Tag: knoxville

Literary Gender-Swap Calendars Are Here!

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Our 2015 Sundress/SAFTA Calendar is now on sale! This year’s edition features 12 gender-swapped literary characters: Theodore of Oz, Herlock Holmes, Alex in Wonderland, Esther Dent, Captain Jane Hook, Henrietta Potter, Little Ted Riding Hood, Kenderella, Tomi Sawyer, Attica Finch, and more!
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Models include T.A. Noonan, Katie Manning,Chris Pettrucelli, Shastina Parahoo, Adam Crandall, Emily Cappatini, Chris Johnson, Randy King, Lyric Dunagan, Rhonda Lott, Jennifer McClendon, and more.

Calendars are only $20 and can be purchased in our store.

All proceeds go to support Sundress Publications and the Sundress Academy for the Arts, a 501(c)3 nonprofit in Knoxville, TN!

 

SAFTA Films and Birdhouse Theater Present…

Open Screen Night Featuring Locally Shot Film, Macbeth!

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On Monday, November 24th, the Birdhouse Walk-In Theater and SAFTA Films will be proudly showing the film Macbeth, directed by Rob Simpson, as a part of their monthly Open Screen Nights. In support of local and regional filmmakers, The Birdhouse and SAFTA Films curate these screenings to provide a space for Knoxville artists to showcase their work for free to an audience. The screenings take place on the last Monday of every month at 7:45PM.

In this post-apocalyptic iteration of Shakespeare’s tragedy, shot completely in Knoxville and the surrounding areas, Macbeth is a powerful general in the king’s army who receives a vision that he will be king from a trio of witches. Taking destiny into his own hands he and his vicious wife, Lady Macbeth, plot the murder of their king. In the murders wake Macbeth and Lady Macbeth scramble to maintain a hold of their newfound throne. Facing rebellion on all sides, the tyrant Macbeth stops at nothing to silence all those who oppose his rule.

Director Rob Simpson majored in English literature at the University of Tennessee before going on to attend the New York Film Academy. After producing a number of short films in New York City, he moved back to Knoxville to work in film and television. Before Macbeth, he had produced and directed two other original versions of Shakespeare’s plays: Hamlet and Twelfth Night.

This screening will also showcase short films by Knoxville filmmakers John Fairstein, Mitch Moore, Cary Wolfe, Jacob Boyd, and Clinton Elmore.

Open Screen Nights take place at the Birdhouse Community Center in the Fourth and Gill Neighborhood in North Knoxville. The Walk-In Theater also holds screenings of popular movies every Monday night beginning at 8PM. All screenings are free and open to the public, though donations are always accepted. Free popcorn is provided.

If you are a filmmaker and would like to have your work featured at an Open Screen Night, the Birdhouse and SAFTA Films are accepting submissions for the 2015 season. Contact Blake Wahlert at blakejwahlert@gmail.com and Vania Smrkovski at vania@sundresspublications.com for more information on how to submit.

Sundress Academy for the Arts Reading Series Presents Maureen Thorson and Darius Stewart

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Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present Maureen Thorson and Darius Stewart for the November award winning SAFTA reading series. The event will be held at The Birdhouse (800 N 4th Ave, Knoxville, TN 37917) at 3 PM on Sunday, November 9th.

Maureen Thorson is the author of two books of poetry, My Resignation (Shearsman 2014) and Applies to Oranges (Ugly Duckling 2011), as well as a number of chapbooks and pamphlets, most recently A Good Attitude (Flying Object 2014). She lives in Washington, DC, where she is the poetry editor for Open Letters Monthly.

Darius Stewart is the author of three chapbooks: The Terribly Beautiful (2006) and Sotto Voce (2008)—each of which were Editor’s Choice Selections in the Main Street Rag Poetry Chapbook Series—and The Ghost the Night Becomes (2014), winner of the 2013 Gertrude Press Poetry Chapbook Competition. He holds an honors B.A. in English from the University of Tennessee and an M.F.A. from the Michener Center for Writers, where he was a James A. Michener fellow in poetry. He is also a former fellow of the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets. His poems, reviews, and interviews have appeared in publications including Callaloo, Meridian, Lambda Book Report, CutBank, Cerise Press, The Seattle Review, Poet Lore, Best Gay Poetry 2008, two volumes of the Southern Poetry Anthology, and Verse Daily. He is a contributing editor for Grist and currently lives in Knoxville, TN.

The SAFTA Reading Series is an award-winning literary reading series that is held monthly at 3PM at The Birdhouse near The Old City in downtown Knoxville. Writers from all over the country are invited to visit and read from their work.

Torsos and TaTas, This First Friday!

 

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Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to announce that they are one of the sponsors for Paulk+Co’s “Torsos and TaTas” First Friday event. The event, which is also sponsored by Mighty Mud, Downtown Wine and Spirits and Gage Talent will take place on First Friday, November 7, 2014 between 6PM and 10PM at Paulk+Co’s located at 510 Williams Street, Downtown Knoxville, TN 37917.

