50×50 Exhibition Celebrates Alliance Anniversary at the Emporium

October 4-26, 2024
50×50 Exhibition Celebrates Alliance Anniversary at the Emporium
Opening reception: Friday, October 4, 5:00-9:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition titled 50×50 in recognition of its 50th anniversary. The exhibition will be on display throughout the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville and opens on Friday, October 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM. The free gathering with exhibiting artists will also feature live music by Variego3 inside the Emporium.

Curated by John Douglas Powers, 50×50 is a survey of Knoxville- and Tennessee-based artists exhibiting alongside peers from across the country. The exhibition is a celebration of the individual artistic voice and the essential role of organizations like the Arts & Culture Alliance in supporting and nurturing those diverse voices. The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions.

“You know, it’s a pretty big milestone for the Arts & Culture Alliance (formerly the Arts Council) to be able to celebrate 50 years of quiet, uninterrupted service to a community, its artists and arts and culture organizations,” says Liza Zenni, Executive Director. “We remember and thank all the board and staff members whose devoted and unselfish service over the years has made this anniversary possible. We remember and thank the thousands of artists and arts and culture organizations whose belief in the concept of an alliance drove this organization forward with their constant participation in ACA’s programs and activities, the most visible of which in the last 20 years has been the Emporium Galleries. I couldn’t imagine a curator whose expertise and sophistication could be more perfect than John Powers to bring the many threads of ACA’s ethos together into one exhibition. He has somehow found a way to pair local art with art from further afield so that the cumulative effect is one that looks forward to the exciting future that is yet ahead of ACA.”

Utilizing all the exhibition spaces at the Emporium, 50×50 includes more than 100 works utilizing a variety of media and conceptual approaches by 50 different artists:

Sergio Baroni (Pietrasanta, Italy)
Emily Ward Bivens (Knoxville, TN)
Bill Cook Jr. (Knoxville, TN)
Chelsea Couch (Chattanooga, TN)
Matthew Cummings (Knoxville, TN)
Lee Deigaard (New Orleans, LA)
Dawn Dickins (Clarksville, TN)
Hamlett Dobbins (Memphis, TN)
Travis Donovan (Boone, NC)
McLean Fahnestock (Clarksville, TN)
Casey Fletcher (Madison, WI)
Jonathan Gann (Palm Springs, CA)
Lynne Marinelli Ghenov (Knoxville, TN)
Andrew Hayes (Asheville, NC)
Travis Head (Blacksburg, VA)
Elana Herzog (New York, NY)
Kelly Hider (Knoxville, TN)
Stacey Holloway (Birmingham, AL)
Risa Hricovsky (Knoxville, TN)
Mala Iqbal (New York, NY)
Brian R. Jobe (Knoxville, TN)
Jennifer Kaplan (Asheville, NC)
Mary Laube (Knoxville, TN)
Aaron Lockhart (Kingston, NY)
Ashton Ludden (Knoxville, TN)
Devin Lunsford (Birmingham, AL)
Elysia Mann (Knoxville, TN)
Brian Melton (Knoxville, TN)
Christina Molina (New Orleans, LA)
Guen Montgomery (Urbana, IL)
Donna Moore (Knoxville, TN)
Celestia Morgan (Birmingham, AL)
Althea Murphy-Price (Knoxville, TN)
Greely Myatt (Memphis, TN)
Raymond Padron (Chattanooga, TN)
Vesna Pavlovic (Nashville, TN)
Billy Renkl (Clarksville, TN)
Raymond Saa (New York, NY)
Karen Seapker (Nashville, TN)
Stephen Slappe (Portland, OR)
Jered Sprecher (Knoxville, TN)
Rylan Steele (Columbus, GA)
Denise Stewart-Sanabria (Knoxville, TN)
Caleb Taylor (Kansas City, MO)
Bob Trotman (Casar, NC)
Christina Vogel (Chattanooga, TN)
Samantha Wall (Portland, OR)
Carl Joe Williams (New Orleans, LA)
Chase Williamson (Knoxville, TN)
Thoryn Ziemba (Star, NC)

John Douglas Powers is an artist and educator based in Knoxville, Tennessee and is Professor of Sculpture and Time-Based Art in the School of Art at the University of Tennessee. Powers received his M.F.A. in sculpture (with distinction) from the University of Georgia and a B.A. in art history from Vanderbilt University. His work has been featured in The New York Times, World Sculpture News, Sculpture Magazine, Art Forum, The Huffington Post, Art in America, The Boston Globe and on CBS News Sunday Morning. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Virginia A Groot Foundation Award, a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant as well as a Southeastern College Art Conference Individual Artist Fellowship. Powers was a founding member and co-director of C for Courtside, an artist run curatorial project space. He sees creativity as vital to humanity and remains committed to supporting the arts.