Work by Recipients of Bailey Opportunity Grants

November 6-26, 2019 following the Master Woodworkers Show
Work by Recipients of Bailey Opportunity Grants

Public reception on Wednesday, November 20, 5:00-7:00 PM

Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed Wednesday-Friday, November 27-29, for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents an exhibit of painting, photography, woodwork, forged metal, jewelry, sculpture, and more by visual artists who are recipients of an FY 2020 Bailey Opportunity Grant. Artists in the exhibition include: Eleanor Aldrich, Lynda Best, Jürgen Dopatka, Derrick Freeman, Shannon Johnson, Marty McConnaughey, John Phillips, Sarah Pollock, Shawn Poynter, Chris Rohwer, Nancy Rowland-Engle, Bryan Wilkerson, and Brandon Woods.

A part of the Arts & Heritage Fund, the Bailey Opportunity Grants provide financial and technical support to individual artists and small, professionally-oriented arts and culture organizations. The grants are designed to spur continued artistic and administrative growth in innovative, entrepreneurial artists and organizations at any stage in their development. These artists have utilized their collective $42,000+ for local, regional, and national workshops, studio time, technical equipment, and more.

About the artists:

Eleanor Aldrich was born in Springerville, Arizona. A participant at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, she also holds an MFA in Painting & Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she currently lives. She earned her BFA in Painting & Drawing through the Academie Minerva (Groningen, the Netherlands) and Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. She was a participant in the Drawing Center’s first Open Sessions. Eleanor has had solo shows in Boston, Nashville, Knoxville, Flagstaff, AZ, and at the University of Alabama. Her work has been shown at Saltworks Gallery (Atlanta, GA), the Drawing Center (New York, NY), Grin (Providence, RI) and Ortega y Gasset (New York, NY). Her work was chosen for 1708 Gallery’s ‘FEED 2013’ (Richmond, VA). She has been awarded an Endowment for the Arts through the Whiteman Foundation, and the Herman E. Spivey Fellowship. Her work has been included in New American Paintings, and reviewed in Art in America and on Artforum.com.
https://eleanoraldrich.com/
@eleanoraldrich (Instagram)

Jürgen Dopatka’s interest in photography goes back to his first darkroom work in his early teens. During his 20s he drifted towards a very strong focus on black & white photography, due to its unique possibilities of artistic expression. His imagination thrives on subjects involving graphical elements, patterns and repetitions, such as in modern architecture and nature.

While for a majority of the time Jürgen has been creating museum quality gelatin silver prints, he now produces his entire photo art on a digital basis. He is working on expanding his spectrum into larger size digital prints.
www.facebook.com/DopatkaPhotography
www.Instagram.com/JurgenDopatkaPhoto
www.Dopatka.com

Derrick Freeman is a self-taught artist diagnosed with Autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired verbal and non-verbal communication. By age two, he was completely non-verbal and was unable to learn and use language like most children his age. By age three, art became his only form of communication. He learned to express his perceptions of life and everyday living through his drawings and artwork. Each piece of art tells the story of his journey with Autism.

Derrick continues to break down the barriers of Autism through sharing his unique artistic talents with the community. He has exhibited his artwork throughout Tennessee including: the Tennessee Governor’s Mansion, Vanderbilt University, Lipscomb University, the Tennessee Disability Mega Conference and the Knoxville Museum of Art. In addition, he has been the recipient of several awards for his community advocacy work for the Autism community including: the Arc of the Mid-South’s Outstanding Artist and Performer Award and the Future Horizons Inc’s Dr. Temple Grandin Award for Outstanding Success. In July 2019, he was selected as the featured artist for the Ernie Els Foundation’s Art in the Pavilion in Jupiter, Florida.

For additional information about Eyes of Faith by Derrick Freeman, visit his art website: www.derrickfreemansart.com or visit his studio at the Knoxville Emporium Center.