A portion of all sales during the evening will be donated to BreastStrokes, an organization which provides financial support to female cancer patients through the creation of empowering art featuring the painted busts of women whose lives, in one way or another, have been affected by cancer.

In a unique mix of fashion, spoken word, and art, “Torsos and TaTas” will feature the spectacular Raku ceramic torsos created by John McRae, a Professor of Architecture at UT, and musical guest Cindi Alpert & the Corduroy Jazz Trio;

Gage Models wearing custom Couture Corsets created just for this event by special guest Royal Peasantry, from Asheville, NC, will circulate through the gallery, as SAFTA poets Erin Elizabeth Smith, Luci Brown, and Lyric Dunagan present “Pop-Up Poetry” throughout the evening.

The community is cordially invited to join us in this unique celebration of the female form benefiting Breaststrokes. Free, covered parking is available in City Parking, adjacent to Paulk+Co. In addition to being an artist studio specializing in Concrete, Stone and Metal Fabrications, Paulk+Co is a gallery that showcases local and regional artists (Find them online at Paulk+Co.com).

Additional participant information can be found at:

Sundress Academy for the Arts Announces Second Installment of Holler Salon Reading Series

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Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present poets Jen Tynes, Michael Sikkema, and Kristi Maxwell for the second installment of Holler Salon, an extension of the award winning SAFTA reading series. The event will be held at Firefly Farms (114 Tobby Hollow Ln / Knoxville TN 37830) from 6PM to 10PM Friday, October 24th.  Free food will be provided on a first come first served basis.

Jen Tynes edits Horse Less Press. Her third book, Trick Rider, was just released by Trembling Pillow Press. Her fourth book, Hunter Monies, will be published by Black Radish Books 2016.

Michael Sikkema’s third full length collection, May Apple Deep, is forthcoming from Trembling Pillow Press, and his ninth or tenth chapbook, 3003 Houses for Nikki Wallschlaeger, is forthcoming from Little Red Leaves Textile Series.

Kristi Maxwell is the author of four books and two chapbooks, including That Our Eyes Be Rigged (Saturnalia Books, 2014) and To Insist on the ‘Someness’ of Every Assemblage (horse less press, 2014). She teaches at the University of Tennessee.

Holler Salon is a salon series featuring local and national writers and artists. Hosted at the Sundress Academy for the Arts at Firefly Farms in Knoxville, each salon will provide an intimate setting conducive to discussing and developing the ideas and inspirations of creative individuals from a variety of disciplines.

SAFTA Genre-Writing Workshop This Weekend

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Sundress Academy for the Arts is pleased to announce its science fiction workshop “My Other Car is Another World: Writing Fiction in the Genres,” which will be held on October 11, 2014 from 12pm – 5pm. The workshop is $50 or $35 for students and open to the public.

This workshop will be held on SAFTA’s own Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee and will focus on simple, practical methods for generating genre story ideas, planning and plotting, drafting and perfecting your stories. Workshop participants will learn tips for negotiating the cutthroat world of genre fiction publishing.

This workshop offers the opportunity to work with published author and science fiction writer, Gary Charles Wilkens. Every participant in the workshop will leave with a 20+ page book written by Dr. Wilkens full of instruction and advice for writing genre fiction, as well as, of course, a complete draft of a genre fiction story

Gary Charles Wilkens, Assistant Professor of English at Norfolk State University, was the winner of the 2006 Texas Review Breakthrough Poetry Prize for his first book, The Red Light Was My Mind. His poems have appeared in more than 60 online and print venues, and he is also the author of (the yet unpublished) science fiction novel The Crying Road, as well as more than a dozen sci-fi stories and flash fictions. He earned his Ph.D. in Creative Writing in 2010 from The University of Southern Mississippi. A second sci-fi novel is in the works.

Space at this workshop is limited, so reserve your space today!

Meet Our New Editorial Intern, Alexandra Chiasson!

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As an English major at the University of Tennessee and an intermittent reader of The Metro Pulse, I have been vaguely aware of Sundress Academy for the Arts since I moved to Knoxville in 2011.

It wasn’t until this summer at Knoxville PrideFest, however, that I spoke to a Sundress Academy staff member who persuaded me to attend my first SAFTA event—the 2014 OUTSpoken staged reading. The reading sounded unique and fresh, particularly for East Tennessee, so I rounded up a group of friends to accompany me. When I arrived, I was delighted to see that I knew one of the performers and several members of the audience.

The performers were excellent and the material genuine. One piece, a series of open letters written by a close friend, moved me to tears. Unfortunately, I only got to see the first 20 minutes or so of the OUTSpoken reading. About a third of the way through, I felt a feeling in my stomach that I at first mistook for some physical manifestation of the emotions I was experiencing. It soon became apparent that it was more likely the unfriendly mingling of the coffee and salsa I had ingested earlier that day, and I ran to the restroom where I promptly vomited.

