Arts & Culture Alliance Presents "Legacy: The Quilts of Georgia Bailey"

Silent Auction and Exhibit

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents "Legacy: The Quilts of Georgia Bailey", a new exhibition celebrating 40 creative quilts by Georgia Bailey (1922-2008). The quilts will be displayed for sale at a silent auction at the EmporiumCenter on August 1 at 5:00 PM. Bidding ends at 8:00 PM.

Georgia Bailey was born in 1922 in Morganton, NC and remembered spending many summers at her grandmother’s house in North Carolina to quilt with the family. Bailey's mother fastened quilts to a large frame so that many people could work on them. In an auto-biographical memoir of the history of her quilts, Bailey recalled playing "cave" or "castle" underneath the frames, where her presence was forgotten and she would hear the neighborhood gossip. The extraordinarily heavy quilts kept people very warm since there was no central heating. Because the quilts could not be washed, they had to be hung on clotheslines and beaten during summer months to get rid of dust mites. Bailey joked that "the dust mites probably fertilized the next year's tomato crop". While quilting proved a vivid memory of childhood, Bailey did not quilt on her own until she was older. She attended RoaneStateCommunity College and worked several jobs while raising four daughters with her husband, Jack. In her mid-50s, she attended the University of Tennessee, ultimately receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art with a major in drawing in 1979.

Bailey suffered an attack of appendicitis in 1980; an accident in the operating room caused severe health issues and kept her bed-ridden for four years. During that time, she crocheted large afghans and created eight quilts by hand. Leaning over the quilt frame caused her back pain, so she began to piece and complete quilts using various sewing machines. Bailey worked tirelessly and completed 116 quilts from 1981-2006. Some of her methods included: strip piecing to create quilts, appliqué and reverse appliqué method, drawing, embroidery, beading, coloring, spray paint, transfer iron-on method, and more. She most enjoyed working with color ideas, and many of her quilts depict butterflies and birds. TVA commissioned one of her quilts to be presented to a group of men from China who were working in Knoxville in 1985 to learn how to build dams.

Over the years, Bailey's work showed at the Candy Factory as part of the Knoxville Arts Council and Art Market Gallery (including two solo exhibits), the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, the Oak Ridge Art Center, the Oak Ridge Playhouse, Pellissippi State, the Knoxville Mayor's office, Lawson McGhee Library, Market Square Mall, the 1982 World's Fair, Emory Valley School, Regency Hyatt House, the Burke County Arts Council Jailhouse Gallery (NC), and more.

Bailey died in February 2008, leaving 116 quilts, 40 of which will be on sale at the EmporiumCenter. A reception and silent auction held on Friday, August 1, from 5:00-9:00 PM, is free and open to the public and features complimentary hors d'oeuvres. Bidding ends at 8:00 PM.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition of illustrative and figurative works by Mänya Pirkle and abstract paintings by her son, Jonathan Pirkle. While these talented artists are closely related, their work differs greatly, offering the public a wonderful variety of styles in both two- and three-dimensional works. The show will be exhibited at the Emporium Center for Arts & Culture in downtown Knoxville from September 5-26, 2008. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities downtown on September 5 from 5:00-9:00 PM. The Arts & Culture Alliance and its members will also honor Knoxville City Council, Knox County Commission, and newly elected Tennessee Arts Commission Chairwoman, Donna Chase, at the Emporium with a special moment of recognition at 6:00 PM.

East Tennessee native Mänya Higdon Pirkle is an artist, designer, teacher, craftsperson, and former gallery owner whose works include a wide variety of media and subjects. Her acrylic paintings and pencil drawings are displayed in galleries throughout the region. Educated at the University of Tennessee and Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Mänya further advanced her artistic career by becoming involved in leadership roles: she has served on the Board of Directors of the Foothills Craft Guild, of which she is a charter member, and has been a member of the Southern Highlands Handcraft Guild for 40 years. Mänya, one of the first to become involved in the redevelopment of the former World's FairPark, established a gallery in the11th Street Art District shortly after the fair ended. This gallery was chosen by the East Tennessee chapter of the National Museum of Women in the Arts - Women's Artist Studio Tour and Exhibition, which highlighted galleries owned by local women and raised funds to support the chapter. She established other retail galleries in other cities and taught art in the University of Tennessee's non-credit department, as well as private lessons to classes and individuals from throughout the Knoxville area. She is a member of the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville, and The Art Market Gallery. Her work was included in Spotlight, The American Craft Council Southeast Annual Juried Exhibition at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, and in the Artscapes Auctions at the Knoxville Museum of Art. She has contributed to the Mayor's art auctions, Public Television auctions, University of Tennessee Art Department auctions and other art-related charities. "Creating art is a process that is executed by the artist at the direction of the piece as it evolves," she says.

Growing up in an art-involved family, Jonathan Pirkle took up art as a form personal expression: first as a hobby, then as a second career, designing advertising layouts and logos. He studied broadcasting arts and media at Oak RidgeHigh School and attended RoaneStateCommunity College and the University of Tennessee while simultaneously pursuing a career in radio and music. He worked as an announcer, producer, music director, program director, and operations manager at radio stations WORI, WATO, Z-93 and WOKI-FM. The Modern Rock format he created for WNFZ became a national template for this emerging genre. Jonathan thoroughly enjoyed designing logos, advertisements, and promotions for the stations, and as he became more involved in graphic arts, he also began painting contemporary oil/enamel abstracts in 2003. He has exhibited with the Artscapes Auctions at the Knoxville Museum of Art, in the Candy Factory, the EmporiumCenter, and Tomato Head restaurant, as well as a juried show in Roseville, California. "While a finished work is its own reward, the process of creating it remains my favorite part of the journey. Combining sharply contrasting colors to make an image that is refreshing to view, while maintaining the more serious thought behind it, provides me with a feeling of adventure and freedom," he says.

The opening reception on Friday, September 5, from 5:00-9:00 PM, is free and open to the public, and complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Works of Mänya Pirkle and Jonathan Pirkle is on exhibit September 5-26.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present Eclectia, a new exhibition of works by Charlie Daniel and Jon Gustin. The show will be exhibited in the balcony space of the Emporium Center for Arts & Culture in downtown Knoxville from September 5-26, 2008. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on September 5 from 5:00-9:00 PM. The Arts & Culture Alliance and its members will also honor Knoxville City Council, Knox County Commission, and newly elected Tennessee Arts Commission Chairwoman, Donna Chase, at the Emporium with a special moment of recognition at 6:00 PM.

Charlie Daniel, a native of North Carolina, has worked as an editorial cartoonist for Knoxville newspapers for 50 years. The Knoxville News Sentinel recently featured an article on Daniel in commemoration of his continuing work with them since 1992. An exhibit of his cartoons has been on display at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Carroll Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University, and at the gallery of the new building of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Four collections of his cartoons have been published. Daniel donated ten of his works to the Knoxville Arts Council for the ArtFest during the years of 1984-1987, and these pieces will be on display and for sale to benefit the Arts Council's successor, the Arts & Culture Alliance.

Jon Gustin of Norris has been an avid photographer for more than 40 years. He learned darkroom processing and black and white photo printing while serving in the military in Korea. Currently, he enjoys experimenting with digital equipment and photographic software, and his contract work includes advertising shots, scenery, events, and portraits for print media and web design. Gustin serves as manager of E-Government Services for Knox County and takes occasional photographs for Knox County Government. The Alliance will showcase more than 20 digital photographs (framed and unframed) for sale. For more information on Jon Gustin, visit www.jgustin.com.