Artwork b Michelle Lindsey
November 7 – December 23, 2025 @ Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance
The Arts & Culture Alliance presents new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville. The public is invited to free gatherings with the exhibiting artists Friday, Nov. 7, from 4-9p.m. and Friday, Nov. 14, 5-7p.m.
Southern Woodworkers Showcasein the lower gallery Nov. 7-9
The East Tennessee Woodworkers Guild and Able Trade present the 22nd Southern Woodworkers Showcase, formerly known as the Master Woodworkers Show. This celebrated biennial juried exhibition brings together the finest woodworking talent from East Tennessee and the surrounding region, featuring over 30 accomplished craftspeople and artists.
From timeless tradition to creative innovation, the Showcase highlights a wide range of woodworking styles, including fine furniture, cabinetry, woodturning, sculpture, marquetry, and more. Live demonstrations throughout the weekend offer a behind-the-scenes look at the tools, techniquesand artistry that go into each creation — perfect for makers and curious minds alike. Guests can test their wits on a handcrafted wooden puzzle box for a chance to win a special prize, and everyone is invited to cast a vote for the People’s Choice Award, honoring their favorite piece in the show.
The show hours are Friday, Nov. 7, 4-9 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 8, 10 a.m.– 5 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 9, 11 a.m. — 2 p.m.
www.southernwoodworkersshowcase.org| Instagram @thesouthernwoodworkersshowcase
Michelle Lindsey & Jacene Witzel: Southern Comfortsin the display case Nov. 7-29
"Southern Comforts"is a heartfelt tribute to the people, placesand flavors that define the state of Tennessee. Through her paintings, Michelle Lindsey explores everything from iconic architecture to classic Southern foods, and each piece is a conversation about history, communityand the simple comforts that make Tennessee feel like home. Jacene Witzel created complementary ceramic work celebrating the icons and everyday delights of our community. Together, their works weave a story of memory, place, comfort, and a little humor, and they invite viewers to smile and rediscover the joy of what makes East Tennessee home.
For as long as she can remember, Lindsey has been drawn to the arts, starting with the simple yet profound joy of putting pencil to paper. Like many, the quiet of the pandemic offered a unique opportunity for reflection and a return to old passions, and during this time she discovered the rich, expressive world of acrylic painting. By using layers of vibrant color, she creates pieces that are a conversation between memory and the present. She enjoys the historical aspects of her subjects. Besides taking on new painting projects, she resides in Kingston with her wife, daughter, and two French Bulldogs. Instagram @therunningrainbow
Witzel is a Knoxville-based ceramic artist and practicing architect who has worked with clay since college. Her work often blends humor and familiarity, exploring animal-themed puns and pop culture references through sculptural forms and everyday objects. Instagram @jacene_art
William Holbert – The Celebrity Showin the Atrium, Nov. 7-29
The Celebrity Showis a collection of paintings of well-known actors, musicians and athletes in a variety of media including oil, acrylic, colored penciland alcohol ink.
William "Bill" Holbert has been creating art for as long as he can remember. A native of Knoxville, he flourished as a young child and doesn’t remember a time when he was not creating something. He began by drawing pictures of cereal boxes and has expanded his art ever since. Creating art has opened up a whole other world for Holbert — a creative world filled with friends with the same ideals as himself. Holbert’s true love is oil painting, and he has won multiple awards for his art. He practices his art daily, takes commissions on a regular basis, and hopes viewers will see joy and sadness equally expressed through his art.
A Moment in Time by Bethany Stahlon the North Wall, Nov. 7-29
A Moment in Timefeatures a collection of plein air paintings by Bethany Stahl created directly from life in the open air over the past few months, spanning scenes from Tennessee to Illinois. Each brushstroke responds to shifting light, fleeting colorand the living atmosphere, capturing a moment that can never be repeated. Working in oil, Stahl paints on location, from the center of a stream to a windy mountaintop. She captures the impression of the energy of the moment in her work, and this new exhibition celebrates the world around us, inviting viewers to pause, notice, and reconnect with the subtle beauty in everyday landscapes.
Bethany Stahl is a plein air painter working primarily in oil and currently based in Knoxville. Growing up with a love for nature, Stahl began her career writing, illustrating, and publishing her best-selling children's book seriesSave the Earthwhile she self-taught herself to draw, paint and sketch. Recently, she began working in plein air because of its immediacy and the chance to capture ever-shifting light, colorand atmosphere of a moment in time. She has shown her paintings in various galleries around the nation, and her work continues to evolve through travel and observation. Because her work emphasizes fleeting moments in nature, she hopes to inspire preservation of the world's natural and historic places by capturing them in her art.
www.bethanystahl.com| Instagram @bethanystahlart |https://www.youtube.com/@BethanyStahl|https://www.facebook.com/bethanystahlart
ContiGivin’ the What For curated by Michael Dickinsin the upper gallery continues through Nov. 9
Givin’ the What Fortakes its title from a Southern colloquialism that expresses stern disapproval or a serious reckoning. It’s a phrase rooted in confrontation, calling for accountability and highlighting the weight of one’s actions.
