Oak Ridge Today

Pre-Festival tonight: WDVX live broadcast with Ridge City Ramblers

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Ridge City Ramblers

Ridge City Ramblers

 

A live radio broadcast show in Oak Ridge tonight will feature Ridge City Ramblers and Kukuly and Gypsy Fuego. It’s a pre-festival event for the Secret City Festival this weekend.

Ridge City Ramblers plays bluegrass, and Kukuly and Gypsy Fuego plays gypsy jazz, according to WDVX 89.9 FM, a listener-supported radio station that will broadcast the show live.

The concert is this evening (Monday, June 4). The music is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., according to WDVX and ORNL Federal Credit Union, which is presenting the show.

It’s the first in a series of free summer concerts in Oak Ridge called the “Summer Sessions” and presented by ORNL Federal Credit Union. Performers will include bluegrass and Americana bands from throughout the region. Future concerts will be held on the following Saturdays: July 21, August 18, September 8, and October 6. All concerts will be held outdoors at the pavilion in Alvin K. Bissell Park at 1401 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge. They are free. The full lineup can be found on ORNL FCU’s Facebook page or at ornlfcu.com/summer-sessions. [Read more…]

Reception for Roane State Student Art Show is Thursday

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Roane State Community College will host a reception on Thursday, April 25, 2018, as part of its annual Student Art Show in the O’Brien Art Gallery on the Roane County campus. (Submitted photo)

Roane State Community College will host a reception on Thursday, April 25, 2018, as part of its annual Student Art Show in the O’Brien Art Gallery on the Roane County campus. (Submitted photo)

 

Roane State Community College will host a reception on Thursday as part of its annual Student Art Show in the O’Brien Art Gallery on the Roane County campus, 276 Patton Lane in Harriman.

The reception and awards ceremony is Thursday, April 26, at 12:30 p.m. in the art gallery. The public is invited, a press release said.

This annual event (April 19-26) is open to all Roane State student artists and is an opportunity for students to hone their skills and gain exhibition experience. This year’s juror is Marc Dombrosky.

For more information, contact Stacy Jacobs at jacobssl@roanestate.edu or (865) 354-3000, extension 4311; or Bryan Wilkerson at wilkersonbs@roanestate.edu, or (865) 354-3000, extension 4748.

This press release was submitted by Owen Driskill.

Children’s Museum hosts Celebration of the Young Child on Friday

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Children enjoy making crafts to take home at the Celebration of the Young Child at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Children enjoy making crafts to take home at the Celebration of the Young Child at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

 

Crafts, storytelling, and fitness challenges will be among activities planned for the Celebration of the Young Child from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, April 27, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

Children’s author Adele Roberts will tell stories from her “Sammy the Skunk” series of books, accompanied by her Sammy puppets. Her stories are designed to stimulate children’s imaginations and to teach character values based on the situations the animals encounter, a press release said.

Physical Education teacher Josh Johnson from Linden Elementary School will kick off the morning with gym activities. Children will be “kids in motion” with the National Fitness Center’s obstacle course. And children will learn about fire safety from firefighters with the Oak Ridge Fire Department.

Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee will invite the museum’s young gardeners to “plant” a garden of pinwheels for prevention, a symbol of child abuse prevention, in the Environmental Learning Center and Gardens, the press release said. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge offers Spring Break camps

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Campers will make slime, paint rocks, and have leprechaun fun at the Children’s Museum Spring Break Camp in March 2018. (Submitted photo)

Campers will make slime, paint rocks, and have leprechaun fun at the Children’s Museum Spring Break Camp in March 2018. (Submitted photo)

 

Flower art, slime and chemistry, science and art, and St. Patrick’s Day activities will be among spring break camps offered for children in kindergarten through 5th grades at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge Monday through Friday, March 12-16.

The museum will offer morning camps from 9 a.m.-noon and afternoon sessions from 1-4 p.m. Children may register for individual sessions, a day, all mornings, all afternoons, or the entire week.

Meanwhile, the Children’s Museum will be open for visits Tuesday through Sunday during spring break. Children may imagine they are astronauts in the Mars Rocket Room, play in a farmer’s market in the Healthy Living exhibit, explore how children lived in historic Appalachia, wander through a rain forest, play in a tugboat in TVA Waterworks, and much more.

