| Exhibitions:
Smoky Mountain Visions
June 5 - July 30, 2009
Works by seven local artists
July 3-31
Balcony at the Emporium Center
Betsy Worden Artist-in-Residence at the Emporium Center
The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to announce that Brian Wagner, an emerging local artist, has been selected as the next Betsy Worden Artist-in-Residence at the Emporium Center from April through September 2009. Wagner received a BA in Photojournalism from Western Kentucky University and has worked for and been published in The Los Angeles Times, The Hartford Courant, WIRE magazine and various other publications across the nation. He currently teaches Fine Art Photography at Maryville College and has also taught at Pellissippi State Technical Community College.
Though his roots are in documentary photography, his appreciation of the arts and music has inspired him to photograph local musicians in a self-built photo booth. Wagner then creates large original prints via the Xerox transfers process using acrylic on canvas. This series, which takes some time to complete, is ever evolving. "With a background in photojournalism, my work has been void of many artistic printing techniques and has resided at a distance from the art community," he says. "I once said that my work, predominantly created for news print, was exhibited on the refrigerators of America. But through these transfers and other printing processes, I hope to bring my work to exhibition walls." For more information on Brian Wagner, visit www.brianwagnerphotography.com.
As the Artist in Residence, Wagner receives free and exclusive access to a 10' x 10' artist studio in the Emporium Center (Suite 105), a materials stipend of $200 each month during the residency, complimentary membership in the Arts & Culture Alliance for one year, and an exhibition of new work in The Balcony in September. The Alliance will also display at least one piece of his new work in the public areas of the Emporium each month of the residency. Wagner agrees to spend a significant amount of time creating work in the Emporium studio, show new work each First Friday of the month, and possibly help hang monthly exhibitions in the Emporium and/or offer curatorial input.
Betsy Worden, an artist, teacher, and Knoxville Civic Leader, was perhaps best known for her works in watercolor and weaving, and she contributed greatly to Knoxville's visual arts community in numerous ways throughout her life. She received her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Tennessee and did post-graduate studies at Atlanta School of the Art, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and the University of Tennessee. A painter, tapestry weaver, and printmaker, she was a longtime instructor at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, and she taught watercolor classes for the Knoxville Museum of Art. A leader in the Knoxville arts community, Worden served on the boards of many arts organizations, including the Arts & Culture Alliance and the Art Market Gallery, of which she co-founded. She also co-founded the Community School of the Arts in Knoxville. She served as a past president of the Knoxville Watercolor Society and actively participated in the Tennessee Watercolor Society, the Art and Antiques Gallery, Community School of the Arts in Knoxville, the Foothills Craft Guild, and Tennessee Women in the Arts. The residency materials stipend has been donated by the Worden family in her honor.
The next Betsy Worden Memorial Artist Residency period will be October 2009 - April 2010 and is open to college students and other young and emerging artists.
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