New Exhibitions Opening This May at the Emporium Center

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.  – Five new exhibitions featuring paintings, glass, porcelain, charcoal and more will be on display May 5-26 at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville.

A public reception will take place 5-9 p.m. Friday, May 5 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 First Friday reception also features music and dance by Pasión Flamenca (led by Lucia Andronescu) 6 p.m. in the Black Box and new music by the Domino quartet (Mike Baggetta on electric guitar; Keith Brown on drums; Jon Hamar on double bass; and Jorge Variego on composition, electronics and clarinets) 8 p.m. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and chocolate fondue from the Melting Pot will be available.

6 to 96: The Stevens Family in the lower gallery

The exhibit “6 to 96: The Stevens Family” is a group show consisting of artists from an extended family with ages ranging from six years old to 96 years old. Like the distance between six and 96, there is a spectrum of styles, perspectives, and experiences displayed; there is an inherent poetry created by the family unit. The exhibit “6 to 96” is a show about the grace and beauty that emerges when immersed in a supportive creative environment.

Exhibiting artists include: Nate Butkus (drawing and mixed media); Ray Butkus (ceramist and jeweler); Virginia Butkus Gould (painter); Jonathan Grant (painter); Kathryn Lindsay Grant (painter); Allison Rae Nichols (painter); Carl Stevens (functional design); Carol Grant Stevens (painter); Charles Stevens (sculpture and jewelry); Connor Stevens (drawing); Mark Stevens (photography); Terry Stevens (painting); and William Stevens (painter and sculptor, deceased).

Luis Velázquez: Retrospective 1937-2016 and Family Continuity in the Balcony gallery

In this retrospective of Luis Velázquez, curated by Dina Ruta, the public will see his use of primarily oil, and his interest in landscapes. Every piece of art is a mirror that reveals his acute vision and is testimony to his perceptions, dreams and memories.

His favorite inspirational sites included Puerto Rico and the Smoky Mountains. Velázquez was the founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee, committed to the Latino community.

Julie Fawn Boisseau-Craig: Embodiment - A Search for Serenity in the display case

Artist Julie Fawn Boisseau-Craig works in porcelain and glass primarily, utilizing metals and wood as necessary to create her sculptural, wearable and or functional pieces. Her work directly responds to the contradictions and complexities of life. She strives to create beauty out of chaos. Her studio, Wild Pony Studio, is located in Rockford. She also works in hot glass at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro, North Carolina. She has shown nationally and participated in and taught many workshops and demonstrations. Boisseau-Craig received her MFA in 2012 and taught Introduction to Visual Art, 3D Art, Drawing and Ceramics at Western Carolina University. She also taught Drawing and Ceramics at Southwestern Community College in North Carolina. She was an artist assistant to Tennessee-based glass artist Richard Jolley.

Works by Heather Huebner on the North Wall

Heather Huebner was born in Euclid, Ohio and grew up in a suburb east of Cleveland. Her body of work is creating abstracted memories and/or thoughts of landscapes into paintings, influenced by growing up on Lake Erie. She is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Art with a Bachelors of Fine Arts focused in painting and is currently working in Knoxville.

The second half of Huebner’s work is fantasy. The shapes and colors and compositions have been determined by a feeling of unknowing and are structured on ideas of what could be rather than what she has seen in the past.

Stephen Spidell: Iterations of Movement in the Atrium

Stephen Spidell’s charcoal and pastel drawings abstract human hair to create close-ups and landscapes. The emotive marks create waves and undulations that replicate the dynamism of the tress while contriving contrasts of value and texture.

Stephen Spidell currently resides in his hometown of Knoxville. His art education started at age seven when he trained under Janice Fancher, and he received his Associate of Arts in Studio Art from Pellissippi State. He is mainly known for his charcoal abstractions of hair, but he continues to indulge in other media including graphite, pen and ink, and pastel; his other subject matter includes botany and the human figure.

The exhibitions are on display 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Please note the Emporium will be closed on Monday, May 29 for Memorial Day.

For more information, contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at 865-523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

About the Arts & Culture Alliance

The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions. The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission, the City of Knoxville, and First Tennessee Foundation.

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