Arts & Culture Alliance Presents “Art Awakenings”

    The Arts & Culture Alliance will present a new exhibition entitled “Art Awakenings”, featuring works by Shawn Kincaid, Dina Loukota, Wes Loukota, and Rufus S. Morgan, MD.
    The exhibition is coordinated by Shawn Kincaid and Dina Loukota, who first met in 2005 at an Arrowmont class. The two artists have since supported and encouraged each other in their art and taken many classes together.
    The idea for this exhibition title emerged because these artists spend so much time at their jobs and teaching classes that they rarely have time for their own work.
    “This is truly an ‘art awakening’ for us because it is our first full exhibition,” said Kincaid. The exhibition will be displayed in the Balcony at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 4 to 25 and an opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on June 4 from 5 to 9 p.m.
   Shawn Lorraine Kincaid is an art teacher at Tate's School of Discovery in Knoxville and is proud to be a native sixth generation East Tennessean.
    “I believe my deep cultural and family heritage helps inspire my love for the natural areas of this beautiful region in which we live,” she said.
    Kincaid predominately paints landscapes, many created from the back porch of her farm in LaFollette.
   Dina (Bernardina) Loukota paints animals, many scenes from Italy, and local landscapes. As an artist, her inspirations and influences come from her travels across Italy and from animals.
    “Each painting is a visual history of a particular moment of time, place and emotion that I record through my art,” she said.
    Although she is a classically-trained artist with experience in oils, she prefers to use pastels and/or charcoal pencils.
    Wes Loukota has been a woodworker for many years and will display bowls, platters, wall hangings, vases, and sculptures.
    He has turned for seven years, taken turning classes at Woodcraft and Arrowmont, and attended the American Association of Woodturners National Symposium several times with items on display in the Instant Gallery.
    Dr. Rufus Samuel Morgan, a self-taught painter, was born in 1920 and grew up in Chattanooga. He served during WWII, and while stationed in Italy he received his only formal training in art: a drawing class he paid for with food pilfered from the barracks.
    Upon his return to the United States, he attended medical school with the aid of the GI Bill. In 1949, he and his wife moved to Pikeville, TN, where Dr. Morgan practiced medicine until 1975.
    “Art Awakenings” will be displayed June 4 through 25 in the Balcony at the EmporiumCenter, 100 S. Gay Street. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with additional hours on June 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
    Also on display in the Balcony Gallery: Winning Photographs from Knox Heritage's Annual Art & Architecture Tour. For more information, contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.