A note from your host-
If you don’t see a listing, I couldn’t find it when I updated this for this month. Check here sometime on First Friday, a lot of places don’t send me updates until the last minute, so pop in here before you head out for the latest updates. You’ll find their phone number and links to their web site in the listing below, so you can check to see if they’ve got more recent info on their own site. I do my best to insure these listings are accurate, but sometimes I goof, so you can always make a quick phone call or drop an email to the venue to make sure things as I have them listed.
On with this month’s openings!
501 Arthur
501 Arthur St., Knoxville (865) 951- 2523 Website
8 Shooters Studio
1201 Central Street, Knoxville (865) 545-4408 Website
A1 Lab Arts
201 Randolph Street (Old City) Knoxville Website
Abode
15 Market Square Knoxville (865) 523-5090 Website
Art Gallery of Knoxville / Copy Shop
317 Gay Street Knoxville (865) 595- 4401 Website
Art Market Gallery
422 S. Gay Street Knoxville (865) 525-5265 Website
Enjoy refreshments and live music by Webford Brown & the Town at the Art Market Gallery’s First Friday reception on March 5 from 5:30-9 pm. Unique, functional clay works by Lisa Kurtz and paintings by award-winning artist Diana Scott-Auger will be featured at the gallery.
Also in March, the gallery will present Art N Fashion, highlighting fabulous wearable and fashion-themed artwork amongst the vast selection of original art and fine crafts.
Belleze Salon and Spa
6209 Kingston Pike Knoxville (865) 558-8424 Website
Birdhouse Laboratories
800 N. 4th Ave Knoxville Website
Bliss
24 Market Square, Knoxville (865) 329 8868 Website
Bliss Home and Art
29 Market Square Knoxville (865) 673-6711 Website
Urban Landscapes: A Photographic Study of Human Surroundings by Rachel Long
Rachel’s Website
Artist Reception, Friday, March 5th 5:00-9:00pm
Blount Mansion
200 W Hill Ave Knoxville (865) 525-2375 Website
Casa Hora @ The Emporium
100 S. Gay Street, Suite 109, Knoxville (865) 335-3358 Website
Coffee and Chocolate
327 Union Avenue Knoxville (865) 688-9244
Community Television of Knoxville
808 State Street Knoxville (865) 215-4350 Website
This month we will be pleased to present some entertaining videos From the CTV Vault. The featured videos will include episodes from the series called On the Shelf originally created for CTV by Dr. Tinky Weisblat in the 1980’s. We will watch her selected book review programs as well as an at-home cooking demonstration of Russian Cooking.
Tinky “Dakota” Weisblat spent summers at Singing Brook Farm in Hawley during her childhood and returned home when she finished graduate school in 1991. She has a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. It was while she was at UT that she recorded “On the Shelf”. She has worked in a variety of settings including: teaching college, editing the catalog at the Museum of Television & Radio and introducing movies at a French film festival, but her first love is writing.
A Special Thank You Bradley Reeves of the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound for beginning the digital video transfer of programs seen on Community Television during the late 70’s and early 80’s. We look forward to more videos From the Vault in the future.
Downtown Grind
418 S. Gay Street , Knoxville (865) 524-4747
East Tennessee Historical Society
601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville (865) 216-8824 Website
East Tennessee Community Design Center & Knoxville Downtown Design Studio
500 S. Gay Street Knoxville Mobile (865) 603-3988 Office (865) 525-9945 Website
The East Tennessee Community Design Center and the Knoxville Downtown Design Studio at 500 Gay Street will be open this Friday, March 5th, and we sincerely hope you will drop in and visit with us.
We also have a special guest, Erin Proctor Herb who is with Atlas Carpet Mills. Erin will be featuring several new carpet tile and broadloom companion collections that incorporate recycled content and carry the Green Label Plus certification. She will also be available to answer all your carpeting questions.
In addition we have Mary Stonaker, Interior Designer | NCIDQ, IIDA as the design professional for March. Mary will be here showcasing a couple of interior design projects and available to answer questions you may have regarding interior design.
Please plan to stop in this coming Friday, between 5:00 & 9:00 PM, 500 Gay Street in downtown Knoxville.
Easy access, from the State Street garage (free parking) up the escalator to Gay Street, three doors down on your right, corner of Gay St. and Union Avenue.
Emporium Center for Arts & Culture / Arts and Culture Alliance / The Balcony Gallery
100 S. Gay Street Knoxville (865) 523-7543 Website
Arts & Culture Alliance Presents “Everyday Adorned: A Collection by Paige Barbee”
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present “Everyday Adorned”, a collection of new works by Paige Barbee, the current Betsy Worden Memorial Artist-in-Residence at the Emporium Center. Works displayed are among those created during the time of Barbee’s residency (October 2009 through April 2010). “Everyday Adorned” will be exhibited in the Balcony at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 5-26, 2010. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on March 5 from 5:00-9:00 PM.
Paige Barbee is from Clarksville, TN, and received her BFA in Metals and Jewelry from the Savannah College of Art and Design in May 2009. She studied at the Lacoste School of the Arts in Lacoste, France in 2009 and has interned at Liz Claiborne, Inc. in New York City where she assisted in designing jewelry for four Liz Claiborne jewelry brands. Her work has shown in France, Savannah, Atlanta, and Clarksville. Awards include third place in traditional materials and processes at the SJTA Atlanta Jewelry Show, Student Design Competition; second place in the Savannah Music Festival jewelry competition. “My pieces don’t always follow the conventions of traditional jewelry; and I often find myself pushing the boundaries of jewelry into fine art and sculpture,” she says. “The concepts that inspire each piece can be vastly different, but it always comes down to how the piece will interact with the body, becoming wearable art.” Barbee strives to use recycled and found materials in her pieces “in harmony with metal,” in a way that isn’t instantly obvious to the viewer and requires a closer look.
The “Everyday Adorned” collection was inspired by the age-old housewife stereotype. “As empowered women we need to be more thankful for what the women before us accomplished,” says Barbee. The collection is a tongue-in-cheek statement about women’s roles in the home and how they once were seen as a kind of accessory to the home. “All of the pieces are an extravagant extension of a household item or were created using an item from the home,” says Barbee. “The cameos are meant to represent every mother, grandmother, or any other strong woman in our lives and are meant to be a reminder of the strife they suffered so we can be where we are today.” The collection features jewelry created from re-purposed items such as wallpaper, integrated into items for the home. The jewelry can be worn or displayed as works of art. Sculptures inspired by the idea of adornment are also part of the collection. For more information, visit www.paigebarbee.com or read Barbee’s blog detailing her Residency at http://paigebarbee.blogspot.com.
“Everyday Adorned” will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, March 6, from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM.
Arts & Culture Alliance Presents “Sunny Side Up!” by Gay Bryant and Amy Campbell
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present an exhibition featuring new works by Gay Bryant and Amy Campbell entitled “Sunny Side Up!” Bryant and Campbell created whimsical paintings, prints, collages, and works from recycled items to lift the spirits during these last gray days of winter. The exhibition will be displayed at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 5-26, 2010, and an opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on March 5 from 5:00-9:00 PM.
Gay Bryant is a print maker and painter whose influences include Appalachian folk art, woodcuts, and stylized animal, fruit, and kitchen motifs often found in East Tennessee Appalachian wood panel painting. “Natural forms rendered in simple terms dominate my work in printmaking, painting, and folk art,” says Bryant. “I hope through my creations to draw attention to details that may have otherwise been missed when looking at an object as a whole. By modifying colors, shapes, dark, and light, I hope to cause viewers to see objects in a different way and to notice things they had not noticed before.” Bryant holds a B.S. in Business Education from the State University of Western Georgia and an M.S. in Business Education from the University of Tennessee. She has attended many art studio courses at the University of Tennessee as well as workshops at Arrowmont and John C. Campbell Folk School. She is represented at and has participated in a number of exhibitions and galleries throughout the East Tennessee region including The Art Market Gallery, Foothills Craft Guild, A1LabArts, and the River Gallery in Chattanooga. Bryant currently teaches printmaking at the Fountain City Art Center, Appalachian Arts Center, and John C. Campbell Folk School. She is a retired professor from Pellissippi State in Engineering and Media Technologies and has taught classes in web design, Photoshop, and educational technology. She resides in Oak Ridge. For more information, visit her web site at www.gbryantstudio.com.
