From "The Collective Lens' exhibit
June 6, 2025 | 5 pm @ Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance
The Arts & Culture Alliance presents five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening Friday, June 6, from 5-9p.m. A free gathering with the exhibiting artistsalso features live music by Nick Horner, Maddie McCullough and Mikul Joanz.
Scruffy City Kitties by Booder Barnes & Bob Thompsonin the upper gallery
Booder Barnes and Bob Thompson say, "The idea forScruffy City Kittiesevolved over the past couple years. I was studying some of my cat templates for previous murals I painted and thought I would like to see a show with a community of cats in their daily meanderings. I thought of the 2016 film entitled “Kedi” about the cats of Istanbul and how they lived in a city where they roamed freely, owned by no one, yet were left shelter and food by a wide range of businesses and families in the community. In 2017, local artist Bob Thompson and I collaborated on work for the show 'Welcome to Heresville'in the A1 Gallery at Emory Place, and its theme was 'a community of ideas.'So, it was logical to see if he might want to work together again for a 'community of cats'exhibition. While I recovered from ankle surgery in 2022, Bob visited over the course of several days and listened to the notes I made for cat designs, cat construction, and catmosphere. It took me a year to cut 29 cats out of fiberboard. Bob primed and painted cat coats on the fiberboard; we later used found objects for eyes as well as came up with names for eachkedi. So now, welcome toScruvvi Citi Kediz."
Kelli Thompson: America’s Park, Our Backyardin the Atrium
Kelli Thompson loves to capture nature, whether it is water, wildflowers, landscapesor wildlife, and there is no better place in America to do that than the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, known as the Wildflower Park of America with good reason. Thompson follows the blooming cycle of her favorite trails such as Cove Hardwood Trail, Schoolhouse Gap, Chestnut Topor Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail capturing the diverse range of spring ephemerals that bloom in waves. GSMNP offers opportunities to capture landscape vistas and various historical structures found throughout, and at various times of the year, photographers can also capture wildlife, particularly bears and elk. Bears emerge in the spring in places such as Cades Cove, and elk are predominant in the Oconaluftee River Valley near the visitor’s center as well as in Cataloochee. It takes dedication to plan adventures at the optimum times to capture flowers or wildlife. Through these photographs, Thompson represents some of her favorites ranging from historical structures to a variety of wildlife and wildflower photos.
Thompson received her first SLR camera as a high school graduation gift from her grandparents and quickly developed a love of film photography. Through college, law schooland her career as a lawyer, she has photographed a wide variety of subjects. As film photography gave way to digital photography, she followed her passion to capture the beauty of nature. Her biggest inspirations through the years include Senator Howard Baker and Mandy Lea. Her primary subjects are streams, waterfalls and lakes, as well as wildflowers and birds (particularly the American Bald Eagle). She has also photographed a wide variety of subjects from University of Tennessee football to NASCAR races. Her favorite places to photograph are where diversity of life is found: state and national parks, as well as the Clinch and Tennessee River systems. Thompson’s work has been exhibited in Arts in the Airport in Knoxville, the Southern Appalachian Nature Photographers Salon and the Arts & Culture Alliance’s National Juried Exhibitions and Knoxville Photo Exhibitions, including Best of Show in 2021. For more information, visitwww.kellithompson.smugmug.com, Instagram @kellithompsonphotography, or Facebook at Kelli Thompson Photography.
Patsy Ferrell White: Knoxville Creatives Reviewon the North Wall
A series of 10painted portraits,Knoxville Creatives Reviewis part art exhibition and part Knoxville art history project. It is an extension of Patsy White’s 2018 series, The Locals, which included 10 portraits of visual artists living in Knoxville.Knoxville Creatives Reviewexpands on the subject matter to include portraits of individuals practicing in a wider scope of artistic mediums from fashion to music and beyond. It serves as a time capsule of the range of creative excellence existing in our city as well as a sampling of the standouts who call Knoxville home.
Patsy Ferrell White is a self-taught, fine art painter living and working in Knoxville. Her process is simple, from the head, through the hand and to the medium without digital aids or tracing in any form; all work is completely done by freehand. Every piece is part of the artist’s journey. She is the owner of Ferrell White Creative which offers interior design services using the artist’s touch. With a passion for portraits and figurative painting, her medium of choice is acrylic paints on canvas. She has had numerous pieces published in local and international art magazines and was a finalist in the international art competition Art Elevated, sponsored by the NYC garment district and Artrepreneur. White creates collections of paintings for an ongoing exhibition schedule and accepts commissions for custom portraits and murals. For more information, emailferrellwhitecreative@gmail.comor visit Instagram @ferrellwhitecreative, Facebook at Ferrell White Creative, orwww.ferrellwhitecreative.com.
Jonathan Knight: Light and Shadowin the display case
Jonathan Knight is a photographer based in Knoxville who is drawn to the contrast of light and shadow that monochrome can produce. Whether capturing a vast landscape in a national park or a lone individual in a large city center, his goal is to find the geometry within that moment – to pause and find the shapes that we pass in everyday life.
Knight is also a composer who studied film scoring at NYU with David Spear (orchestrator for Elmer Bernstein). He has composed for string quartets, choirs, solo piano, electronics, percussion ensembles, and dance ensembles, among others. In 2024, he released a classical crossover album, Fragments of a Life, as well as the singles “The Morning Watch,” “Silence of Another Kind,” “Breathe in the Bloom,” “And So It Begins with Murmur,” and “and so...”. For more information on his photography and music, visitwww.jonathanknightmusic.comor Instagram @jknight1234.
The Collective Lens: Perspectives by the Professional Photographers of East Tennesseein the lower gallery
The Professional Photographers of East Tennessee is a collective of skilled photographers dedicated to advancing the art and profession of photography in the region. PPETN offers education, networking opportunities, and resources to help photographers of all levels thrive in their craft. Portraying a wide variety of subject matter and style, this new exhibition is a collection of images created by its members. Selected through a competitive jurying process, the images highlight the artistic range and storytelling talent of East Tennessee’s photography community.
For more information, visitwww.ppetn.com,www.facebook.com/ppetn, or Instagram @ppetn.
These exhibitions eWon display June 6 – July 3, at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, Tennessee. In June, the Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.and additional hours on Saturday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. forMake Music Knoxville. The Emporium will be closed on Thursday, June 19 and Friday, July 4 for the holidays.Most of the works on exhibition will be 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