Wildlife Photography – Artistic Photography of Wildlife from around the World
Jan Muir has been creating intimate portraits of wildlife in remote locations. She will share her art, favorite locations, adventure stories, and some simple tips to bring your own photographic vision to life.
Artist Bio: On the Edge of Wild
From the glitter of Las Vegas to the whispers of the Smoky Mountains, my art travels between urban pulse and serene wild song. My experiences touch each artwork and become a testament to the cultural vibrancy and untamed beauty that inspire me. From remote glaciers to bustling foreign festivals, each experience adds a vibrant thread to my artistic tapestry. Through my art, I strive to connect each of us to the majesty of nature and the diversity of culture, to ignite a passion for preserving our planet’s uniqueness and wonder.
Nature is my constant muse. It whispers to me, and I translate its voice into visual stories using photos, glass, ceramics, and paint. Each medium, in different ways, allows me to express the awe, the fragility, the resilience of our planet. My artwork is always evolving and experimentation is my companion. Molten glass is coaxed into swirling orbs and becomes a frozen echo of sunlit waves crashing on distant shores. Clay, my ancient teacher, whispers stories of mountain ranges weathered by the winds of time, each crack and crevice a testament to resilience and beauty. Pigments, vibrant emissaries from faraway bazaars, remind me of the uniqueness and fragility of our shared humanity. Through these diverse mediums, I strive not only to capture the awe-inspiring grandeur of nature but also to ignite a sense of compassion, a call to protect the wild spaces that sustain us all. Each piece invites you to walk with me, to step beyond the familiar and embrace the exquisite dance of wonder that unfolds around us each and every day.
I invite you to step closer to both listen to the whispers of nature, and to see the vibrant cultural threads that weave us all together. Welcome to my journey. Please walk with me.
The Art of Inquiry – How Asking a More Beautiful Question Becomes More Beautiful Art
Through my work, I invite viewers to reflect on their own stories. Each canvas serves as a mirror, reflecting the wonder of our connection with God and with one another. In a culture that often shares mostly its curated “perfection”, my art, with its history of marks called palimpsest, can often shift the atmosphere of a space, just by being there. I did not begin my art practice until nearly 50 years old, so I am a passionate advocate for what I call a “middle kindling” – it is never too late to make physical things in the physical world for the good of our neighbors.
In this talk, Sheila Atchley explores the often-overlooked power of asking meaningful questions in the creative process. Drawing from personal experiences and her own art, Sheila demonstrates how inquiry can overcome creative blocks, and infuse your work (on canvas or in private art journals) with authenticity. Attendees will hear how to incorporate reflective questioning into their routines and discover how this transformative practice can elevate their art. Whether you are a seasoned artist, or just beginning, this presentation will leave you with fresh perspectives and actionable insight into your own creative practice.
Artist Bio: FOR SHEILA ATCHLEY, it all begins with an idea.
And then, she has to make. If the making involves anything from a large, commissioned canvas, to a page in her art journal, she picks up the paintbrush. If the making involves writing a blog post or book proposal, a caption or a class, she picks up the pen.
Regardless of the medium – words or art – it is important to Sheila to leave a legacy.
Through her work, she invites readers and viewers to reflect on their own stories. Each canvas serves as a mirror, reflecting the wonder of our connection with God and with one another. In a culture that often shares mostly its curated “perfection”, Sheila’s art, with its history of marks called palimpsest, can shift the atmosphere of a space, just by being there.
This artist will remind you that your vulnerabilities are what make you interesting.
She hopes that her work evokes a sense of peace and connection. In a world full of unattainable yet same/same/same ideals, Sheila’s art seeks to remind us that true beauty is practiced, rather than acquired or obtained
Join her on her late-midlife artistic path and celebrate the beauty of this life. Sheila anticipates your discovery of something of your own identity in her work, believing that “her vibe attracts her tribe.” Art resonates. Beauty calls, and beauty answers. Sheila often says “you are an unrepeatable, eternal, living spirit, temporarily lodging inside a human body and your experiences are worth celebrating.” If her pen or her paintbrush inspires you, she hopes you’ll explore further.
Members and guests love this opportunity to learn about new art products, see demonstrations, get free samples and a coupon from the best art store in Knoxville, TN. Go to yourartsupplies.com to learn about their store and art classes.
Jerry’s Artarama is Knoxville’s premiere fine art supply store, carrying a wide selection of professional art supplies, materials, fine artist brands and framing.
Join us as Lois shows some of her work and explains how the Art Guild and its members gave her the confidence to continue this artistic journey. She will also share how art has helped her heal and how it can help you heal.
Artist Statement: My 3D art pieces materialized organically without formal training, allowing my emotions to guide the creative process. Each artwork springs to life through numerous attempts and manipulations, capturing the essence of my journey. I only started doing 3D art pieces at the beginning of 2023. All my work, awards, and pieces for sale have all been created within this short time frame.
Join us to hear an Carl give us an overview of how (and why) he makes big sparkly mixed media mandalas! A mandala is typically composed of circles with repeating symmetrical shapes. They often symbolize balance, harmony, or unity and represent that everything in the universe is connected.
Carl Gombert was born in Brimfield, Ohio in 1959. He started taking painting lessons at the age of 14 with money he earned delivering newspapers. He completed a BFA in Drawing from the University of Akron and an MFA in Painting from Kent State University. He worked as a stagehand before earning a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Texas Tech University. He has exhibited in more than 350 exhibitions across the US and abroad and his work is in numerous museum and university collections. Since 1993 he has taught painting, drawing, and art history at Maryville College in Tennessee.
Join us to hear Debbie Alley share her journey as a textile artist, a look into the art of eco-printing and how the process works, and samples of her work.
Debbie is a fiber artist living in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her passion for painting and eco-printing on silk and paper moves her to experiment with color and texture and she finds that her favorite place to create is where nature, science, and artistic expression come together.
Debbie fell in love with fiber arts as a young girl while learning to sew under the artistic eye of my grandmother. She learned to experiment and embrace creativity and push the boundaries with design. She spent many hours selecting fabrics and patterns and putting them together for a design that was unique and beautiful.
Her former creative textile endeavors have included silk painting, quilt design and construction, longarm machine quilting, fabric dyeing, eco-printing, mixed media collage, watercolor, and simple bookbinding. She has professional experience in HR with a focus on digital content development, graphic design, and marketing.
Debbie recently launched her Lifestyle Textiles Collection of beautiful 100% Kona Cotton eco printed and hand dyed. This is the first step in the expansion of her brand into the home interior space and will be including her textile designs for art for home decor.
Her work can be found at:
The District Gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee
Artisan Woodworking and Design Gallery, Knoxville, Tennessee
Have you ever wanted to see what Photoshop is all about? Or maybe you’ve tried Photoshop and threw your hands up in the air?
Join us to see a wide variety of what Adobe Photoshop has to offer. This high-level overview will show examples from watercolor, oil, and impressionistic painting to professionally retouching photographs and combining digital assets to make a masterpiece — all with an unlimited supply of paint and never having to clean a brush!
Future class offerings will be discussed for the Art Guild from Beginning to Intermediate Photoshop, Advanced Photoshop for Artists and Photographers, and Photoshop Fabric and Fashion Design.
Artist Bio: Dan is a member of Professional Photographers of America, Nature First: The Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography, and the Tellico Village Art Guild.
Described as “the Van Gogh of Beach Art” Dan’s lifelong passion has developed with decades of travel, family, and nature photography. His skills have been refined with education by leading photographers from National Geographic Magazine and digital editing techniques by leading instructors, built on hours of experience in the darkroom spanning as far back as the 1970s.
Sharing the inspiration from the intro of Jimmy Buffett’s One Particular Harbor, “La ora te nature” (Long Live Nature), Dan and Tracey support the Sea Turtle Conservancy with their art as sea turtles are one of the leading indicators of the health of our oceans.
Dan’s works have been selected for showings in the southeastern US, ranging from his hometown of Knoxville to Tampa with collectors spanning Seattle to San Francisco, and New York to Key West.
Join us as Marianne Woodside shares her photographs each illustrative of specific subjects, techniques, and creative contexts of her photography. She will introduce topics that include photographing glass, manipulating images, and capturing images during travel. She will also discuss learning in a workshop setting, establishing a body of work (e.g. home place, wildlife, and birds), and establishing partnerships.
Marianne is known for her use of color and light, and her emphasis on creative approaches to digital photography. Embedded throughout the presentation will be themes of surprise, joy, creativity, and learning as Marianne traces the evolution of her work from its beginning to the present date.
Artist Bio: Marianne Woodside was born in 1948. She spent her early years in Orange, Texas. At the age of 17, she moved with her family to the Kuwait City and graduated from the International School of Kuwait in 1966. She then left to attend college at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Subsequently, she received a University Fellowship to study at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, graduating with her Masters in Counseling and Curriculum Studies. This graduation was followed by a move to Blacksburg, Virginia where she studied Counselor Education and graduated with an Ed.D. in 1974. While in Blacksburg, Marianne worked as a school counselor and then assumed an Assistant Professor position in Teacher Education.
Marianne spent the remainder of her professional career holding professorships in Teacher Education, Human Services, and Counselor Education at Virginia Tech, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She also held various administrative positions as Coordinator of Advising and First Year Studies, Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, and Program Coordinator in Human Services and Counselor Education. During Marianne’s career as an academic, she was recognized as an outstanding teacher and researcher. Areas of expertise include human services, case management, supervision, and counselor development. She continues her writing in human services and counseling today.
It was during Marianne’s years in Wyoming that she developed an interest in photography. There, she developed a love for the wide open spaces of the plains and the rugged Rocky Mountain vistas. After her move to Knoxville, she was mystified as how to photograph the flora and fauna of East Tennessee, especially the dense wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains. Today the perplexity has turned to a deep appreciation of the East Tennessee landscape and the photographic opportunities it offers.