Amy Campbell is an East Tennessee-based freelance illustrator, portrait artist, and designer with over 20 years of experience. Working in diverse media, Campbell has produced a wide variety of illustration and design projects including CD packaging, oversized and miniature portraits, commission portraits and landscapes for private collections, posters, and custom business cards. She specializes in documenting recent and past regional history in portraiture, and paintings. She works comfortably in both digital and traditional media, often combining them to achieve a unique, regional style. She holds a B.F.A. in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design and an M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of Tennessee. Campbell’s clients include HGTV, Great Smoky Mountains Association, Blount Chapter American Red Cross, Hellbender Press, Maryville Farmers’ Market, Keep Blount Beautiful, 89.9 WDVX Radio, and the East Tennessee Foundation. Her work has been exhibited in the Knoxville Museum of Art, and her portraits of Mary Church Terrell, Dr. Dorothy Brown, Wilma Rudolph, and Dorris Tanner are on permanent display at the First Tennessee Bank headquarters in Memphis. Her portraits of Sam Houston, Will McTeer, Sam Pride, William Scott, and Isaac Anderson are on permanent display in the City of Maryville Municipal building. She resides in Maryville. For more information, visit her web site at www.amyloucampbell.com.
“Sunny Side Up!” will be displayed March 5-26, 2010 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, March 6, from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM.
Ewing Gallery
1715 Volunteer Blvd. Knoxville (865) 974-3200 Website
Fluorescent Gallery
627 N. Central Knoxville (865) 522-1752 Website
Gallery 1010
113 South Gay Street Knoxville Website
Hanson Gallery
5607 Kingston Pike Knoxville p (865) 584-6097 Web Site
Don Dudenbostel, Knoxville Photographer
Artist-Selected photographs from “Vanishing Appalachia”, currently on exhibit at the East Tennessee History Center.
Hanson Gallery presents a First Friday Opening April 2 from 5-8 p.m. We are celebrating the Dogwood Arts Festival by hosting a show of Region Four membership of the Tennessee Watercolor Society. Join us for a great First Friday and meet the Artists. The show continues through April 30.
Indigo
327 Union Avenue Knoxville (865) 525-8788 Website
Ironwood Studios
119 Jennings Avenue Knoxville (865) 405-0777 Website
Julie Apple Handbags
130 West Jackson Ave Knoxville (865) 235-1252 Website
This Friday, March 6th we will be at our offices in Knoxville at 130 West Jackson suite 101 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The office is right around the corner from the Emporium Center for Arts & Culture / Arts and Culture Alliance / The Balcony Gallery Check out their exhibits and the multitude of other things going on downtown this Friday. We’ll be sipping some wine and listening to Electronabava. I’ll give you a sneak peak at our new collection and we can dish about all the new trends at market in NYC!
Knoxville Arts and Fine Crafts Center
1127B Broadway Ave. Knoxville (865) 523-1401
Knoxville Museum of Art
1060 World’s Fair Park Knoxville (865) 525-6101 Website
Knox ivi
17 Market Square, Knoxville Website (17 Market Square is located directly beneath The Chamber of Commerce.)
It’s time yet again for the ever popular, “Green Screen Dance Party!”
Join Knoxivi and DJ John Cougar at 17 Market Square for some crazy-fabulous vinyl spinnin’, get your groove on and show the web your moves!
If dancing on the interwebs is not your thing, fall into the complex beauty of artist Jennifer Brickey’s paper work based on suburban maps. There’s a lot going on this First Friday at Knoxivi. Join us for the fun!
March 5, 5:30 – 9:00
Knoxville Visitor Center
301 Gay Street Knoxville (800) 727-8045 Website
Enjoy Ferd’s First Friday with live, on-air performances from top secret special guests from 6:30 – 8 p.m.!
