Painting by Anthony Donaldson. Image courtesy of the artist.	Emporium Center	Photography by Brooks Bann. Image courtesy of the artist.
Clay Dreams by Annamaria Gundlac. Image courtesy of the artist.	Painting by Mary Smith. Image courtesy of the artist.	Painting by David Gildersleeve. Image courtesy of the artist.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is presenting five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville through September 29, 2017. Most of the works are for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition.

Linde Mills & Mary Smith: Art in Motion in the lower gallery
Linde Mills works with various materials and primarily acrylic on canvas. “Many of us take great pleasure in watching people in motion; from sports to dance, the ease with which some can make the power in their bodies explode into motion is captivating,” says Mills. Her subject matter almost always involves this type of activity, typically in a dance fashion or involving water. “Capturing movement, life and a peacefulness behind the power generated by long-term hard work is what I strive for in each painting." For more information, please visit www.lindeluwho.com.

Mary Smith was born and raised in the Rochester, NY area. She lived in Pittsburgh, PH for ten years before moving to Knoxville in 1990. Smith began painting in 2015 as a form of therapy after the loss of her husband. She developed a passion for abstract painting and the freedom of expression it offers. Each piece she paints brings comfort. Her acrylic paintings are often spontaneous and the result of “wherever the brush takes her hand”. Painting and talking with others about her work provides Smith pleasure, joy and solace. “When people enjoy a painting with their smile or comment, I find it very rewarding,” she says.


David Gildersleeve … And Now for Something Completely Different. in the Balcony gallery David Gildersleeve began his long and illustrious art career while growing up in Texas. His earliest work was displayed on his bedroom wall where he started to master the popular but challenging medium of crayons. He then moved to his first big exhibit where he was a featured artist on the family refrigerator. Gildersleeve’s professional art career began as a comic book artist, working for such companies as Vendetta, Gothic, and Calibre. During this time, he illustrated a variety of magazines from Playboy to The Crescent Review as well as developed logos and advertising campaigns for Solunet, Integrated Digital Networks, and Microsoft. He has written and illustrated several children’s books, contributed a speech to TED Talks, and taught at The Corcoran School of Art and at The Savannah College of Art and Design.

Gildersleeve paints subjects that invade his subconscious, using a wonky style to help bring these images to life. Using textures and a selective palette, he creates an unmistakable style in his work that most people refer to as “whimsical”. He displays his art in several galleries up and down the East coast and takes part in several shows a year that focus on his original paintings. In addition to his successful and creative projects, he enjoys spending as much time as he can with his wife and two sons, working on classic muscle cars, and writing autobiographies. For more information, please visit www.gsleeve.com.


Annamaria Gundlach: Clay Dreams in the display case
As a figurative artist, Annamaria Gundlach is fascinated by the female form and its impact on art and religion throughout history. Nature is her inspiration, and her figures reflect sensuality, strength and connection to the earth.

“Each of my clay sculptures has its own voice which speaks as I create it,” says Gundlach. “I strive to create organic figures that exude natural elegance. I burnish and pit-fire my work so the smoke ages and mutes the colors with a patina that has a haunting suggestion of lost and forgotten eras. I refer to my work as ‘modern artifacts’. This oxymoron reflects my contradictory intent of modern elegance achieved with primitive methods and various surface enrichments that connect the past to the present.” For more information, please visit artdeannamaria.weebly.com.


Works by J. Brooks Brann on the North Wall
J. Brooks Brann has been an avid photographer for 40 years concentrating on landscapes and wildlife images. He is a native of Knoxville with a BS in Industrial Engineering and a MS in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee. Brann spent 34 years in Seattle where he worked for Boeing as a Senior Engineer. During that time, he explored many of the national parks, national monuments and Western wildlife refuges. From 1988 – 2010, he conducted more than 20 solo long distance river trips in Northern British Columbia and the Canadian Northwest Territories. After retiring in 1999, Brann divided his time between New Zealand and a cabin in the Northwest Territories where he pursued his interest in photography and trout fishing. In 2012, he moved back to Knoxville where he continues to concentrate on photography.

“A lot of research and planning goes into a trip, and typically several places are selected to visit,” says Brann. “If everything works out then I will return multiple times. Some of my favorite places for photography include Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, the coastal areas of Olympic National Park, the Yukon’s Dempster highway above the Arctic Circle (in Canada), the lava flows and coastal regions of the Island of Hawaii, and the Appalachians of East Tennessee.”


Anthony M. Donaldson: Time (Past, Present & Future) in the Atrium
Anthony M. Donaldson is a local painter who lives in Knoxville and is a KAT bus driver. He studied art heavily in high school and continued taking some classes in college. As a writer expresses in a book, an artist expresses in art. “I ask myself: does art imitate life or does life imitate art?” says Donaldson. “I think sometimes it's both. For me, God is the master artist, and He created everything. I find drawing easy, yet creativity requires deep thinking and studying.”

Donaldson aims to tell a story with his art, and the recent work he will display features many subjects such as climate change, human trafficking, Harlem Renaissance culture, and more.

The exhibitions are on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit www.knoxalliance.com.