Downtown Knox ArtWalk

Addison's bookstore will be open for special extended hours First Friday!

6—9 PM.

November's featured artists are Alessandra Sutter Page and Katherine Schmoeller.

February featured artists:
Valentine themed art will be featured during the month of February at the Art Market Gallery. A First Friday opening reception is planned from 5:30-9pm, February 6th, with complimentary refreshments and music.

Explore the marketplace of more than 50 juried-in East TN artists.

5:30 PM—9 PM.

Grab your gear, your friends, and your passport to experience our downtown! Meet some of East Tennessee’s most interesting amphibian residents in the form of little bronze sculptures!

Grab a passport at Mast General Store, Visit Knoxville, or download a digital version at knoxnewts.com. Study the clues, and find all 12 bronze newts hidden amid our downtown landmarks.

This permanent, self-guided scavenger hunt is free to play and open 24/7, year round. Happy hunting!

Join RED Gallery for the opening of John David Allen's show, Naturalists of Late Capitalism.

5 PM—8 PM.

Visit Able Trade for beer, bites, and local talent.

Join us all weekend long for live chair-weaving demonstrations by their very own Heather Ashworth. Whether you’re curious about traditional chair restoration and weaving techniques, she’d love to talk with you. If you’re interested in joining our shop membership, stop by and learn more. You can also explore everything the Able Trade facility has to offer, including fully equipped workshops and our monthly events.

5:30 PM—8:30 PM.

Visit Bethie Lou’s Fabulous Gift Store at their new location at 108 E Jackson Ave, Ste 1! Home of the Mermen, fun, laughter, and fabulous gifts. All 25 Mermen will be on display! Extended First Friday hours.

Open until 9 PM.

Enjoy jazz with Chad Melton and Friends. Great spot for dinner and cocktails.

8 PM—10:30 PM.

Join Awaken Coffee for First Friday for an opening reception for Sean Monett. 

Sean is an artist from Knoxville, TN. His visual art and writings explore the boundaries between the familiar and the surreal. Sean seeks to create work that pokes at the heart of the amorphous zeitgeist with the bent twig of relatability. He is committed to uplifting his community in East TN through action and solidarity. Find his artwork online at SeanMonett.com or search for his novel Your Brain Has Fleas, available in paperback on Amazon.

Join them for some amazing art and, of course, great coffee! 

6 PM—8 PM.

Hot shop Glassblowing Demonstrations at nationally known Pretentious. Don’t miss this.

5 PM—9 PM.

Enjoy music from Admiral (21+).

9 PM.

Join Dogwood Arts for the opening of Intertwine: Shaping Our World Through Acts of Togetherness; Curated by Isabella Thomas-Wilson. 

Curator Bella Thomas-Wilson has brought together artists whose works offer important insight on intercommunal exchange, reciprocity and abundance, and sustainable world making. These 12 artists from Brooklyn and Queens, NY, Washington, DC, Berkeley, CA, Cherokee, NC, and Knoxville, TN inspire innovative conversation about our intertwinement through their displayed work.

4 PM—8 PM.

Join the UT Downtown Gallery for the opening exhibit for Ancestral Objects.

Ancestral Objects: Holders of Memory, Space and Time is an exhibition of works from Donté K. Hayes and Kevin Kao, two artists working in clay coming together for a conversation on how objects can be a conduit to cultural, social and personal reflection. Through the use of sculpture, installation, and video, the exhibition opens the viewer to reconsider race and identity as markers for welcoming and belonging.

Each artist explores the humble medium of clay as a historical material with its own inherent preconceived notions and perceptions to offer new perspectives on unraveling the relationship with one-self and the world around them. Both artists highlight the duality of clay to serve as container and symbol; enduring and vulnerable; hard and soft; static and dynamic. However, Donté and Kevin bring their own unique voices to the exhibition.

5 PM—9 PM.

Enjoy live music from Stranger May from 7—9 PM! And don't miss new work in the Curio!

5 PM—9 PM.

Union Ave Books is excited to present a Poetry Night in celebration of First Fridays, featuring NitaJade, Jeffrey Amos, and Denise Smith Cline. RSVP for this FREE event by visiting unionavebooks.com/events.

6 PM—8 PM.

Knoxville Featured Exhibition: Annie Rochelle & Rose Downs brings together the work of two Knoxville–based artists whose practices are rooted in material exploration. Both artists offer quiet, immersive experiences that engage surface, process, and time, sharing a language of soft, luscious color palettes. Together, their work encourages viewers to slow down and look closely. Whether through geometric abstraction or the unpredictable beauty of glaze chemistry, this exhibition celebrates practices grounded in attention and observation. The exhibition will be on view at the Arrowmont Gallery from February 6–28, 2026, with an opening reception on First Friday, February 6, from 5–9 PM.