Plus, Ammi Knight, a painter, designer, crafter, and a thinker of all things creative will be featured this First Friday in the Visitor Center.
Ammi loves sewing and screen printing. She also makes jewelry, paints signs, decorates cakes, does murals and faux finishes. She designed a shirt for WDVX and has clothing designs featured at the Knoxville Visitor Center, Morelock Music, Lox Salon and Earth to Old City.
Ammi will be at the Knoxville Visitor Center March 5th, 2010 from 6:00-8:00pm to share about her artistic talent. You can find her work on her Etsy store.
Maplehurst Inn
800 W. Hill Avenue, Knoxville (865) 803-6215
Midtown Arts Center
513 Cooper Street between downtown Knoxville and downtown north. (865) 406-7885
Morelock Music
403 S. Gay Street Knoxville (865) 766-5192 Website
Morelock Music will be open on First Friday with a broad selection of musical instruments, music accessories, hats, vinyl, and more. They will be preparing for their move to 411 Gay Street in April.
Old City Java
109 S. Central Avenue Knoxville (865) 523-9817 Website
Opera After Hours
The S&W Grand, 516 South Gay Street Knoxville, TN 37902
Opera After Hours @ First Friday on March 5th, 2010, 6pm – 8pm
Thrill to the great voices of Knoxville Opera artists!
Special performance by David Keith for this First Friday event! (6:30-7:30)
David Keith will star as The Pirate King in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance on March 12 & 14
Organized Play
221 Cumberland Avenue Knoxville (865) 521-0690 Website
We’ve got a new artist for First Friday in March! This month, it’ll be Lesley James, a multi-medium artist who will be exhibiting her photography work. As per usual, we’ll be serving milk and cookies starting at 6 p.m., and also give you a chance to meet the artist!
“I received my BS in Fine Art from Murray State University in Kentucky. I’ve lived in the Oak Ridge area for over 5 years and have been very involved as an artist in the community. I teach classes at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge and private lessons. I’ve shown my work at The Children’s Museum, Oak Ridge Art Center, Peter’s Jewelers, The Art and Craft Corner, The Corner Gallery, The Chrome Mosquito and downtown Knoxville. My mural work can also be seen in some of the more prominent homes and businesses in Knoxville and the surrounding area while working with a local mural company. I work in many diffferent mediums including oil, pastel pencil, charcoal, watercolor and ink, sidewalk painting and face and bodypainting.
I really enjoy what I do, letting the figure come to life under my brush. My style ranges from the classical to contemporary to whimsical. I am not restricted to one style. I believe I have a God-given talent and want to use it and develop it to its fullest potential. I will always be a student of the arts because it is my passion.
I believe in giving back to the community and donate many of my services for local charity events by way of free classes, art commissions for auction, murals, and professional facepainting.”
Remedy Coffee
125 W. Jackson Ave. Knoxville Website
The Fortunate Traveler
119 S. Central Street Bldg. 2, (In the Old City beside the Crown and Goose) Knoxville (865) 474-1098 Website
The Gathering Place at Regas
318 North Gay Street, Knoxville (865)637-3427 Website
Artists on display this month are:
Issac Privett
Katy Smith
Terrie Boruff Yeatts
Miki Cates
Cassidy Barnett
Bruce Busey
Sharon Trammel
The Tomato Head at Market Square
12 Market Square, Knoxville
On Saturday March 6th, Julie Armbruster will debut her newest work at The Tomato Head in downtown Knoxville located at 12 Market Square. Drawing from three separate narratives, Julie Armbruster’s work exhibited in Doomed Mammals illustrates selections from the Potato Boy, Frog-Monkey, and DuckLips sagas. The three stories deal with volatile friendship, scientific mutation, and how to accept responsibility.
The show is a retrospective of the most recent events unfolding within these stories, revealing some interesting twists that are sure to peak your curiosity. The show will be on display at The Tomato Head in downtown Knoxville until April 3rd and will then move to the Maryville Tomato Head from April 4th- May 2nd. A closing reception will be held Saturday May 1st from 3-5pm at the Maryville Tomato Head restaurant. At the reception, Armbruster will have a limited edition book relating the story of Potato Boy and his pet duck Elmore entitled “Idealism Requires Patience.”
