest reactions" of the stars.

Right. How can there be "honest reaction" to such ridiculously lame and stereotyped setups?

But in their attempt to play up the "fish out of water" angle, CMT missed the boat entirely.

The Christopher Place setting (renamed "Pigeon Inn" for the show) is a world-class, AAA Four Diamond bed and breakfast resort, right there in Cocke Co. I had never heard of it, but it sounds pretty fabulous. I might have to go check it out sometime.

But there's more. A reader writes that it's actively marketed to the gay and lesbian community. It's listed in the Gay Yellow Pages with designations indicating "A gay-friendly business," catering to "gay and non-gay patrons." It's also listed on "Rainbow Destinations", a directory of "gay/lesbian owned or friendly accommodations worldwide."

CMT missed a chance to juxtapose Southern Appalachian (not to mention Cocke Co.) stereotypes with the very real image of a successful, highly regarded business that provides luxury accommodations to a sophisticated, diverse clientele from all over.

But CMT knows their audience, and goats in the kitchen and pigs in the guest rooms are apparently funnier and more interesting.

The Friends of the UT Gardens Blooms Day Garden Festival & Marketplace is this weekend.

Saturday, June 28th, 9AM to 6PM
Sunday, June 29th, 11AM to 5PM

The UT Gardens are on Neyland Drive at the Ag Campus. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous. The event includes educational workshops, entertainment, kids activities, and a marketplace of various home & garden vendors.

Note: I believe UT Credit Union is sponsoring free tickets for this years event to celebrate the Garden's 25th anniversary.

On Firday, June 27, The Knoxville Museum of Art will open Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee, a new permanent installation of works from its collection celebrating the art and artists of Knoxville and the surrounding region. Visit the KMA page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...).

William Posey Silva,
Magic Pool, c. 1915 (Cheekwood)

The fascinating and complex story of our area’s rich artistic heritage and its connections to the larger currents of American art are largely unknown, and certainly underappreciated.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists presents their annual Front Page Follies dinner, auction, and show at the Knoxville Convention Center on July 19, 2008.

This year's production is "The Sunshine Boys," featuring KNS editor Jack McElroy and attorney Richard Hollow, plus other hilarity ripped from the local headlines.

Tickets are $100 and all proceeds go to a U.T. endowment that funds journalism and broadcasting scholarships. Press release after the jump, and more info at the ETSPJ website.

Gideon Barnett
From his Pile series

The ETSU Galleries is hosting this afternoon, Monday June 23, a meet the artists reception from their current Thinking Big exhibition. Visit the Slocumb Galleries' page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...), or the Events page for reception info (Link...). Thinking Big two solo photography shows by Gideon Barnett and Erik Schubert,runs through June 27.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

The Honda Hoot is in town. Media coverage here, here, here, here, and here.

I know all these bikers coming down here are good for tourism and the economy, and I know they are a mostly upscale, responsible demographic, yada yada yada, but...

When I argue with denialists about Global Warming, they often like to point to recent weather events (usually quite local) that aren't so "warm," however meaningless such weather is to climate change. One thing I like to point out is that the land mass of the U.S. is so small relative to the entire earth, that it's at least theoretically possible for us to experience cooling over the entire country while most of the planet on average continues to heat. Mostly, this is to make a point, as it does seem unlikely this would actually occur (--though there is a theory that much of the U.S. and Europe can expect some short term cooling as a byproduct to climate change, especially if the Atlantic Conveyor breaks down).

Now the data is in and it shows that much of the country is indeed a tiny island of cooling on a vastly warming planet.

If you still wonder why it's so cool, keep in mind that we are in the midst of the two cyclic cooling events of La Nina and the 11 year solar cycle minimum. So there is that double whammy going on.

Mind you, I'm not complaining about our recent weather. Many mornings it's been downright cool and the projected high for Tuesday and Wednesday is 79 degrees. Nice!

Bonus question I don't have the slightest answer for: Where are the 'skeeters? I sat out in the hammock for a couple hours yesterday and there was nary a one. All of the usual bad areas around our house have been pretty quiet the whole season, so far. Is it an effect of the the lingering drought? Anyway, I ain't complaining.

*Title borrowed from this guy.

The Netherland Inn in Kingsport will host a public showing of selected pieces from King College’s Neal and Alice Caldwell Art Collection will allow visitors to get up close and personal with works by some of the world’s greatest artists. Visit the Netherlands Inn page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...) and/or the Events page (Link...) for more information.

Matisse

The Fall of Icarus

King College’s Neal and Alice Caldwell Art Collection

More than 30 works of art by masters such as Rembrandt, Corot, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Whistler, Marsh, Chagall and Matisse, just to name a few, will highlight the public showing to be held on Saturday, June 7, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Sunday, June 8, from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. at the Netherland Inn in Kingsport, Tenn. Entry is $10 for adults and free for children 18 and under with a paying adult. Proceeds will benefit the historic 1818 Netherland Inn.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie