East Tennessee’s most important cultural heritage sites are partnering to provide the Statehood Day Heritage Festival on Saturday May 31 and Sunday June 1. The sites include places of historical significance in the exciting journey of Tennessee becoming the 16th state in 1796. They include Ft. Loudoun, the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, James White Fort, Marble Springs, Ramsey House, Mabry-Hazen House and the Blount Mansion.

Each site will be providing special activities to commemorate events leading to our Statehood including: historical reenactments, Native American living history, live music colonial cooking, and frontier arts and crafts demonstrations. All events will be free and open to the public.

Contact Blount Mansion at 865-525-2375 or Ft. Loudoun at 423-884-6217 for more information

The Museum of Appalachia will end it "Thank You Tennessee Month" Monday afternoon at 4:00 PM. You can see pictures from the Museum of Appalachia on their page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...).

It’s a way to thank state residents for supporting the Museum through the years; to introduce the Museum to those who haven’t been here before; and to fulfill the Museum’s mission of passing the Appalachian heritage to the next generation.

“Many folks tell us they visited the Museum years ago,” said Elaine Meyer, executive director. “Now we’d like them to come back—and bring their children and grandchildren to share the experience and learn more about their Appalachian heritage.”

For a great family time, music, and chicken and dumplings, this is the place to go!

Support your galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

The Museum of Appalachia has designated March as “Thank You Tennessee Month,” offering special discounts and activities for Tennessee residents. It’s a way to thank state residents for supporting the Museum through the years; to introduce the Museum to those who haven’t been here before; and to fulfill the Museum’s mission of passing the Appalachian heritage to the next generation. Details available on the Museum of Appalachia page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...).

Each weekend in March, special demonstrations will vary. Visitors could watch a quilting or carving demonstration, view the old-time sawmill in operation, watch a blacksmith at work, or take part in an old-fashioned spelling bee (call for demonstrations on specific days).

The Museum’s “porch musicians” will begin the 2008 season on March 1, playing traditional tunes on weekends in March and daily through the remainder of the year.

Visitors can experience “springtime in Old Appalachia:” purple martins nesting in gourd houses, the earthy smell of freshly turned gardens, the bleating of young lambs and goats playing in the fields, and the little ducklings, turkeys, guineas, and chicks chasing their mothers. Across the open meadow, strains of old-time music mingle with the fragrance of spring flowers.

Sherrie

New Directions in American Drawing at the Knoxville Museum of Art

The exhibition will close January 20,2008. Remember, Tuesday admission is free at the KMA. You can see other drawings from the KMA exhibition on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...)

There are 47 drawings which show very interesting and unique pieces of art. Some of the pieces will expand your idea of what drawing is and how the line gets blurred with other media.

The featured works represent a wide range of approaches to format, process, material, imagery, concept and context. They range in size from intimate to monumental, and incorporate various media including watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, conte, gouache, charcoal, collage, pen and ink, and cut and cast paper. (KMA handout)

I really enjoyed the two pieces by Jane South. These pieces were made with cut and folded paper, ink, acrylic and balsa. Edgar Jerins has two pieces with a autobiographical story. They are in a very traditional drawing approach with a contemporary edge. Brad Brown's mixed media pieces were just lovely. The images and ideas from the exhibition kept me awake remembering what I saw and ideas that came as a result of seeing the show. That of course, why we need to go to museums.

Sherrie

The Foothills Craft Guild presents A Fine Crafts Marketplace

November 9, 10, 11, 2007
Jacob Building · Chilhowee Park · Knoxville

A Fine Crafts Marketplace will feature the work of over 160 well-known craft artists from East and Middle Tennessee. Join us for a holiday shopping experience in the historic Jacob Building with live craft demonstrations, including raku firing, chair caning, and more!

Open: Friday and Saturday 10 - 6; Sunday 10 - 5
Admission: $6 adults · $5 students and seniors · children 6 and under free

The East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has invited some local bloggers to attend a meeting tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 21st, 7:00 PM at the Knoxville News Sentinel.

From the ETSPJ website calendar:

"Clearing the Blog Fog"

Hear and see the work of several area bloggers discuss their work and relationship with "traditional" news outlets. Refreshments! November 21, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. at the News Sentinel Knox Room

Hmmm. Refreshments? Will there be cheap single-malt Scotch? Or is this strictly a BYOB sort of deal?

At any rate, yours truly will be there, along with Johnny Dobbins, The Beanster, KNS editor Jack McElroy, and others including the mysterious and elusive Bob Stepno, who describes the event thusly.

So put your turkey in the oven, set the timer, and come on down. It should be an interesting discussion.

It's a beautiful day and there's still time to make it out to downtown Maryville for the Foothills Fall Festival. There are plenty of arts and crafts, food, music, and fun for all ages.

We went over yesterday afternoon for a stroll around the arts and crafts booths. This is a fairly high quality show with lots of nice pottery, weavings, paintings, photography, and more, an not much of the flea market buy/sell junk.

We checked out the new Capitol Theater, which has been transformed into a coffee shop and art gallery featuring owner Heath Claiborne's paintings. The theater shows an occasional film, and is available for private functions. Roy's Records is also open for one last time, and it was the first time I've been in there since I was a teenager. It's like a museum in there. In fact, they ought to leave everything just like it is and make it a museum.

In addition to the arts and crafts and the food court on Broadway, there is a kid's fun zone setup over in the greenbelt park between Harper St. and the library, and a concert stage setup over behind the courthouse. We thought about going Friday night to see Buddy Guy, but it was too cold and the tickets weren't cheap. This evening's headliners are Little Big Town and Randy Travis.

More pictures after the jump...

A pair of pileated woodpeckers just alighted on the trunk of that tree! A male and a female! Wow!!!

It was felicitous.

The right light. The right subject. And here I had my camera.

I'm backing up, framing the birds. They're ignoring me, still drumming on the tree trunk, squawking and chattering away.

I lower the window and raise my camera, slowly... slowly...

And then, I have nothing but the fender of a Ford diesel pickup in my viewfinder.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT???" comes the inquiry.

"A future murder victim."

***

Word to the wise: A photographer in the act of photographing does NOT need to be disturbed.

***

If Ever We Would See a Brighter Day

Who are these evil-doers on the television news?
And what could make them go so far astray?
Are they primeval monsters that crawled up from the ooze –
Genetic defects who were born that way?

....

I smiled after reading this poem's ending, "We all must teach our children such evil to refuse If ever we would see a brighter day".

Then I surfed some more only to find Black Children ordered to the back of the bus in Louisiana. My smile disappeared.

From the Maryville Daily Times:

"The best moonshine you ever tasted."

That's the description Charles Mike ``Chuck'' Williams uses for the product his father, the late Charlie Williams, produced in an underground moonshine still on Carr's Creek in Townsend.

Chuck Williams, a Venice, Fla., resident, donated the 450-gallon still to the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center. The center, located on state Route 73 in Townsend, will open to the public on Sunday.

The article recounts the entire process of making moonshine and the history behind the still being donated.

The Smoky Mountain Heritage Center grand opening is this Sunday, February 12th from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children, and $3 for seniors (children under 6 free).