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July 2007

Arts & Culture Alliance Hosts Teacher Training Workshops
The Arts & Culture Alliance has conducted free teacher training workshops since 1985. This year, the Alliance sought the participation of Dr. Claudia Cornett, professor emeritus at Wittenberg University. Dr. Cornett is a nationally renowned expert on fusing literacy and arts and is the author of “Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts." The Alliance received over 200 applications for this year's workshop in-service on July 20, so two half-sessions in addition to the main session have been opened. Additionally, Dr. Cornett will be giving a FREE lecture on Thursday, July 19, at 6pm at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

The two-day workshops held at the Emporium Center for Arts & Culture include more than 150 participants from an eleven-county area in East Tennessee with three instructors providing hands-on instruction for incorporating the arts into the teaching of literacy.

A group of teachers during a workshop.

Dr. Claudia Cornett giving a demonstration.

 

Stalked in the Quarry, July 6-28

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents “Stalked in the Quarry”, a new exhibition featuring the works of Alan Finch and Denise Stewart-Sanabria.  Finch’s stone sculptures and Stewart-Sanabria’s paintings on wood will be on display July 6 – 28 at the Arts & Culture Alliance’s Emporium Center.  Stewart-Sanabria’s “stalked reception people” will be “attending” Finch’s stone sculpture exhibit in a conceptual play on reality.

Alan Finch has been active in the East Tennessee Art Scene for the past 20 years as a painter, sculptor, and independent curator.  Finch began sculpting in stone in 2003 and finds it more fulfilling than any other medium with which he has worked.  As he begins removing layers of raw stone, the stone creates an image in his head, leading him to the finished sculpture.  “I am inspired by the abstract shapes I see in nature, and I love using found organic objects in my work or as ideas for shaping the stone,” says Finch.  When he hikes in the mountains of East Tennessee, he constantly observes the natural stone formations around him.  His artwork has been exhibited in numerous national, regional, and local juried shows.  Most recently he participated in the 22nd annual Positive/Negative juried exhibition at the Slocomb Galleries at East Tennessee State University.  Finch has two large-scale marble works on permanent display in Knoxville at the UT Trial Gardens and Ijams Nature Center.  Both his artwork and curatorial skills have been positively reviewed in "Art Papers", an internationally circulated art magazine.  Finch is a native of Oak Ridge and currently resides in Clinton.

Denise Stewart-Sanabria works in many mediums including painting, mixed media, and large-scale drawing on wood.  For the past two years, she has been taking candid photos, mostly unobserved, of people attending exhibit receptions in downtown Knoxville.  She uses the photos as reference for producing life size portraits with charcoal on plywood. The finished portraits, most of which are free standing, are cut out and attached to bases.  Stewart-Sanabria exhibits widely throughout the southeast, both in juried, solo, and invitational exhibits.  Among her over twenty awards in the last five years is an award from Marc Pachtor, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.  Stewart-Sanabria resides in Knoxville.

The opening reception on Friday, July 6, from 5-9pm, is free and open to the public, and complimentary hors d’oeuvres are served.  “Stalked in the Quarry” is on exhibit July 6 – 28 at the Arts & Culture Alliance’s Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, downtown Knoxville.  Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9-5 and Saturday 11-3.  For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance, (865) 523-7543, or visit our website at www.knoxalliance.com.

 

P.O. Box 2506, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37901     Phone: 865-523-7543     Fax: 865-523-7312     info@knoxalliance.com