Arts Events Calendar for East Tennessee State University

“(Un)Finished: Collaborations with Sam Mays” at Tipton Gallery (6/20/2013)

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Start Date:	6/20/2013
End Date:	6/20/2013

The ETSU Department of Art & Design and Slocumb Galleries in partnership with the Urban Redevelopment Alliance present “(Un)Finished: Collaborations with Sam Mays” Group Exhibition and Silent Auction for the benefit of the Sam Mays Memorial Scholarship from June 7 to July 12, 2013, at the Tipton Gallery. The opening reception is on June 7, First Friday, from 5 to 7 p.m. during the Blue Plum Festival.

The “(Un)Finished” collaborative exhibition features sculptural body casts that were part of the unfinished project of Johnson City artist, graphic designer and cultural provocateur Sam Mays. Organizers and Mays’ close friends Whitney Parkinson and Brian Glaze invited other ETSU alumni and artists who knew Mays to collaborate and finish the painting of these body casts. The exhibition pays homage to the creativity and diverse art interest of Mays whose passing in early 2013 was mourned by the Johnson City community. Most of the works in the exhibition will be available for purchase, funds from the sale and the silent auction featuring various works donated by Mays’ friends and family shall benefit the Sam Mays Memorial Scholarship at ETSU that were dedicated by his parents Kathy and Russell Mays.

The exhibit will be open to the public during the First Friday reception, by appointment and during Blue Plum Festival on June 8 and 9 from 12 noon until 6 p.m.; the silent auction ends on Sunday, June 9 at 6 p.m. The exhibit will also be open on July 5, First Friday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The participating artists are Ariel Adams , Ren Allen, Brian Baker, Kara Bledsoe, Laura Bowman, Emily Boyd, Betty Crawford, David Crowder, Brooke Day, Steven Garnett, Aaron Haynes, Jeremy High, Susan Lachmann, Derek Morton, Whitney Parkinson, Cassity Potter, Adria Ryan , Terry Shanks, Emily Watson, Melanie Yodkins. Special thanks to Kathy and Russell Mays, Krisna and Jim Godwin, Mid City Grill and Tommy South.

The Tipton Gallery is located at 126 Spring St., in Downtown Johnson City. Please contact Slocumb Galleries’ Director Karlota Contreras-Koterbay via email contrera@etsu.edu or call 423.483.3179 for more information or to schedule a visit. The Tipton Gallery is sponsored by the ETSU Department of Art & Design and the Urban Redevelopment Alliance (URA).

“At The Moment: Photography and Abstraction as Bridge to Figuration” at the Slocumb Galleries (6/20/2013)

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Start Date:	6/20/2013	Start Time:	10:00 AM
End Date:	6/20/2013	End Time:	4:00 PM

ETSU Main Campus - Ball Hall
Room: Slocumb Galleries

The ETSU Department of Art & Design and Slocumb Galleries present At The Moment: Photography and Abstraction as Bridge to Figuration exhibition from June 19 through July 12 with the artists’ reception on July 2, Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The exhibition, At The Moment: Photography and Abstraction as Bridge to Figuration features Bristol and Abingdon-based Virginia figurative artists Leila Cartier, Sam Morrow, Anna Nenonen, Perry Johnson, Jenny Snead and sculptor Marvin Tadlock. The work in the exhibition address various interests in the human form either by manipulating the abstract or the photographic image as either pre-processing technique, a response to the “traditional media thru the virtual” or the abstract form as bridge to content.

Perry Johnson describes his recent body of work as “inquiry into our stewardship of humanist ideals.” In his figurative paintings of ordinary people, workers and individuals portrayed while performing mundane activities, he questions the achievement of humanity, labor and development. Johnson stated, “one can make a living and never have a life. Work that engages our faculties and satisfies our senses is a blessing not afforded us all.” He added, “work has efficiently been reduced to mere labor, the individual is brought to the level of a machine.” Yet he tries to respond to reality with humor and layered meanings in his work that allow a multitude of interpretations.