Curated by Michael Dickins, this exhibition showcases the work of six women artists living and working in Southern Appalachia. Although they choose to be rooted in this region, their practices go beyond geographic identity. Using a mixture of media and materials, these artists tackle urgent global concerns such as social justice, environmental degradation, personal and collective identity, and political unrest. Their work challenges, provokes, questionsand critiques.
The artists included in this iteration are Erika Diamond (www.erikadiamond.com), J. Leigh Garcia (www.jleighgarcia.com), Katie Hargrave (www.katiehargrave.com), Stacy Kranitz (www.stacykranitz.com), Susan Alta Martin (www.susanaltamartin.com), and Liz Trader Williams (https://makemesomeart.com).
Ceramic Soul Collective — Pieces of Us: A Cultural Mosaicin the lower gallery Nov. 14-29
Pieces of Us: A Cultural Mosaicis a celebration of evolution, progress, and emergence, where individual expressions come together to share a story of collective unity through clay and culture. Join the artists for an opening Friday, Nov. 14, 5-7 p.m.
Ceramic Soul Collective is a growing circle of artists shaping the next generation of BIPOC ceramic craft in Knoxville. Rooted in community workshops at The Bottom's maker space, the collective is also guided by its three pillars: community, culture, and creativity — forming the foundation of their artistic process and collective ethos.
Instagram @ceramicsoulcollective |https://www.thebottomknox.com/ceramic-soul
Shape of Time curated by Vesna Pavlovi?in the upper gallery Nov, 14 — Dec. 23
Shape of Timeis a new exhibition curated by Vesna Pavlovi? featuring artists Kyle Cottier, Amanda Leigh Evans, Jessica Ingram, Haein Kangand Christina Renfer Vogel. The exhibition extends from Nashville artist Jessica Ingram’s (https://www.jessingram.com/) video,July, to a conceptually connected group of regional artists who explore relationship between memory and time and express beauty in the everyday in their practice. Join the curator and artists for openings Friday, Nov. 14, 5-7 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 5, 5-8 p.m.; and Friday, Dec. 12, 5-8 p.m.
Sculptor Kyle Cottier (https://www.kylecottier.com/) weaves a landscape in space inBorrowing Sceneryto create a cinematic sequence. His sculptural piece is made of wooden particles that stand together by their interwovenness and togetherness. In her performative social practice work, Amanda Leigh Evans (https://amandaleighevans.com/) encapsulates the overarching question that permeates works in the exhibition — what is the shape of time? In silent video,13x17: Reconstructing Memory with AI, Haein Kang (https://www.haeinkang.com/) asks us to consider how technology reshapes our perception of memory, time and the natural world. Christina Renfer Vogel (https://www.christinarenfervogel.com/) collapses time in her studio through an act of painting, observation, and duration by staging herself and her subjects to create a series of still lives. What seems an impossible task becomes a successful system built in collaboration and mutual support.
Vesna Pavlovi? is a Paul E. Shwab Chair in Fine Arts Professor of Art at Vanderbilt University. Her projects examine the evolving relationship between memory in contemporary culture and the technologies of photographic image production. Pavlovi? exhibited widely, including solo shows at the Center for Cultural Decontamination and Museum of History in Belgrade, Serbia, Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, and the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Group shows include National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Hirshhorn Museum and the Sculpture Gardens in Washington D.C.; Museum of African Art Belgrade, Serbia; 13th Havana Biennial, Rios Intemitentes, Matanzas, Cuba; Untitled, 12th Istanbul Biennial, 2011, in Turkey; The MAC – Metropolitan Arts Center in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Publications include Vesna Pavlovi?, Stagecraft (Vanderbilt University Press, 2021) and Vesna Pavlovi?’s Lost Art: Photography, Display, and the Archive (Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, 2018).https://www.vesna-pavlovic.com/
The exhibitions are on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, Tennessee. The Emporium is open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. andSaturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and additional hours on Fridays (Nov.14 & 21), 5-7 p.m. The Emporium isclosed Wednesday through Friday,Nov 26-28 for the holiday but open on Sat Nov 29.
Many of the works on exhibition are for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop athttps://www.knoxalliance.store. For more information,seehttps://www.knoxalliance.comor call (865) 523-7543.
Category: Exhibits