Walking through the crowded jumble of people and buildings that make up the university or traveling along the packed interstate that runs through town, you may be surprised to find out that there is a 160-acre nature preserve less than three miles from downtown Knoxville.
This is the Ijams Nature Center, a protected wildlife/nature preserve and environmental education organization.
“A lot of people are shocked to find out we’re here,” said Kelley Dodd, development coordinator at Ijams.
The Ijams Nature Center will be holding an art show and auction called “Artfully Ijams: Spring Art Show and Sale Celebrating Nature.”
According to Paul James, executive director at Ijams, it will be a three-week wildlife and nature show followed by a silent auction. The show will also showcase One Ton, a group of local artists that carve stone.
“We will open two new permanent exhibits in June featuring the extinct Passenger Pigeon and Ivory-billed Woodpecker,” James said. Because of this, the theme is general wildlife and nature with special consideration for endangered and extinct species of North America.
According to Dodd, the works should be two dimensional, including photos, paintings and drawings of any style.
The pieces will be judged by an anonymous jury before being hung in the Ijams visitor center for three weeks. This will be followed by a silent auction. Artists will select a minimum price for their works, and Ijams will set a higher opening bid amount. The exact prices the artists have set is not know yet “but they will start at $50 to $100 probably and go on up,” James said.
The proceeds will go to support Ijams’ environmental education programs and maintenance of the park, James said. A portion of the proceeds will go back to the artists and One Ton.
The show will display the pieces from April 8 to April 28. The auction and benefit will be held on April 29. The deadline for submitting entries is Feb. 28. To download an entry form, go to http://www.ijams.org.
“I’m really hoping to get a lot of student pieces,” Dodd said.
Current attractions at the nature center’s exhibit hall include the snapping turtle habitat, live aquatic collection and live birds of prey, James said.