I tell this story not to make some strange point about the poignancy of spoken word or to share a cautionary tale of which acidic foods are most incompatible. I tell this story to share this remarkable coincidence and how I overcame some fairly negative associations when this internship position fell into my lap this fall and I delightedly snatched it up.

I am currently a reluctant and unseasoned writer, and I hope that my impending work with Sundress Publications as the Editorial Intern will assist me in quelling uncertainties—which sometimes cause me to feel like I did the night of the OUTSpoken reading—regarding sharing my writing with others. I cannot think of a better community of artists to mingle and network with, and I look forward to attending many more (hopefully sans vomit) SAFTA events.

 

 

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Alexandra Chiasson is majoring in English (Literature and Technical Communication) at the University of Tennessee, where she also writes a weekly humor column called “Stained and Confused” for the student-led newspaper. Her ongoing research project explores ecofeminist perspectives on Appalachian literature, with a focus on the writing of Amy Greene and Ron Rash. Her hobbies include serving on the Sex Week UT planning board, sampling different types of pretzels, and bragging about bargains.

 

Sundress Academy for the Arts To Offer Love Poetry Workshop

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Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to host visiting poet Darren C. Demaree to lead the workshop “Ugh: Writing a Love Poem Worth Reading,” an exploration of the successful traits of a contemporary love poem. The event will be held at Firefly Farms in Knoxville from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 17th. Tickets are only $25 and can be purchased at www.sundresspublications.com.

This workshop will provide an informal setting to discus and develop the ideas and inspirations of creative romantic poetry. Subjects covered to include: the history and common mistakes of the genre, new ways of conceptualizing the love poem, and new approaches to crafting one. Participants are encouraged to bring their own work, and come prepared to write some new things as well.

Dannen C. Demaree is the author of three poetry collections, As We Refer to Our Bodies (2013, 8th House), Temporary Champions (2014, Main Street Rag), and Not For Art Nor Prayer (2015, 8th House). He is the recipient of three Pushcart Prize nominations and a Best of the Net nomination. Beyond his own work, Demaree is the founding editor of AltOhio and Ovenbird Poetry, as well as a member of the Sundress Publications editorial board.

SAFTA’S #PaintBucketChallenge Has Six Days Left!

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Before the Sundress Academy for the Arts can welcome new resident artists in October, we need to spruce up the farmhouse with a fresh coat of paint. In order to raise money for this project, we have initiated our own bucket challenge—a Paint Bucket Challenge!

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As comical as it might be, we are not asking you to dump a bucket of (potentially very toxic) paint over your head; we just need your financial support and time to make this happen! It will cost about $1,000 to buy the paint, primer, brushes, sandpaper, and volunteer refreshments, and we still need $500 with five days left to go.

Here are some ways you can help:

Please, if you are able, consider donating to our cause. Even a small amount puts us a little bit closer to a fresh and shiny farmhouse!

After you donate, make a video to challenge your friends to do the same! All donations go directly to SAFTA, a non-profit organization, and help to promote art in East Tennessee.

If you are local and would like to donate your time, sign up to help paint on September 20th from 10 AM to 8 PM. Volunteers can sign up on our website or on our Facebook event!

Thanks for taking the challenge!

SAFTA Reading Series to Host Eric Scott Sutherland & Matthew Haughton

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The SAFTA Reading Series is an award-winning literary reading series that is held monthly at The Birdhouse Community Center on the corner of Fourth and Gill.

Writers from all over the country are invited to visit and read from their work. Past performers have included Nick McRae, Emilia Phillips, Karen Skolfield, Amy Wright, Alan May, Jan LaPerle, Marilyn Kallet, T.A. Noonan, Darren C. Demaree, Joseph Bathanti, Kevin Brown, Leigh Anne Hornfeldt, and Sarah Einstein. 

This month will feature a dynamic reading from Matthew Haughton and Eric Scott Sutherland.

Matthew Haughton’s latest book of poetry is Stand in the Stillness of Woods (WordTech Editions). His chapbook, Bee-coursing Box (Accents Publications), was nominated for the Weatherford Award for Appalachian Poetry Book of the Year. His poems have appeared in many journals including Appalachian Heritage, Now & Then, The Four Way Review, Still, Stirring, Border Crossing, and The Louisville Review. He is currently a student at the Bread Loaf School of English, where he is on a generous fellowship from the C.E. and S. Foundation. Haughton works as a school teacher in his native Kentucky.

Known for his high-energy readings, Eric Scott Sutherland is the epitome of a working class poet. He is an ISA Certified Arborist, a community/event organizer, and author of two chapbooks and two full length collections: incommunicado and his latest, pendulum. He is the creator and host of Holler Poets Series, a monthly celebration of literature and music since 2008. In 2011, he was officially proclaimed Poet Laureate of Al’s Bar, the home venue for Holler. Eric makes his home in the heart of Lexington, Kentucky.

Support the literary arts in Knoxville at this free event on Sunday, September 7th from 3PM to 4:30PM at The Birdhouse!