Visit Able Trade for beer, bites, and local talent. Enjoy works from Kelsey Dillow, a talented visual artist and alternative process photographer. Kelsey will be displaying her captivating work and offering live tintype portrait sessions using the historic 19th-century photographic process. This is a rare opportunity to witness the magic of tintype photography firsthand and even take home a one-of-a-kind portrait made on the spot.

5:30 PM—8:30 PM.

Addison's bookstore will be open for special extended hours First Friday! Plus they will be offering cookbooks at half-price on First Friday, as well as through the month of February.

6—9 PM.

The Arrowmont Gallery is proud to debut The REQUIEM Project, an ongoing COVID memorial by Bay Area artist Tina Rath, opening on First Friday, May 2nd, with Rath present.

This installation represents the staggering global loss of the COVID-19 pandemic, with each of the more than 7 million lives lost symbolized by an individual golden circle. REQUIEM seeks to make this unimaginable number tangible. Every drawing includes handwritten names, honoring individuals and acknowledging their unique lives. Though the pandemic years may feel distant, the collective grief and trauma remain with us. The REQUIEM Project invites us to engage in a quiet, meditative process of healing through art.

Throughout the exhibition, including opening night, visitors are invited to take part in “Compassion Drawing” sessions. Using gold watercolor, one can contribute their own circles to the project.

5 PM—9 PM.

This month's featured artist is photographer Kimberly Collins. Kimberly is a storyteller. Whether she’s weaving a tale of fiction or exploring the worldthrough the camera lens, story is the ultimate goal. Kimberly’s photography coversmany areas across the country, but her favorite subjects make their home in Appalachia—wild horses in West Virginia, a stream in the Great Smoky Mountains, an ancientmagnolia tree, or the delicate blooms on a dogwood. She hopes to share the magic andwonder of Appalachia through her photography.

Explore the marketplace of more than 60 juried-in East TN artists.

5:30 PM—9 PM.

Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for the art trio “The Three Dames" consisting of Marcia Shelly, Cheryl Massey, and Linda Blair.

Marcia has exhibited extensively across the lower 48. She typically paints with acrylics and often likes LARGE. Cheryl describes her creative process as starting with a lingering spark of inspiration—an image that evolves until it is fully expressed through color on canvas. Linda begin with mere colorful spots then evolve naturally, and while the blends are often a surprise, the surprise is a special aspect of the total pleasure.

Join Awaken for some amazing art and of course great coffee! 

6 PM—8 PM.

Get ready to dance with music from DJ Andres Tapia.

10 PM.

Visit Bethie Lou’s Fabulous Gift Store at their new location at 108 E Jackson Ave., Ste 1! ome in for a special experience of fun, laughter, and fabulous gifts. Extended First Friday hours.

Open until 9 PM.

Music from Three Star Revival + The Band Solstice presented by Locals Only. Tickets available at knoxbijou.org.

8 PM.

Enjoy jazz with Ryan Comley. Great spot for dinner and cocktails.

8 PM—10:30 PM.

Bliss is excited to feature ORC Collections as their artist of the month! Known for their custom art, clothing, and unique goods, ORC Collections creates pieces that are as special and one-of-a-kind as the people who receive them. Each item is crafted with care, love, and storytelling in mind. 

This collection focuses on graduation gifts, with a variety of items celebrating UT and the Class of 2025. Bliss will have items from ORC Collections the entire month of May. 

6 PM—8 PM.

Enjoy music from Rebecca Frazier Band (21+).

9 PM.

Casa HoLa invites you to the debut of Gabriela Toledo’s exhibit “Dreams and Nightmares”. The exhibit will remain on display until May 31.

5 PM—9 PM.

Original oils by Robin Rohwer and photography by Christopher Rohwer. The husband and wife artist duo is excited for Spring with lots of new work to share!

In studio until 9 PM.

Enjoy live music featuring Pinky Ring from 7-9 PM! And don't miss six new murals painted by local and regional artists in the Curio.

5 PM—9 PM.

Join Dogwood Arts for the opening rReception of the 2025 Epiphone Student Guitar Design Exhibition & Auction. The exhibition includes 20 guitars designed and painted by youth artists from across East Tennessee. 

4 PM—8 PM.

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents Bill Timm: "30 Years of Self-Portraits - A Retrospective"
Bill Timm presents a curated collection of self-portraits created over his 30-year artistic career. These works chronicle his life from husband to father to widow. The work follows not just what he looked like, but his seasons of life and artistic influences.

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents Sheryl Sallie: "The Goddesses Collection"
Sheryl works in mixed media because it allows her to express herself by using everyday objects in extraordinary ways. She uses layers of collage, paint, image transfers, and found objects to create texture and substance in her art. Currently she is adding works to a group of paintings depicting Goddesses: strong, beautiful women, as she sees them. Goddesses exist everywhere women gather. Sheryl hope the viewers will see something that brings joy and will touch something deep within.

