PechaKucha 20×20, a platform for creative people to share their projects, has spread around the world from its origin in Tokyo to more than 800 cities. Each presenter is allotted 20 slides in a presentation, and each slide gets 20 seconds of talking. On Thursday, Relix Variety Theatre hosted Knoxville’s 14th PechaKucha. The following is a summary of the presentations from the Scruffy City’s creative crowd.
Justin Paulk – “Stuntin’ Hard Since 1980”
Paulk is the founder of Paulk + Co, a “dynamic fabrication shop,” that produces concrete and stone features for homes. “I make pretty shit for rich people,” Paulk said. He also uses his shop as an art gallery space. Paulk’s presentation outlined his life chronologically, from his college drop-out days to building a house twice the size of his license limit.
Clay Thurston – “Photographs That Will Make You Smile”
What’s better than the perfect shot of a deer in the woods? A deer with its tongue out, as if mocking the photographer. Thurston shared images from his wildlife photography that depicted the humorous side of spending hours in the woods waiting for the perfect shot. Sometimes, the perfect shot is a bird with its head twisted all the way around or two horses kissing.
Victoria Buck – “Memory of Place”
Buck finds inspiration for her art in landscapes and the influence of natural disasters like earthquakes. While working on her master’s degree in ceramics at UT, Buck’s installation pieces filled the Ewing and 1010 galleries. Her structures forced the viewer to reconsider the space. One show juxtaposed a large metal-frame house with hundreds of tiny houses to depict “illusions of stability.” Buck will be taking some of the tiny houses on a two and a half week adventure through the Arctic Circle to photograph them in the chilling landscape.
Alex Pawloski – “Addressing Our Future Mobility Needs Now”
Pawloski’s first few slides depicted Knoxville covered in colored dots. Then the highways were added to the map, and the audience was shown the way the city is racially divided by the highways. He went on to explain how the majority of Knoxvillians drive alone to and from work despite the public transportation available in the city. His final point illustrated the power struggle between engineers, energy efficient vehicles and the consumers’ wants.
Elias Attea – “Finding Ourselves Growing”
After a living in Raleigh and learning that “a garden is just a landscape until it is inhabited,” Attea moved to Knoxville. In an attempt to provide students an outlet for their anxiety and frustrations, Attea started a garden at Pond Gap Elementary School. Attea described activities in the garden as “tools for teachers to engage all the senses of children’s’ brains.” Attea also touched on the idea of the school-to-prison pipeline and how gardens have the potential to interrupt that trend.
Charlotte Tolley – “Nourish Knoxville”
When Tolley realized she was going to start a farmers’ market in Knoxville but had no idea how, she picked up a book. From there, it was her commitment to the cause that kept the market going. In 2004, there were maybe 10 vendors. Tolley said last summer was the first time the market needed a waiting list in addition to the 120 vendor openings. Tolley’s other project, Nourish Knoxville, makes local food guides and focuses on building healthy communities.
Alex Oliver – “Voyage: East TN to the Gulf of Mexico”
Oliver’s mantra is “When you slow down and look up, you discover life.” In true Huck Finn fashion, Oliver traveled from Volunteer Landing to the Gulf of Mexico by water with 15 friends, three boats, one emergency cell phone and camera equipment. They documented their adventure and created a feature length film.
Bryan Baker – “How to Make Printmaking Accessible to All”
Baker crammed more words into his 400 seconds than the other speakers. He had a lot to say about Striped Light, the record label that recently opened in Happy Holler, but more to say about Hands on Press. Baker and his co-founders gathered printmaking materials and decided to open a space for the community to attend classes, learn to use the machines and then create their own prints.
Tatiana Potts – “Five Orders”
In architecture, there are different types of columns. Potts uses the five orders of columns throughout her artwork, while also using the columns as metaphors for support. After she compared her unchanging hometown in Slovakia to UT’s always-changing campus, Potts read a poem as the slides changed, showing new pieces of her work.
Tricia Bateman – “Starting a Newsweekly. In the 21st Century. Seriously.”
Knoxville Mercury came about to fill the void of Metro Pulse, and Bateman became the art director of the new publication. She’s spent her energy working on a logo for the newsweekly whose audience is “smart, diverse and passionate about Knoxville.”