In parallel trajectory, Jenny Snead deals with social realities through her work, providing a voice to the disenfranchised few. Snead reveals to have experienced various levels of poverty in America first hand “during child and as an adult in public housing in Southwest Virginia.” Her art provides an insight to the people whose lives are characterized by abject poverty and lack of opportunity, as visualization of the people that live in poverty, who “rarely have the opportunity to have their voices heard, and are very often misunderstood and disenfranchised.”

The figurative tendency is also employed in Anna Nenonen’s work with the existential and redemption as its underlying current. Nenonen believes in the transformative potential of art, and the power of imagination to the development of humanity, thus, “redemption from the mundane, from the ordinary, from the inevitable ties that bind us, the ties that seem unbreakable yet we know that it is humanely possible to raise above them and fly towards something that is of lasting value.” Nenonen refers to nature and its various manifestations in relation to the human condition.

Meanwhile, Leila Cartier’s painting of the female figure and anthropomorphized animals “call upon heightened experiences of nature, perceptions of beauty, and modern day social constitutions.” Cartier describes her work as having the quality of “Darwinian manifestation of embellishment and performance” in order to “draw attention to the universal driving forces behind the character, impulses, and charades of living beings.” Her human portraits often display flamboyant gestures while the non-human images that are portrayed in “grandiose posture, unusually evolved appearance, and the way these attributes mimic those of their human counterparts.” In her work, photography is significant element, with her paintings occupying space that emphasize the blurring of “reality and what is perceived.”

Sam Morrow’s work in the exhibition seems to provide transition between that of the socially-engaged work by Johnson and Snead towards the more introspective works by Nenonen and Cartier. As an artist, he is inspired with the concept of the modern artist as an observer of culture. His current series are inspired by police mugshots from the internet, oftentimes of women “caught in traumatic situation and their reaction to it”. He compared the “zombie-like gaze while confronting the police lens,” as similar to the one that individuals “staring into a laptop computer.” He considers the information age and its tools as both the “eye onto the world and one that examines us as prey.”

Marvin Tadlock, the sole sculptor in the group employs abstraction as bridge to his visual commentary of other significant ideas. He describes his art as primarily about form and design, which he achieves by replicating “form, animate, and morph it into a new and totally different form -one with associated meaning a world apart from the original.” He added, by employing this process selectively, he is able to introduce content, or commentary, into his work.

Johnson, Morrow and Tadlock are member of the Faculty at the Virginia Intermont College’s Department of Art. Cartier is the Curator of Fine Arts at The William King Museum where Snead is an Outreach Instructor while Nenonen is the Gallery Director at the Emory & Henry College’s Gallery 1912.

The Slocumb Galleries’ summer hours are Mondays thru Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with extended hours during receptions and scheduled tours. All events are open to the public free of charge, located at Ernest C. Ball Hall, along Sherrod Drive, ETSU campus. For more information, email Slocumb Galleries’ Director Karlota Contreras-Koterbay at contrera@etsu.edu or call (423) 483-3179. Parking and handicapped access are available.

Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War (6/20/2013)

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Start Date:	6/20/2013	Start Time:	10:00 AM
End Date:	6/20/2013	End Time:	7:00 PM

ETSU Main Campus - Reece Museum

“Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War,” an exhibit that examines how President Abraham Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the Civil War – the secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties – will open Thursday, June 13, at the Reece Museum on the campus of East Tennessee State University. This traveling exhibition, which will be on display through July 26, includes informative panels featuring photographic reproductions of original documents, including a draft of Lincoln’s first inaugural speech, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It is organized by the National Constitution Center (NCC) and American Library Association Public Programs Office and made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): Great Ideas Brought to Life. The traveling exhibition is based on one of the same name developed by the NCC. In connection with the exhibit, the Reece Museum will host a series of free public lectures sponsored by the Department of History. The first will be “Words Fitly Spoken: Abraham Lincoln, the Constitution, and the American Civil War” by Dr. Stephen Berry, chairholder of the Gregory Chair in the Civil War Era at the University of Georgia. The former NEH fellow is the author of House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, A Family Divided by War and All That Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South. Berry’s 6:30 p.m. lecture on Friday, June 14, will take place in conjunction with the exhibit’s opening reception, which begins at 6 p.m. at the museum. “We are delighted to have been selected as a site for this exhibition,” said Theresa Hammons, Reece Museum director. “As a new president, Abraham Lincoln was faced with enormous challenges. This exhibit shows how Lincoln struggled with issues of secession, slavery and civil liberties – all questions our country’s founding charter left unanswered. “Each section features information about a different aspect of Lincoln’s presidency. For example, the section about slavery examines the various policy options Lincoln once embraced and how his thoughts about slavery evolved over time. Most importantly, the exhibit helps visitors understand why Lincoln’s struggle with the Constitution still matters today.” Admission to the museum, reception and lecture is free. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday; and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Parking passes are available for weekday visits, and groups may call ahead for tour reservations. For more information or special assistance for those with disabilities, contact the Reece Museum at 439-4392 or reecemus@etsu.edu. The museum’s website is www.etsu.edu/cass/reece.

The Reliquaries (6/20/2013)

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Start Date:	6/20/2013	Start Time:	10:00 AM
End Date:	6/20/2013	End Time:	4:00 PM

The Reece Museum will host an exhibition entitled "The Reliquaries" of twelve new paintings by east Tennessee artist William Bledsoe from April 23 to June 22. Capturing ETSU landmarks and events in various seasons, Bledsoe’s twelve original works convey a sense of life on the East Tennessee State University campus. The exhibition also includes watercolor studies for each of the paintings as well as selected studies for future works. To better serve the broader community, Reece Museum hours have been extended to include Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Museum is also open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. As an added convenience, parking passes are available for weekday visitors to the museum. Admission to the museum is always free. For more information about the museum or to arrange a group tour call (423) 439-4392.

Vanishing Appalachia (6/20/2013)

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Start Date:	6/20/2013	Start Time:	10:00 AM
End Date:	6/20/2013	End Time:	4:30 PM

ETSU Main Campus - Reece Museum

“Vanishing Appalachia,” a traveling exhibit from the East Tennessee Historical Society, will open at East Tennessee State University’s Reece Museum April 23 and continue until June 30. This exhibit combines Don Dudenbostel’s photographs and Tom Jester’s field recordings, based on their three years of research among moonshiners, serpent-handlers, Mennonite farmers, cockfighters and others who still engage in traditional mountain practices. “By the mid-1900s, outside perceptions and inside realities about the people living in Appalachia were beginning to emerge,” according to the East Tennessee Historical Society. “Some people played to the popularized ‘hillbilly’ stereotype for financial gain, launching successful singing/acting careers, building themed tourist attractions and marketing national products. Others sought to capitalize on the economic momentum created by the arrival of such federal initiatives as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Manhattan Project. “Still others, like Don Dudenbostel and Tom Jester, came to realize certain aspects of mountain culture were disappearing in the face of progress.” Inspired by such famed 1930s photographers as Dorothea Lang and Walker Evans, Dudenbostel diligently went to work documenting this culture. Jester’s field recordings accompany Dudenbostel’s photographs and give the subjects a voice, allowing them to speak freely about their practices and traditions. Dudenbostel says he did not set out to preserve disappearing mountain culture. He started photographing things he found interesting, but as he noticed traditions slowly fading away, he began to document mountain life more aggressively. “I really had no concept over 50 years ago that time would change so quickly,” Dudenbostel said. “I just felt that it was important. Once this culture has disappeared, it’s not returning.” “Vanishing Appalachia” is one of four exhibits that will be on display when the Reece Museum reopens April 23 after being closed for two years for an extensive, $1.7 million renovation project. The other three are “We Shall Not Be Moved,” a traveling exhibition from the Tennessee State Museum that examines the civil rights sit-in movement in Tennessee; newly commissioned paintings of ETSU by local artist Bill Bledsoe; and “Country Music in the Tri-Cities.” The Reece Museum’s new hours will be 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday; and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Admission will be free. Parking passes are available for weekday visits to the museum, and groups may call ahead for tour reservations. For more information or special assistance for those with disabilities, call the Reece Museum at (423) 439-4392.