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents Laura McRae Hitchcock: "Whispers from The Roots and the River"
Whispers from the Root and River explores the quiet space where nature and spirit meet. Through abstract landscapes and felted, mixed media figures made of wool, branches, and cloth inscribed with blessings, Laura McRae Hitchcock evokes the presence of the wild feminine and the sacred voice of the land. Her process is slow and meditative—felting wool with barbed needles until it becomes form, or painting layer upon layer—mirroring the journey back to self and ancestral memory. This collection is an invitation to remember that we, too, are part of the mystery that lives in root and river, body and breath.

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents Photography & Mixed Media by Brian Miller and Iliyana Skrobanska
Husband and wife duo, Brian Miller and Iliyana Skrobanska, present a new exhibition of photography and fiber art/mixed media. For more than 25 years, Brian has used photography to capture the aesthetic beauty of this world that hopefully resonates with the viewer on an emotional level. For many years, painting and creating art were Iliyana Skrobanska’s hobbies: a side activity to her main occupation as a fashion designer and business owner. Her favorite media has always been fiber art and painting with acrylic, and she gradually combined them into one.

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild
This new exhibition features a curated collection of quilts from members of Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild and showcases modern elements such as bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. The collection of small quilts exhibited as a group stems from a challenge in which members all received the same fabric bundle and a prompt to interpret modern quilting elements in a mini quilt.

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.

May's featured exhibit is Fidelitas Amor et Artes, which exploring the intersection of passion, craft, and creation.

5 PM—9 PM.

Good Golly Tamale is hosting artwork by Valerie Sigmon during the months of May and June. The show is comprised of mixed media biographical works.

11 AM—8 PM.

Enjoy featured works from artist Max Edmonds. Max will showcase his collection of "Golden Girls" art

6 PM—8 PM.

May's featured artist at the Visitor's Center will be Esther Sitver.

5:30 PM—7 PM.

Underground @ Mirage 17.0 featuring house music from Atlanta's Ramon Rawsoul. With Kevin Nowell, Chris Marc, Christian Ferrer, and Earl Grae. Featuring live percussion from "Legend" Cory Hodge. Enjoy house music all night long at this FREE event. (ID required.)

6 PM—1:00 AM.

Shop the Old City Market on West Jackson Avenue. The Old City Market transforms the historic Old City into a curated, outdoor market showcasing artists, crafters, and creative makers.

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 BEN MCLAUGHLIN and The Mystic Marauders with Sarrenna and Horcerer. Tickets at door.

8 PM.

Don't miss a Glassdazacal glass making demo from 5—8 PM and music from Cale Charney from 9 PM—midnight.

Music from The Dangerous Method with Mojothunder. Tickets at door.

8 PM.

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

5 PM—9 PM.

Join RALA for First Friday featuring the debut of FOLK — a new show by Kendra Barth of Blanket Fort Studio. Her whimsical ceramics blend storytelling, texture, and color in truly charming ways.

6 PM—9 PM.

RED Gallery is proud to host the opening of "Quixotic Medium Line: Works on Paper" by Lynne Marinelli Ghenov.

Lynne Marinelli Ghenov is an artist who primarily makes drawings, collages, and works on paper using various substrates, such as photo paper, deconstructed vintage books, ledgers, graphs, and lined paper. Lynne's drawing process involves intuitive layering of elements such as graphite, colored pencils, markers, wallpaper decor, paint, and more. The gridded ledger or work-in-progress lined paper is printed on photo paper, becoming a compositional component of the drawing that gets obscured with diverse details. Lynne wields found rub-on wallpaper decorations as a drawing tool to explore the intersections, peripheries, and "play" of mark-making, collage, print, decoration, and pattern. The thematic concepts pull heavily from memory, loss, and the assembling of the present through summoning the past, forming a space that allows for an intuitive call and response between the found and the triggered in the imaginary. 

5 PM—9 PM.

Music by Last Chance Louise with The Worn Out Soles.

8 PM. 

Enjoy music from Wilder Things Than Us.

7 PM—10 PM.

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.

Locals can enjoy Free Admission to the Sunsphere from 10-6 PM. Must show a valid Knox County Drivers License!

Enjoy music from UK band, Bow River as they play their second US tour. Just bring your appetite, thirst, and maybe a little something for the tip jar!

Music starts at 7 PM.

Poetry night featuring Mariam Mohammed, Linda Parsons, Emily Harper Ellis, and Patricia Clark. Join to hear poetry, enjoy light refreshments, and celebrate the written word. RSVP for this FREE event by visiting unionavebooks.com/events.

6 PM—8 PM.

Join the UT Downtown Gallery for Art Source 2025. This is an exhibition of the work of art teachers and art interns in the Knox County School System. For more than fifteen years, Art Source, the exhibition dedicated solely to Knox County art educators, has given these same teachers an opportunity to nourish and showcase their own artistic talents.

5 PM—9 PM.
Awards begin at 6:30 PM.

The musical guest for First Friday Live will be Mic Harrison.

6 PM—7 PM.