Shannon Deana Johnson
I am a Knoxville, TN based mixed media painter. Nature is my biggest inspiration. The organic shapes, textures, and colors have always given me peace and filled me with wonder.  My art is a balance between allowing the medium to do what it naturally does with gentle guidance and self-expression. In my work, I want to evoke the sense of peace and harmony I experience in nature.
Website: shannondeanajohnson.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannondeanajohnson/

Marty McConnaughey
There is an endless amount of inspiration throughout nature; it only takes a moment to see its real beauty. Using gourds as a foundation helps create a unique sculpture by incorporating objects that nature itself provides. I love the art of coiling pine needles and sweet grass in my work; it gives a subtle movement drawing the onlooker to a journey that is both captivating and soothing. I continue to pursue and discover new elements and techniques on a regular basis to incorporate into my endeavors. The simple use of driftwood, acorn tops and strips of copper that I call “nature’s treasures” are found throughout my creations. Each piece I design is hand crafted to be distinctive and bring an element of drama to enhance a wide range of decors. My appreciation and love of our Creator with all the patterns, texture and colors He give us draws me to make unique pieces of art that will bring joy and inspiration to others.

Sarah Pollock
I am an oil painter who specializes in landscape and cityscape paintings. I paint in my studio, located in my home in Knoxville, and outside, on location, en plein air. My plein air paintings are based on direct observation of a chosen location, whether it’s along a mountain stream in the Smoky Mountains or in the heart of downtown Knoxville.

The purpose of my artwork is to celebrate the world around us, to inform viewers about a place through my paintings, and to highlight the beautiful elements of everyday moments. It’s important to me that I visually document the specific details of a location while sharing something novel through my paintings that many people may not initially notice on first glance. I like to focus on compositions that invite viewers into a scene, almost as if they were standing behind me and sharing the moment featured in one of my paintings.
Website: http://www.sarahpollock.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahpollockstudio/
https://sarahpollockstudio.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-television-interview.html

Chris S. Rohwer, Photographer
Photography is one more excuse for me to be outside.  Whether in the mountains of Nepal or in my own back yard, I look to capture interesting subjects with light, lines or action to give the viewer a sense of what I see and feel.  Owning a camera dates to my college days but photography only became a serious effort within the last few years.  Through practice, classes, workshops and encouragement I have begun to develop my artistic craft.  I hope you enjoy my work.
Website:  www.ChristopherRobinArts.com
Email:  ChristopherRobinArts@gmail.com
Instagram: ChristopherRobinArts
Facebook:  Christopher Robin Arts

Nancy Rowland-Engle
An East Tennessee native, Nancy Rowland-Engle studied metalsmithing in Western North Carolina, graduating with honors from the Professional Crafts program at Haywood Community College. She currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee.

My work incorporates organic forms and geometric shapes. Most pieces have an industrial feel. I feel like the pieces I’ve been making have come to look the way they do naturally. The textures which I like to incorporate through etching and casting have, to me, come to be symbolic of decay. The shapes, the elements, and the organic forms all represent nature. Together, these represent both the sadness I feel at our destruction of ourselves and our environment, and also the joy that comes from beautiful things.

Bryan Wilkerson
Bryan Wilkerson is a Tennessee native and Professor of Art and Design at Roane State Community College. His creative practices are focused primarily on ceramics and public art but extend into design and drawing. His work explores humor, craft, irony, and play through common symbolic references. He is also the creator and director of the ArtMobile traveling gallery and pop up workshop space. Follow him on Instagram @bryanwilkerson.

Brandon Woods
Brandon Woods is an independent artist best known for his geometric abstract paintings, which feature bold, saturated fields of color and linear elements painted on linen-wrapped, shaped panels. Woods’ practice is heavily research-based and multidisciplinary, enabling him to create his work through the use of mathematical equations and algorithmic processes of his own design, and to construct shaped supports for his paintings which simultaneously vary in height, width, and/or depth. His work has been exhibited and collected throughout the United States and internationally, in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Hong Kong, Canada, and France. Woods currently lives and works in Knoxville, TN.
Website: https://www.brandonwoodsart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonwoodsart/