Events

Born in Knoxville to a minister-father, Joseph Delaney (1904-1991) and his brother Beauford (1901-1979) learned to draw on Sunday school cards at church and took art lessons with distinguished local artist Lloyd Branson. Both brothers set out on their own in the 1920s, with Joseph settling in New York by 1930. There he studied with regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton at New York’s Art Students League with a group of classmates that included Jackson Pollock. Delaney spent the next 56 years painting portraits, figure studies, and lively scenes of urban life in lower Manhattan. On the Move will include key works from major segments of Delaney’s career designed to represent the winding path of his artistic journey. A small selection of the artist’s drawings, letters, and poetry will also be included to shed light on aspects of his inner life and creativity. Organized by the KMA.

This collaborative project with the East Tennessee Art Education Association is designed to gather the best student work grades 6-12 from a 32-county region; award winners are eligible for $1,000,000 in scholarships to national art schools. Organized by the KMA.

This exhibition includes a diverse selection of sculpture and paintings from a couple who are among Knoxville’s most active, adventurous, and philanthropic art collectors. Contemporary glass is a particular area of focus, and the exhibition includes works by William Morris, Bertil Vallien, Oben Abright, Dante Marioni, Stephen Rolfe Powell, Michael Janis, and Therman Statom. Complementing sculptural works are paintings by Jim Dine, Frank Stella, Christo, and Paul Jenkins. Organized by the KMA.

Design by Time is the first exhibition to identify and bring together works from known and emerging designers, in the US and abroad, whose interest is in expressing the passage of time, a visual expression of life, through the design of objects. It represents the notion of the dynamic passage of time and how it can be expressed by a variety of design objects including textiles, carpets, ceramics, lighting fixtures, vessels, clocks, and furniture.

Expatriate American artist, James Abbot McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) played an essential role in the etching revival of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition "Whistler & Company" includes nearly a dozen works by Whistler accompanied by more than 50 etchings by some of his most accomplished American and European contemporaries.

The East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition offers middle and high school students from around East Tennessee the opportunity to participate in a juried exhibition and to display their talents and be honored for their accomplishments in a professional art museum environment.

Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin: Through the Unusual Door includes 50+ paintings, works on paper, and unpublished archival material which examines the 38-year relationship between painter Beauford Delaney (Knoxville 1901-1979 Paris) and writer James Baldwin (New York 1924-1987 Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France) and the ways their ongoing intellectual exchange shaped one another’s creative output and worldview. 

A diverse selection of sculptural works, many small in scale, from the KMA collection. Some were acquired years ago and have been displayed many times, while others have rarely been shown or were recently acquired.

Homegrown is a site-specific outdoor installation by designers Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann that examines potential applications for Tennessee’s invasive plant species as productive building materials. Exhibition will be in the KMA South Garden.

This collaborative project with the East Tennessee Art Education Association is designed to gather the best student work grades 6-12 from a 32-county region.

Drawn from the extensive holdings of the Asheville Art Museum, A Lasting Imprint will feature a selection of more than 50 prints, textiles, drawings, paintings and sculptures reflecting time-based themes of movement and music by some of the most adventurous and influential artists associated with Black Mountain College.

More than 20 paintings and works on paper representing the exciting growth in the KMA’s contemporary collection through museum purchases and donations from artists and collectors far and wide.