Here’s the schedule of activities for March 12-16: [Read more…]

International Festival at Children’s Museum to feature entertainers, food, crafts

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The Knox Accordion-AIRs, Wolfgang Schaber and Linda Warren, will be featured performers at the Children’s Museum International Festival on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. (Submitted photo)

The Knox Accordion-AIRs, Wolfgang Schaber and Linda Warren, will be featured performers at the Children’s Museum International Festival on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. (Submitted photo)

 

The Knox Accordion-AIRs will be the featured performer when the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge hosts its annual International Festival on Saturday, February 17. The lively accordion duo will join Native American dancers, Greek and Indian folk dancers, hip hop dancers, and others during the multi-cultural festival, a press release said.

The family-friendly International Festival will present entertainment, crafts, and cuisines from cultures around the world, with musical and dance entertainment on stage throughout the day and crafts for children to make and take home. The festival entertainment will be from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the Children’s Museum, which is at 461 West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge.

The Knox Accordion-AIRs are Wolfgang Schaber and Linda Warren. Schaber began studying the accordion as a child in his home country of Austria, the press release said. Warren, who describes herself as “a Tennessee girl through and through,” has been playing accordion since she was six. She enjoys squeezing country, rock ‘n roll, and Memphis blues and gospel music on her accordion. Schaber enjoys playing polkas, marches, a waltz or two, folk tunes, and classical music. [Read more…]

Exhibit featuring Syrian refugee artists on display at Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus through Feb. 9

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An exhibit of artwork by refugees from war-ravaged Syria will be on display at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus, 701 Briarcliff Ave., through Feb. 9. (Submitted photo)

An exhibit of artwork by refugees from war-ravaged Syria will be on display at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus, 701 Briarcliff Ave., through Feb. 9. (Submitted photo)

 

An exhibit of artwork by refugees from war-ravaged Syria will be on display at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus, 701 Briarcliff Avenue, through February 9.

Roane State’s International Education Department has coordinated with St. Louis Community College to bring the traveling exhibit to Oak Ridge, a press release said. The exhibit is located in the Coffey-McNally Building next to room C-120.

Scholar Rihab Sawah from St. Louis Community College organized the traveling exhibit. Sawah began presenting on topics related to Syria and the Middle East in her early 20s, when Amnesty International invited her to speak about her father, who was a political prisoner in her homeland, the press release said. [Read more…]

Camera Club of Oak Ridge has photo exhibit from Oct. 30-Nov. 9

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First place in Scenic by Mike Boyd in the Camera Club of Oak Ridge Photographic Salon. (Submitted photo)

First place in Scenic by Mike Boyd in the Camera Club of Oak Ridge Photographic Salon. (Submitted photo)

 

The Camera Club of Oak Ridge will have its 69th Annual Photographic Salon on display at the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex from October 30 to November 9.

The exhibition contains photographs in nine categories from wildlife and landscapes to abstracts and creative development, a press release said.

The New Hope Center is located at 602 Scarboro Road in Oak Ridge. The Salon will be on display there during regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. [Read more…]

Dodson receives service, achievement award from Tennessee Arts Academy

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Jim Dodson, a 31-year art teacher at Jefferson Middle School, received a service and achievement award, the TAA Outstanding Service and Achievement award, from the Tennessee Arts Academy this summer. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

Jim Dodson, a 31-year art teacher at Jefferson Middle School, received a service and achievement award, the TAA Outstanding Service and Achievement award, from the Tennessee Arts Academy in the summer of 2017. (Submitted photo)

 

Jim Dodson, a 31-year art teacher at Jefferson Middle School, received a service and achievement award from the Tennessee Arts Academy this summer.

Dodson received the TAA Outstanding Service and Achievement award. He was presented the award for his service and achievement during his seven-year tenure as the Tennessee Arts Academy visual art director, a press release said. In this role, he initiated several new programs and exhibits to the Academy. He started the “Best of the Best” Student Art Show that brought together the 30 winners in each of the 10 art categories from the three statewide student shows held earlier in the year. He also added a statewide-juried show for art teachers to display their own creations. The title of the show is “Connections” because Dodson wanted to highlight the relationship between teacher creativity and student creativity, the press release said. Artists from both shows receive recognition at the annual opening reception held during the TAA each year. [Read more…]

Street Painting Festival is Saturday at Roane State

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Photo courtesy Roane State Community College

Photo by Roane State Community College

 

The Street Painting Festival is Saturday at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge.

