“You are now approaching the Arts District,” chimes the female announcer’s voice over the loudspeaker as the Knoxville Trolley crosses into the 100 Block of Gay Street. A few short years ago, this part of town was unoccupied and underdeveloped, but now it is one of the most populous blocks in Knox County.
This formerly dilapidated street on the edge of downtown is also at the heart of Knoxville’s art community. Engaging in Knoxville’s vibrant art community is as easy as hopping on the Knoxville Area Transit’s free trolley in order to see some of the most exciting places to experience art in Knoxville.
The Knoxville Museum of Art has been exposing the community to fine art endeavors for decades, but it wasn’t until the turn of the 21st Century that art galleries came to prominence in Knoxville. Art galleries and art museums both aim to enrich a community by exposing people to and educating them about art, but galleries tend to be smaller, more intimate affairs. Additionally, artwork found in galleries is usually for sale. Some of Knoxville’s art galleries can be found scattered throughout Market Square, dotting Homberg Place in Bearden, cropping up in Old North Knoxville, and in particular concentration around the Historic 100 Block of Gay Street. The gallery highlights of this area include the Emporium Center, the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery, Gallery 1010, and 2 Many Pixels Photo Gallery.
A major impetus in the growth of Knoxville’s art community is First Friday. On the first Friday of each month, galleries and businesses in and around downtown open their doors to the public for an evening of culture, socializing, and fun. The event is free, and there is no end to the number of places one will find art on First Friday. Restaurants, bars, and boutiques are just as likely to contain your next art purchase as a gallery.
“When we opened in 2004, we would average 100 to 150 people on a First Friday,” says Mike Berry, Gallery Manager of the UT Downtown Gallery. “Now we will easily see 500 visitors each month. I would love to see a First Friday where the entire 100 Block of Gay Street was sectioned off for pedestrians.”
First Friday lasts from roughly 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and events vary by month. Most of the galleries on the 100 Block of Gay Street will host a reception with snacks and various libations, and businesses such as Lox Salon, Aisle 9 Grocery, and Old City Java will exhibit artwork. The independently operated website www.knoxvillefirstfriday.com offers a fairly comprehensive preview of upcoming exhibits, but part of the fun of First Friday is meandering down Gay Street or strolling through Market Square just to see what’s happening. You can choose your own adventure at First Friday.
“Downtown is vibrant, energetic, safe, and fun,” says Liza Zenni, Executive Director of the Arts & Culture Alliance. “So many of our businesses and citizens have contributed to the organic growth of First Friday and the art community as a whole.”
While he was mayor, one of Bill Haslam’s resounding sentiments was: downtown Knoxville should be everyone’s neighborhood. Developers such as David Dewhirst (Emporium Lofts and JFG Flats) and Leigh Burch III and John Gumpert (Sterchi Lofts) helped usher in a new era of downtown habitability. In turn, Mayor Haslam helped to fund arts initiatives to breathe new life into the freshly inhabited city center.
One of the biggest recipients of Haslam’s support was the Arts & Culture Alliance. Founded in 2001, the Alliance is a nonprofit organization that acts as a unifying voice representing the arts and culture community to government, businesses, the media, and the general public. Members of the Alliance include artists and cultural organizations, concerned citizens, educators, public officials, civic leaders, and business people.
“One of the easiest ways to get involved with the art community in Knoxville is by joining the Arts & Culture Alliance,” says Berry. “You’ll get twice-monthly newsletters, a calendar of events, exhibition opportunities—there are lots of benefits” You can find out more about joining the Arts & Culture Alliance at www.knoxalliance.org.
Supporting local businesses is crucial to the growth of Knoxville. Purchasing artwork from a local gallery provides a multifarious way to promote Knoxville: an investment enriches the gallery’s business, sustains the artist’s livelihood, increases the community’s cultural cache, and defines a collection of art. Making a charitable donation to a gallery is another way to put a lasting mark on the development of Knoxville’s art culture.
When the arts came to downtown, businesses appeared where before there had been fallen-in storefronts. Theaters were built and rebuilt, and the population swelled. Everyone began operating under a common goal: to make downtown an exciting, wonderful, and lively place to be.
“We have more activities and exciting things to do on any given day than any other mid-sized city in the Southeast,” says Zenni, “and all our citizens and visitors have to do is go out and enjoy it.”
Emporium Center
The Emporium Center opened in 2004 and exhibits a wide range of fine art from its physically engaging space in the gloriously restored building at 100 S. Gay Street. Sharing the 28,000 square feet of flexible-use space are two art galleries, administrative offices of several businesses, and studio spaces for artists and other groups. The Emporium captures the essence of change through its use of dynamic open spaces connected by beams and balconies — and the diverse occupants of the Emporium enhance its lively atmosphere.
The building’s two galleries showcase local and regional artists. The Emporium Gallery functions as the main gallery and fills the large open space of the ground floor. The Emporium Gallery features work of Arts & Culture Alliance members, member artist guilds, and Alliance-sponsored exhibitions. Offices and studio spaces flank the long exhibition hall. Visitors can witness the process of making art by visiting the studios of working artists such as fiber artist Judi Gaston or painter Bobbie Crews. The Balcony Gallery provides exhibition opportunities for emerging artists and those creating edgy, more challenging works. It overlooks the 100 Block of Gay Street from a cantilevered balcony on the top floor of the Emporium Center.
Location: 100 S. Gay Street
Hours: Monday – Friday: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
First Friday: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
First Saturday after First Friday: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Contact: Liza Zenni, Executive Director of the Arts and Culture Alliance, 865-523-7543
Website: www.knoxalliance.org
Upcoming Shows
The Emporium Gallery
December 2, 2011 – January 27, 2012: National Juried Exhibition
February 3-24, 2012: Works by Jake Livesay and Victor Schmidt
March 2-4, 2012: Foothills Craft Guild Spring Show
April 6-27, 2012: Dogwood Arts Festival — Regional Fine Art Exhibition
The Balcony Gallery
January 6-27, 2012: New Group Exhibition featuring Pamela Neal Almeling, Terrie Boruff Yeatts, Tony Henson, Chuck Jensen, Barry McManus, Sue Messer, Jayln B. Weston
February 3-24, 2011: Pellissippi State Community College Art Faculty Exhibition
March 2-30, 2012: Denise Stewart-Sanabria and Alan Finch- — War of the Lawn Ornaments and Works by Jeff Tidwell
April 6-7, 2012: Dogwood Arts Festival — Regional Fine Art Exhibition
UT Downtwn Gallery
When Paul Lee, Professor of Photography at the University of Tennessee, saw a vacant space ideal for the exhibition of artwork, he put the wheels in motion to give the UT School of Art a presence downtown. Since opening in September 2004, the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery has been a cornerstone of the Arts District. The UT Downtown Gallery operates in conjunction with the Ewing Gallery in the Art and Architecture Building on campus and allows the public easier access to fine art.
“Our vision is to show contemporary, cutting edge works,” says Mike Berry, Gallery Manager at the UT Downtown Gallery.
The gallery exhibits a new show each month and has played host to a wide variety of mediums: paintings, sculptures, video and sound installations, and everything in between.
“We recently had a performance piece called ‘The Pits’ by UT alumni Justin Randolph Thompson,” explains Berry. “We built a stage in the gallery and brought in a jazz band, which Thompson conducted, for opening night.”
“In addition to fostering community interest in fine art, the gallery gives us a chance to showcase works from our permanent collection,” said Sam Yates, Director of the Ewing Gallery and curator of the UT Downtown Gallery. The UT School of Art holds a sizeable permanent collection of artwork, but most of it is in storage.
Location: 106 S. Gay Street
Hours: Wednesday - Friday: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Contact: Mike Berry, 865-673-0802
Website: http://web.utk.edu/~downtown/
Upcoming Shows
January 20—February 25, 2012: Redefining the Multiple: Thirteen Japanese Printmakers
March 2—March 31, 2012: Mark Newport
Gallery 1010
Gallery 1010 functions as an extension of the University of Tennessee School of Art. It is the only student-run exhibition space in the state of Tennessee and serves as an outlet for the artwork of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of UT.
Gallery 1010 represents UT artists as well as artists from other universities and community programs. Exhibitions run for one week and are attended by more than 5,000 visitors each semester. Two graduate students in the UT School of Art manage the gallery and select 12 to 16 exhibitions to showcase each year.
“I believe Gallery 1010 is a unique space because not many universities offer students an opportunity to exhibit in an off-campus, downtown location,” says Leslie Grossman, one of the UT graduate students managing the gallery for the 2011-12 academic year. “Without being in the location it is in, many of the past exhibitors would not have made the connections they had made with other local galleries.”
Students must go through the process of independently proposing, curating, installing, and exhibiting their own shows. This allows students to focus their efforts on creating a cohesive body of work while gaining experience in coordinating an art exhibit and becoming involved with the art community outside the institution and studio setting.
Location: 113 S. Gay Street
Hours: Thursday – Saturday:12 p.m. – 4 p.m
Friday: 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. (opening receptions)Contact: Leslie Grossman, Gallery Director, 865-974-3407
Website: http://sunsite.utk.edu/gallery1010
Upcoming Shows
Jan. 12 – 14: Darbi Henley: Sleightly
Jan. 19 – 21: Ryan Bryant & Daniel Pering: ALumination
Jan. 26 – 28: Brittany Busch: Constructs
Feb. 2 – 4: Greg Daiker
Feb. 9 – 11: Sam Cockrell: Shift
Feb. 16 – 18: Chelsea Higgins & Allen Johnson: Elevated Perceptions
Feb. 23 – 25: Yonghee “Kate” Min: Bittersweet Matrimony
2 Many Pixels
Nestled in the second floor of the historic Jackson Atelier building is the 2 Many Pixels Gallery and Photo Studio. The brainchild of Patrice Argent, an established photographer hailing from Paris by way of New York City, 2 Many Pixels presents an invaluable asset to Knoxville’s arts community: it is the only gallery space exclusively dedicated to the exhibition of fine art photography in Tennessee.
2 Many Pixels’ location on West Jackson Avenue bridges the Arts District of the 100 Block of Gay Street with the Old City. Argent originally intended to use the loft for his own fine art photography, but he quickly saw an opportunity to put it to other use.
“I realized there were very few photographers being shown in Knoxville, and I wanted to change that,” says Argent. “I aim to introduce Knoxville to the concept of photography as fine art. From the fashion photography of Jameykay Young to the photojournalism of Heather McClintock, or from Andy Armstrong’s last images of legendary moonshiner Popcorn Sutton to Scar Tissue by Mark L. Malloy—which was shown at the Museum of Modern Art before it was here—anything goes. There is no limitation on what kind of fine art photography I would show.”
Location: 130 W. Jackson Avenue on the second floor of the Atelier Building
Hours: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. weekdays
(and by appointment)
Contact: Patrice Argent, Patrice@2manypixelsphoto.com, 917-532-4913
Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/2-Many-Pixels-Gallery/187797991268865
Upcoming Shows
A 2011 Retrospective will hang until March 2012. It features:
POPCORN, a story of white lightning in black and white by Andy Armstrong
Foggy dreams of fashion by Jameykay Young
Innocent casualties of war in Uganda by Heather McClintock
Scar tissue, an exploration of abandoned spaces by Mark L. Malloy
South-East Asian itineraries by Natasha Scheuerman
Arcane photography and simple images by Kat Bike
Pieces of me by Scott W. Lee
Art does not exclusively live on the walls of galleries and museums: it can be found in restaurants, coffee houses, sidewalks, and furniture showrooms. Integrating artwork into businesses emphasizes the accessibility of art and allows artists great exposure. Art enriches a business’s environment while showing customers a commitment to their community.
Here’s a rundown of some downtown businesses that routinely function as ad hoc galleries.
Lox Salon
103 W. Jackson Avenue
865-523-5569
www.loxsalon.com
Lox Salon celebrated its five-year anniversary in September 2011. Lox offers hair salon services and boutique space, and it recently began offering massages. Lox has been showing art since its opening, and they exhibit new work every month.
“People will come in to get their hair done and walk out with a piece of art,” says owner Brynn Gonzalez.
Artists interested in utilizing the funky and sophisticated atmosphere of Lox to showcase their art should contact Gonzalez for opportunities.
Aisle 9 Grocery Store
112 Central Street
865-851-8445
www.aisleninegrocery.com
Aisle 9 Grocery Store opened in June 2010 and has been fairly reliable about changing out the artwork on the wall space each month. General Manager Jonathan Lawson ran a gallery in Milwaukee before moving back to Knoxville, and he curates the selections for Aisle 9. Interested artists should email him at jwlawson@jwlawson.com.
Old City Java
109 S. Central Street
865)-523-9817
www.oldcityjava.com
A dedicated and community-driven coffee shop, Old City Java is committed to supporting other local businesses. They host handmade craft fairs and give wall space to a different artist every month. Come for the expertly prepared and socially responsible coffee; stay for the art.
URBhana
115 S. Gay Street
865-525-7381
www.urbhana.com
URBhana, a Creative Life Center, is a multi-purpose space in the 100 Block of Gay Street. They offer instruction on a variety of topics like massage, scrapbooking, and dance. They hold an opening reception on First Fridays for that month’s show.
Magpie’s Bakery
846 N. Central Street
865-673-0471
www.Magpiescake.com
Just when you thought Magpie’s couldn’t get any better: they add art to the mix. The Small Hall Gallery, which connects Magpie’s to the Glowing Body, shows a new artist each month. On First Fridays, there are free Magpie’s cupcakes for tasting as well.
