Sunny Side Up! from Arts & Culture Alliance

Date: 02/16/2010

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present an exhibition featuring new works by Gay Bryant and Amy Campbell entitled “Sunny Side Up!”  Bryant and Campbell created whimsical paintings, prints, collages, and works from recycled items to lift the spirits during these last grey days of winter.  The exhibition will be displayed at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 5-26, 2010, and an opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on March 5 from 5:00-9:00 PM.

Gay Bryant is a printmaker and painter whose influences include Appalachian folk art, woodcuts, and stylized animal, fruit, and kitchen motifs often found in East Tennessee Appalachian wood panel painting. “Natural forms rendered in simple terms dominate my work in printmaking, painting, and folk art,” says Bryant.  “I hope through my creations to draw attention to details that may have otherwise been missed when looking at an object as a whole.  By modifying colors, shapes, dark, and light, I hope to cause viewers to see objects in a different way and to notice things they had not noticed before.” Bryant holds a B.S. in Business Education from the State University of Western Georgia and an M.S. in Business Education from the University of Tennessee. She has attended many art studio courses at the University of Tennessee as well as workshops at Arrowmont and John C. Campbell Folk School. She is represented at and has participated in a number of exhibitions and galleries throughout the East Tennessee region including The Art Market Gallery, Foothills Craft Guild, A1LabArts, and the River Gallery in Chattanooga.  Bryant currently teaches printmaking at the Fountain City Art Center, Appalachian Arts Center, and John C. Campbell Folk School.  She is a retired professor from Pellissippi State in Engineering and Media Technologies and has taught classes in web design, Photoshop, and educational technology. She resides in Oak Ridge.  For more information, visit her web site at http://www.gbryantstudio.com.

Amy Campbell is an East Tennessee-based freelance illustrator, portrait artist, and designer with over 20 years of experience. Working in diverse media, Campbell has produced a wide variety of illustration and design projects including CD packaging, oversized and miniature portraits, commission portraits and landscapes for private collections, posters, and custom business cards. She specializes in documenting recent and past regional history in portraiture, and paintings. She works comfortably in both digital and traditional media, often combining them to achieve a unique, regional style. She holds a B.F.A. in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design and an M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of Tennessee. Campbell’s clients include HGTV, Great Smoky Mountains Association, Blount Chapter American Red Cross, Hellbender Press, Maryville Farmers’ Market, Keep Blount Beautiful, 89.9 WDVX Radio, and the East Tennessee Foundation. Her work has been exhibited in the Knoxville Museum of Art, and her portraits of Mary Church Terrell, Dr. Dorothy Brown, Wilma Rudolph, and Dorris Tanner are on permanent display at the First Tennessee Bank headquarters in Memphis. Her portraits of Sam Houston, Will McTeer, Sam Pride, William Scott, and Isaac Anderson are on permanent display in the City of Maryville Municipal building.  She resides in Maryville. For more information, visit her web site at http://www.amyloucampbell.com.

“Sunny Side Up!” will be displayed March 5-26, 2010 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, March 6, from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM.  For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit http://www.knoxalliance.com.

Image: “Beagle” (folk art), acrylic painting by Gay Bryant

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