Here is an event notice posted by Roane State.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge

When: [Read more…]

Country singer Lee Ann Womack to headline Tennessee Fall Homecoming this weekend

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Lee Ann Womack

Lee Ann Womack

 

Award-winning country music singer Lee Ann Womack will headline this weekend’s Tennessee Fall Homecoming festival at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris.

The Tennessee Fall Homecoming is one of the region’s largest and most authentic music and folk festivals. It will be held Friday, October 6, through Sunday, October 8, at the Museum of Appalachia.

For its 38th annual event, the Museum is featuring an all-new Family Day and an evening concert series with award-winning artists, a press release said.

Genre-bending ensemble The SteelDrivers will play the first evening show on Friday, October 6, the press release said. Womack will perform on the evening of Saturday, October 7, along with Jerry Douglas’s bluegrass supergroup, The Earls of Leicester, the release said.

Homecoming will continue to feature dozens of musicians performing during the daytime, including Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, Flashback, Terry Baucom’s Dukes of Drive, Leroy Troy, Jimbo Whaley & Greenbrier, Jeff Brown & Still Lonesome, and many more, the press release said. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum offers fall arts & clay classes for public, homeschoolers & Girl Scouts

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The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is featuring clay and the arts in its 2017 fall classes for the general public, for homeschoolers, and for Girl Scouts. (Submitted photo)

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is featuring clay and the arts in its 2017 fall classes for the general public, for homeschoolers, and for Girl Scouts. (Submitted photo)

 

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is featuring clay and the arts in its fall classes for the general public, for homeschoolers, and for Girl Scouts.

A four-week Clay Sampler, for ages 7-11 and open to the public and homeschoolers, will offer hand-building and wheel work, surface and finishing techniques, then glazing as students prepare their pieces for the kiln, a press release said. The first session, with a Halloween theme, is from 1:30-3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays on October 4, 18, and 25, and November 1. The second session, with a Holiday theme, will be on Wednesdays on November 8, 15, and 29, and December 6. Cost for the four-week class is $80 for members and $85 for non-members.

Clay Holiday Decorations will be a one-time class from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday, November 18. Students will create a personalized holiday ornament and glaze it, to be picked up two weeks after the class. The class is open to all ages, and those under seven years old must have an adult present. Class fee is $15 for members and $20 for non-members.

Sign up for these classes at http://childrensmuseumofoakridge.org or by calling (865) 482-1074. [Read more…]

‘Magnificent Gemstones of the World’ show at Karen’s Jewelers Sept. 21-23

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Gary Bowersox displays his book, "Gemstones of Afghanistan." (Submitted photo)

Gary Bowersox displays his book, “Gemstones of Afghanistan.” (Submitted photo)

 

A leading expert on gemstones of the world, Gary Bowersox will bring his exhibit of more than 10,000 gems to Karen’s Jewelers in Oak Ridge. The gem show, “Magnificent Gemstones of the World” from September 21-23, will include more than 100 different types of gemstones, many collected by Bowersox on his travels throughout the world.

Bowersox, an explorer, gem hunter, and author, has searched for emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, among other gemstones, in central Asia, riding on horseback to remote caves in Afghanistan where dynamite and grenades have been used by local miners to uncover precious gems. He has hiked through the Hindu Kush and ridden camels, mules, sheep trucks, and tanks to explore remote mines in Asia, a press release said.

The stars of the gem show include a 70-carat Afghanistan emerald pendant and a 51-carat Tajikistan ruby with matching earrings. The show, featuring rough and cut gemstones and jewelry, will include aquamarine, garnet, tourmaline, lapis lazuli, amethyst, topaz, and kunzite, as well as emerald, ruby, and sapphire. The Smithsonian-style exhibit features gems often seen only in museums.

The gem show and sale will be from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, September 21 and 22, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, September 23 at Karen’s Jewelers, 1120 Oak Ridge Turnpike. Oak Ridge is one of 11 U.S. cities where his show is being presented this year. [Read more…]