Julie Armbruster’s work has evolved to include much more intricate compositions and details. Her work is often realized through automatic drawing and then refined through layered rendering and delicate outlining. The landscapes seem oddly familiar and often directly reflect her surroundings in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. The world rendered in the paintings is set at a distance from the viewer with the addition of the resin surface and illustrative style. The shine and saturation of color give the work an inviting pull. The viewer is further entranced by the complexity of emotions conveyed by the characters that are often faced with some sort of weighty decision or traumatic occurrence. The narratives are realized through anthropomorphic characters that seem bewildered and internal. Her stories are both funny and dark and typically lack a straightforward resolution.
Julie Armbruster’s work can be seen on her website and in her hometown of Asheville, NC at the Woolworth Walk and Honeypot Boutique.
Julie Armbruster has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries throughout the East Coast and Abroad, including the School of Architecture in Venice Italy, 80 Washington Square Gallery in New York, and Rebus Works in Raleigh, North Carolina. Often seeking shows in alternative spaces, her work has been exhibited in skate shops, bars, music venues, restaurants, and record shops. Julie Armbruster was born in Voorhees, NJ in 1979 and has lived in New York most of her life. She received a Masters in Painting from New York University in 2003 and has studied abroad in Italy and Germany. Following grad school, she moved to Asheville, NC and maintains an art studio in The Wedge in River Arts District.
Unarmed Merchants
129 S. Gay Street Knoxville (865) 549-5769 Website
URBhana
115 S. Gay Street (865) 525-7381 Website
The performing circus arts group is called One World Circus, with juggling, stilts, unicycle, and aerial dance, and URBhana’s very own Angela Howard on trapeze, with Maria performing on the lyra. Doors open at 5, and there is no entry fee.
UT Downtown Gallery
106 S. Gay Street Knoxville (865) 673-0802 WebSite
Join the UT Downtown Gallery for an opening reception for Deliquesence and Other Transformations, works by Robert Creamer. In his recent series of photographic studies of botanical subjects, Maryland artist Robert Creamer blends his interests in technology and the aging process. These photographic images, captured using a digital flatbed scanner, began as an investigation into the revelatory power of technology. Although the scanner is a tool that enhances Creamer’s ability to observe, it is not the apparatus, perse, that interests him most. Moreover, these images are about time, transformation and transitions. Creamer will give two talks, one at 6:30 and one at 8:30p.m., during the First Friday Opening Reception March 5, 5-9p.m.
UT Art and Architecture
1715 Volunteer Boulevard Knoxville
“Tuft vs. Turf: Assemblage” by Brian R. Jobe will open in Room 103 of the UT Art + Architecture Building (1715 Volunteer Boulevard) on March 5th for First Friday.
The artist talk is scheduled for 5:30pm and the reception is scheduled for 7:00pm.
The exhibition will run from March 1-19.
Vagabondia
27 Market Square Knoxville (865) 525-4842 Website
Got Hattitude? From 5:30-8:30p.m., join Vagabondia for a trunk show with Patricia Frankum. Spring will be here before we know it, and with it comes Vagabondia’s 5th annual Spring Hat Trunk Show. Once again Rossini Festival regular Patricia Frankum will be here with her wonderful hand-made hats, each an individual work of art.
World Grotto
Market Square, Knoxville Website
Yee- Haw Industries
413 S. Gay Street Knoxville (865) 522-1812 Website
Stop by Yee-Haw for some old time fiddle & clawhammer banjo with Brian Vollmer & Brent Feito & friends at Yee-Haw after their WDVX First Friday on-air tunes. They will be playing for tips so be generous & please BYOB. Yee-Haw will be open for First Friday from 6-10p.m.
A note from your host-
If you don’t see a listing, I couldn’t find it when I updated this for this month. Check here sometime on First Friday, a lot of places don’t send me updates until the last minute, so pop in here before you head out for the latest updates. You’ll find their phone number and links to their web site in the listing below, so you can check to see if they’ve got more recent info on their own site.

