April exhibitions at the Emporium

Marshall by Shirley Keaton

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville now through April 30, 2021. All visitors to the Emporium are required to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing guidelines. Most of the works will be for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store.

No Bigger Than a Breadbox: Biennial Small Works Show in the upper gallery

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present this second biennial juried exhibition featuring selected works from 52 artists throughout the United States. The exhibition was designed to celebrate the innovation of artists who create work on a small scale and in a broad range of media and styles. Over $1,000 in cash awards will be announced at a brief awards ceremony at 6:00 PM on April 2.

About the juror: Joan Bontempo has spent the last 16 years as Professor of Art and Art History at Hagerstown Community College, Hagerstown MD and has been and has been exhibiting her works in clay for 40 years. She has recently relocated her home and studio to Knoxville. Her work is sculptural and eclectic in ceramics and mixed media. She received her BFA from the University of Notre Dame and her MFA in ceramics from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. Her work has grown from traditional forms and methods to experimental techniques expressing personal psychology, archetypal forms and spiritual musings, with clay combined with other materials or found objects, including altered canvases or metal. www.linkedin.com/in/joanbontempo.

Tennessee Artists Association Spring Show: Creativity Full of Positivity in the lower gallery

Members of the Tennessee Artists Association are pleased to present a juried show featuring an explosion of ideas, designs, images, and color expressed in various styles, mediums, and photography. The Tennessee Artists Association (TAA) has continuously operated since its formation in 1972. It is headquartered in Knoxville and serves artists and art lovers in the surrounding area. TAA’s purpose is to promote and encourage public interest and enjoyment in art through the use of general communications media and to promote artistic talent and ability in art by sponsoring and directing exhibitions, awards, workshops, demonstrations, and educational programs. TAA provides the mutual benefit of association among members to elevate art to the highest standards of quality and workmanship. Membership is open to anyone 18 years of age or older.

Woodturning by Brian Horais

Brian Horais: Not Everything (turned on a lathe) Has to be Round in the display case

Turning a round bowl is a skill many woodturners develop early in their careers, after which point many seek additional techniques to expand their skills and keep their creative energies alive. Off-Center (or Multi-Axis) turning offers such an opportunity, and this exhibition displays three variations of multi-axis turning: 3-axis Twist, Half Twist and Therming. Brian Horais will display items turned on a lathe as well as explanatory charts. Inspiration for these unique techniques comes from two well-known woodturners: Art Liestman and Barbara Dill.

Brian Horais www.horais.com, a woodturner since 2010, lives in Knoxville. His focus is on turning non-round multi-axis works of art. His twisted segmented works have been jury-selected multiple times for the East Tennessee Master Woodworkers Show and for “Arts in the Airport” exhibitions at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville. He has published multiple articles in the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) magazine, ‘American Woodturner’, and the British woodturning magazine, ‘Woodturner’. Horais was a demonstrator at the 2019 AAW National Woodturning Symposium in Raleigh, NC.

The exhibitions are on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Visitors are required to wear masks and refrain from eating or drinking in the galleries. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.


Published April 16, 2021