During the last ten years, with the encouragement from family and friends, especially photographer Tom Owens, Marianne has expanded her interest in photography and her ideas of artistic expression. Opportunities for travel to such venues as Central America, South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Iceland have offered time to capture exotic photographs beyond her daily experiences. And, because of her husband Phil’s willingness to make time for photography (stopping the car at a moment’s notice), Marianne is able to find intriguing subjects close to home. An interest in photographing glass has provided Marianne an additional way of expressing the relationship between man-made objects, nature, light, and color.
Marianne has been fortunate to find support from the Arts and Cultural Alliance and has shown her work at the Emporium Center. Her art has been selected for McGhee Tyson Arts and the Airport exhibit, the Arts & Cultural Alliance National Juried Exhibit, the Knoxville Photo Exhibition, and the Oak Ridge Art Center. She has also shown her work at the Knoxville Golden Roast Coffee Shop, the Knoxville Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Gallery, the Westminster Presbyterian Art Gallery, and Maryville’s Asbury Place.
Photography is an important part of her life. Marianne also spends time writing, playing the guitar, hiking, and traveling. She is devoted to her husband Phil, their three children, Michael, Cathy, and Donna Lee and their respective spouses and significant other and grandchildren. And then, there is, of course, their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Clyde, who resides with Marianne and Phil at Asbury Place in Maryville, Tennessee.
Join us to hear Jonathan Howe talk about how to develop a creative process in generating successful paintings. How do you overcome creative blocks and continue to espand your skills as an artist? Jonathan wants to share some of his process in achieving paintings that grab people’s attention.
Artist Bio: I am a professional visual artist, continually developing my skills as a painter. In 2007, I graduated from Maryville College with a Bachelors of Art and soon launched into a full-time art career painting portraits and landscapes. Beginning with several portrait commissions, I soon discovered the joy of landscape painting as a way to communicate a story with moody light, color and expressive brushwork.
I have received much influence from historical as well as contemporary painters. In the development of my love of portraits, I poured over artists like Rembrandt and John Singer Sargent for their use of light and bold brushstrokes yet accurate portrayals. As I developed my landscapes, the works of George Inness and Edgar Payne became alive to me. Inness’ use of tonal and light and Payne’s dynamic compositions and thick paint are the two chief inspirations that effect my work. Contemporary artists such as Richard Schmid and Scott Christensen have given me incredible insight into painting technique and also into the reality of making painting a way of life.
My passion lies in the intimate details that form a true likeness in oil portraits and the subtle lighting of rolling landscapes. My portraits show brilliant color and dramatic lighting that capture the personality and display the very soul of his subject in a unique masterpiece. My landscapes reveal my love for the outdoors developed by many years of hiking the trails of the Great Smoky Mountains and other national parks across the country.
I have had the privilege of creating works for private and corporate collectors across the southeast, with clients including Clayton Homes, the University of Tennessee Medical Center, Kroger, Gaylord Texan Resort, and many others. With the belief that true fine art is the result of a healthy soul coupled with a passion for excellence, my goal is that my paintings warm the heart and delight the eye.
Each day at the easel is a new adventure in creating beauty. My goal as a painter is to capture dynamic compositions with compelling, moody light. I love the life conveyed in Plein Air painting because each work is not just a moment in time but an experience put to canvas. I enjoy a diversity of brushwork to convey color the way that our eyes see, with a variation of soft and sharp edges. Each painting is a story to be told. I use mostly brushes to work with on the canvas but also employ the pallet knife to give thick accents of impasto paint where needed.
In 2010 I married Sarah Atchley-Howe who together as a team manage Jonathan Howe Fine Art. She and I live urban-artistically in the heart of Knoxville, Tennessee. Committed to merging art and faith in Jesus Christ, Sarah and I are active in our local church, combining our talents for art and music and our heart to see others come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Other than our work, we enjoy hospitality, the outdoors and taking care of our two daughters Aidyn and Susanna and our rambunctious little Maltipoo, Amber.
Through examples of her work, Judy Lavoie will explore the differences, advantages, and unique working procedures for using transparent watercolors on both the smooth surface of Claybord and the similar, but slightly textured surface of Aquabord. Judy will also cover the option of using scratchboarding techniques on the white clay surfaces once color is added. Her presentation will show how she approaches this media combination with step by step examples as well as with her finished artwork. Judy will also have samples of Claybord and Aquabord panels, free to any AGTV members who want to try them out.
Award-winning artist Judy Lavoie creates paintings with intricate detail in a highly representational style. She works in watercolors, inks, and acrylics, on paper, canvas and scratchboard surfaces. Judy has a strong sense of design and composition, with a talent for leading the viewer’s eye to the focal point.
Not content to stick with any one subject, Judy is known for depicting rural scenes, animals, interesting characters, old vehicles, wildflowers, still lifes, and a wide variety of other subjects. Her paintings are rich with textures, colors, and a wide range of values. She feels there is always more to learn about art and enjoys pushing herself beyond her comfort zone.