The Arrowmont Gallery is located at 110 S. Gay St in Knoxville, TN and open Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday 10-5 and Friday 2-7. For 80 years, Arrowmont has been teaching a variety of arts and craft workshops to the public, hosting over 200 creative experiences each year. For more information on workshops, visit their website and discover your next artistic pursuit!

5 PM—9 PM.

For over 22 years, the Pilot Light has been the go-to for independent and experimental music. On Friday, hear performances by Venus and The Flytraps with Glad I Didn't Get My Stupid Wish. Tickets at door.

8 PM.

Get ready to dance with music from DJ Andres Tapia.

10 PM.

Farhad Naimy: Fluid Art
The Arts & Culture Alliance is proud to display a collection of artwork by Farhad Naimy. Farhad's creations come to life on Gesso boards or framed wooden painting panels, where they breathe vibrancy into each drop with acrylic paint. The final touch is a resin overlay, which enhances and illuminates the colors making them dance with brilliance and vitality. Farhad's paintings are a dance of contemporary and modern style, infused with the hues of nature. Each piece is a vessel of energy, capturing the essence of the world around us. Farhad invites the audience to immerse themselves in this energy, letting their imagination roam free to interpret and find meaning in what they see.

Katie Dirnbauer: The Things We Carry
The Arts & Culture Alliance and MLK Commemorative Commission are pleased to present The Things We Carry. While her primary focus has been on silversmithing, Dirnbauer has recently expanded her artistic vocabulary to include a diverse range of mediums. Her current body of work integrates photography, jewelry design, and sculpture, which all function to complement her exploration of encaustic art. This latest series delves into profound themes of memory, trauma, grief, and healing. Throughout her career, Katie’s jewelry has incorporated concepts of protection and the notion of armor. In her new mixed media artworks, she examines the underlying reasons for the need for such protection. By openly confronting her own trauma, Katie hopes to elevate the conversation around healing and vulnerability, inviting viewers to engage with it in a meaningful way.

Lisa Kurtz: Fired Up!
The Arts & Culture Alliance is proud to present Fired Up! Lisa Kurtz, a potter and clay artist for 48 years is an award-winning ceramic artist who first set up her studio, “Highland Pottery”, in the Highlands neighborhood in Louisville after earning her masters in Ceramics from The University of Louisville, Kentucky. Previously an adjunct professor teaching ceramics, drawing and art history at Pellissippi State and Cleveland State, she also taught pottery (both throwing and hand building) at art centers in Tennessee and Kentucky including Arrowmont, Oak Ridge Art Center and Appalachian Arts and Crafts Center.

National Juried Exhibition of 2026
The Arts & Culture Alliance’s 20th annual National Juried Exhibition features selected works from 37 artists throughout the region. The National Juried Exhibition was developed to provide a forum for artists to compete on a regional scale and display their highest quality work. The exhibition encompasses all styles and genres from both emerging and established artists working in a variety of media such as wood, photography, oil, glass, fiber, paper and more. Over $1,800 in cash awards will be announced at a brief awards ceremony at 5:30 PM on February 6 with remarks from the juror, Christina Vogel.

5 PM—9 PM.

Original oils by Robin Rohwer and photography by Christopher Rohwer. The husband and wife artist duo has lots of new work to share!

In studio until 9 PM.

Casa HoLa invites you to the debut of their Amor Latino, a Valentine’s Day-themed art exhibit celebrating the vibrant talent of local Latino artists. This special exhibition explores love in its many forms, romantic, familial, platonic, and self-love, through the lens of Latino culture and heritage. Celebrate connection, identity, and corazón while experiencing a diverse range of artistic styles and mediums.

The exhibition will debut on Friday, February 6th, from 5 – 9 PM and will remain available throughout March 2nd 5 PM—9 PM.

Gallery 1010 is the only fully student-run, non-profit, off-campus UTK exhibition space in the state of Tennessee. Gallery 1010 provides a location for School of Art artists to exhibit their work, curate exhibitions, and collaborate with other artists or disciplines outside of the School of Art.

Join the opening reception for select featured works curated for the UTK Ceramics Student Exhibition.

5 PM—7 PM.

Live music from Burnin Hermans.

8 PM. 

Join KMA for the opening reception of A Two Way Mirror: Double Consciousness in Contemporary Glass by Black Artists.

A Two-Way Mirror features works in glass by international contemporary Black artists who use this material to explore social, cultural, gender, and racial identity. Due to its reflectivity and translucence, glass is an especially effective medium to examine notions of identity as in the theory of double consciousness presented by W.E.B. Du Bois in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk. The exhibit will run until May 3.

Open until 5 PM.

Underground @ Mirage featuring a selection of house music. Enjoy house music all night long at this FREE event. (ID required.)

6 PM—1:00 AM.

Stop in Studio 106 Art Gallery. Located on the lower level of the Emporium Center inside suite 106, the gallery will offer specials and discounts for First Friday!

11 AM—9 PM.

Live music all night from Soulfinger with Knox Dub All-Stars. Tickets at door.

8 PM.