The Arts & Culture Alliance will present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 6-29, 2020.

A free reception will take place on Friday, March 6, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities downtown to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. Most of the works are for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition. The opening reception features music by the Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus and flamenco dancing by Pasion Flamenca.

Victoria Phillips: A Place Within in the main gallery
A Place Within was created from a state of contemplation and exploration. It is an extension of the processes and ideas of previous works. In these paintings, I examine how each layer interacts with the next. There is a sense of sublime expression as I investigate the human condition. The frailties and hardships of humanity are reflected in the disruptive processes, as I reference the sublime spiritual aspects through the washes of pigments and the synergy found within the hues. Many of the paintings from this collection were created in Skopelos, Greece. The mountainous landscapes paired with the endless ocean views created an atmosphere of divine inspiration. The beauty and simplicity of the island are reflected in the mystical landscapes in this collection as the disruptive qualities allude to the universal human condition. Through exploring the transcendental qualities found in my processes and metaphorical connections, I aim to delineate a sense of hope while providing an environment that is conducive for a visceral experience.

Victoria Phillips graduated with a BA in Visual Arts in 2013 from Lee University in Cleveland, TN. She earned her MFA in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design in 2019. She has been involved in numerous exhibitions throughout the U.S. as her private collectors continue to grow domestically and abroad. Phillips completed an artist in residency in Skopelos, Greece in 2019, giving her the opportunity to exhibit internationally. She resides in Atlanta, GA where she has a studio at Mutiny Artwrx. She is a part time Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University and a full time Visual Arts Educator. For more information, visit www.victoriarosephillips.com, follow her on Instagram @victoria_rose_phillips, or find her on Facebook.

Gary Monroe and Denise Stewart-Sanabria: Tableau Vivant in the Balcony gallery
In this new exhibition entitled Tableau Vivant, Gary Monroe provides work from three of his series: The Serpent Handler Group, The Velvis Group and Comedy County Cocke, and Denise Stewart-Sanabria exhibits her plywood drawings and Contemporary Altars of Misappropriated Mythology.

Art by Denise Stewart-Sanabria; photo courtesy of the artist; image by the artist

Gary Monroe resides in Knoxville and has exhibited extensively throughout the US since the early 1980s. Predominately a representational artist, he often includes non-representational elements in the work. The work tends to include subjects from his native state of Tennessee such as Appalachian serpent handlers, Moon-shiners, and Elvis Presley. Monroe’s work is held in numerous private and museum collections. He recently exhibited in Appalachia Now! An Interdisciplinary Survey of Contemporary Art in Southern Appalachia at the Asheville Art Museum. For more information, visit www.garymonroe.org.

Denise Stewart-Sanabria was born in Massachusetts and received her BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. She has lived in Knoxville since 1986. Sanabria paints both hyper-realist “portraits” of everything from produce to subversive jelly donuts. The anthropomorphic narratives often are reflections on human behavior. She is also known for her life size charcoal portrait drawings on plywood, which are cut out, mounted on wood bases, and staged in conceptual installations. She is a recipient of the 2019 Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant for her work on wood. Her work is included in various museums, private, and corporate collections. She is represented by The Arts Company in Nashville, TN, Mitchell Hill in Charleston, SC, and District Arts in Fredrick, MD. For more information, visit www.stewart-sanabria.com or follow her on Instagram.

Gary Monroe: Comedy County Cocke; image by the artist

Smoky Mountain Maritime Modelers in the display case
The artistic craft of ship modeling has been part of the building process to finish full size ships for hundreds of years. The Master Modelers of the Smoky Mountain Maritime Modelers will display a collection of museum quality wood ship models built from scratch and kits. All models start with blueprints and supplied wood that require hours of shaping, sanding, painting and rigging, often taking months or even years to complete.

The Master Modeler presenters at this show include Butch Alline, Dave Amstutzd, Bill Gass, Vic Kaminsky, Dennis Kimbrough, Larry Moore, Carl Whitten and others, and their models vary from historic square riggers to modern ships.

The Smoky Mountain Maritime Modelers group was founded to advance static and radio controlled ship modeling as a hobby. Anyone interested in starting the hobby or with limited modeling experience is welcome to join the club and benefit from other members’ years of experience. Membership is open to all who have an interest. For more information, contact Vic Kaminsky, President of Smoky Mountain Maritime Modelers, at smmmship@gmail.com.


Jess Maples: Nurture Aperture in the Atrium
With two showcases in Nashville and one in New York City, Jess Maples is finally bringing her unique exhibition to Knoxville for a homecoming event. During the past three years, she collected various responses to the question “How do YOU let the light in?” and sought after the perfect photographs to match the answers. The title of each photograph is a direct answer that came from her survey question. Every year in her 20’s, Maples uses her birthday month of March to not only celebrate another year, but to push her voice further; examples include volunteering in an orphanage in South Africa, writing advocacy pieces for mental health and sexual assault, and publicly sharing vulnerable testimonies to both. This year, she blends her advocacy with her first love: photography.

Nurture Aperture is Jess Maples’ movement designed to teach the world self-love. “I started this project to offer a few moments of reflection for guests,” she says. “This is more about an experience rather than showing what I can do with a camera. With mental illness at an all-time high, it is easy for us to focus on the darkness in life. My desire is to show others the beauty of fostering the openings that let the light in – in nurturing their aperture.”

Jess Maples was born and raised in Knoxville, TN. For more information, visit www.jessmaples.photography, follow her on Instagram, or find her on Facebook.

Bradley A. Wilder: Synchronicity; photo courtesy of the artist

Bradley A. Wilder: Synchronicity on the North Wall
There is a formulation of similar universal brain stimulus that one obtains at birth which allows for specific functions in the way one perceives life and becomes a part of the global subconscious. To be more clear, I will call this being in tune with the idea of free association. This term means to connect images or words together within the mind which may have no apparent connection to one another, allowing an intrinsic understanding of archetypal imagery. However, each viewer is left with their own innate familiarity with the signs conveyed in my images. The creation process and content is achieved organically, with equal accounts of order and randomness, exploring different mixed media methods of painting, including materials such as oil, acrylic, spray paint and charcoal often used simultaneously or subjectively depending on the nature involving an individual piece. My work taps into the subconscious thoughts that are within each individual regarding their own outlook towards reality. Furthermore, by my intimate yet subliminal way of working, I aim to unlock the inborn superconscious in myself, which in turn may bring awareness to the superconscious within the viewer. In order to bring people into a realm of realizing an example of synchronicity through the viewing of my paintings, I act as a frenzied scribe, unraveling my pressured and mysterious mind.

Bradley A. Wilder received a BFA in painting from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY in 2015. He is currently working on an MFA in painting from Savannah College of Art and Design with an expected graduation date in the year of 2020. Wilder has studied painting and drawing in France as well as China. He worked as a professional tattoo artist and illustrator for ten years in numerous tattoo studios within the southern parts of the U.S. Wilder has been in multiple group exhibitions throughout the country along with a solo exhibition in 2015 in Lexington, KY. He currently resides in Middlesboro, KY. For more information, visit www.paintingsbywilder.com, follow him on Instagram, or find him on Facebook.


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 the website at www.knoxalliance.com.