New to Knoxville
December 14, 2009 - January 29, 2010

Headlights and Streetlights featuring Mike C. Berry and Bobbie Crews
January 8-29, 2010.
Balcony

Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority and Arts & Culture Alliance Present Arts in the Airport
October 23 – April 22, 2010

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to announce that Paige Barbee, an emerging local artist, has been selected as the next Betsy Worden Artist-in-Residence at the Emporium Center from September 2009 through March 2010. Barbee is from Clarksville, TN, and received her BFA in Metals and Jewelry from the Savannah College of Art and Design in May 2009. She studied at the Lacoste School of the Arts in Lacoste, France in 2009 and has interned at Liz Claiborne, Inc. in New York City where she assisted in designing jewelry for four Liz Claiborne jewelry brands. Her work has shown in France, Savannah, Atlanta, and Clarksville. Awards include third place in traditional materials and processes at the SJTA Atlanta Jewelry Show, Student Design Competition; second place in the Savannah Music Festival jewelry competition.

"My pieces don’t always follow the conventions of traditional jewelry; and I often find myself pushing the boundaries of jewelry into fine art and sculpture," she says. "The concepts that inspire each piece can be vastly different, but it always comes down to how the piece will interact with the body, becoming wearable art." Barbee strives to use recycled and found materials in her pieces "in harmony with metal," in a way that isn’t instantly obvious to the viewer and requires a closer look. She recently participated in a jewelry and sustainability exhibition featuring a collection of jewelry made of 100% recycled costume jewelry. Her current body of work is inspired by Victorian ornament, using the beautiful elaborate shapes in conjunction with modern day materials. For more information, visit www.paigebarbee.com or read Barbee’s blog detailing her Residency at http://paigebarbee.blogspot.com.

As the Artist in Residence, Barbee receives free and exclusive access to a 10' x 10' artist studio in the Emporium Center (Suite 105), sponsored membership in the Arts & Culture Alliance for one year, and an exhibition of new work in The Balcony at the end of the residency (March 5-26, 2010). The Alliance will also display at least one piece of her new work in the public areas of the Emporium each month of the residency.

The late Betsy Worden was an artist, teacher, and Knoxville Civic Leader, 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, Southern Highland Craft Guild, 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. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or e-mail sc@knoxalliance.com.