First Friday at CTV
CTV regularly holds an on-site event on the "First Friday" of every month from 5 pm until 7 pm. The event is designed to provide a venue for the screening of locally produced original video programs that have not necessarily aired on CTV. It provides an excellent opportunity for community producers to meet & greet other community residents who share an appreciation for locally produced video. In addition, our event always includes a tour of our facility and light refreshments. "First Friday" at CTV is always free and open to the public.
CTV's October 2011 showcased the art of Derrick Freeman, 21 year old autistic man whose art sings with splashes of color, confident strokes and compositions that evokes a wide range of emotions. Freeman is the recipient of the Temple Grandin Award and the Arc of the Mid South's Outstanding Artist/Performer Award at its 14th Annual Gala.
CTV's July 2011 will feature Termite TV. As film students at Temple University, Tennessee-based filmmakers Paul Harrill and Ashley Maynor participated in the creation of episodes for the experimental TV collective, Termite TV. During this First Friday event, Harrill and Maynor will share past episodes they produced, discuss Manny Farber's seminal essay, "White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art", which originally appeared in 1962 in Film Culture, and introduce local resources for those interested in making their own Termite art. Founded in 1992, Termite TV is a video collective with members based in Philadelphia, PA and Buffalo, NY. The mission of Termite TV Collective is to produce, distribute and facilitate the creation of experimental and activist media that challenges the status quo and provides an alternative to corporate media. This style of art television encourages expression of multiple styles and points of view, risk-taking, innovation and the blend of humor and intelligent critique. "A peculiar fact about termite-tapeworm-fungus-moss art is that it moves always forward, eating its own boundaries, and likely as not, leaves nothing in its path but evidence of eager, industrious, unkempt activities." --Manny Farber
CTV's May 2011 featured DRUGTOWN, an illustration and photographic collaborative duo comprised of local artist / designers Daniel Maw and Jarred Elrod that takes the form of a blog. For their May First Friday exhibition at CTV, Maw and Elrod invited participants to engage their original DRUGTOWN images and simultaneously make use of the television production equipment in the space. Participants selected from a variety of DRUGTOWN illustrations and photographs to serve as their backdrop via CTVʼs green screen, posed with any number of real and illustrated DRUGTOWN props, and created their own new images. This exciting exquisite corpse style photo booth parlor game ties into the collaborative themes of the blog, and was available for the first hour of the evening. During the opening, DRUGTOWN images were also presented on several monitors while original silkscreen t-shirts and prints were for sale. The night was capped off with a free drawing and giveaway of select DRUGTOWN apparel.
CTV's March 2011 First Friday featured photographs and moving images from Shawn Poynter's in-process project, "Central Street," which documents the unique architecture and signage along Knoxville's Central Street.
CTV's February 2011 First Friday featured "Hunting History: Prehistoric Peoples of TN," produced by Lance Pettiford and Nick Grahl. This 45 minute documentary follows Lance Pettiford as he uses the primitive techniques of native peoples journeys on a hunt for their archaeological evidence. Artifacts and topics covered in this episode are tool making techniques, pottery, weapons and cave art.
CTV's January 2011 First Friday will feature local artists in an "Art on the Floor" exhibition. Work by Michael Giles, Sara Marie Miller, Kelly Hider, Veronica Siehl and other area artists will be displayed on chairs, tables, the floor and any other flat surface we can find! Come and support local art outside of the traditional gallery setting.
CTV's December 2010 First Friday featured two documentary films by Evan Meaney. Centralia is a documentary about the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which has been on fire since 1962. The film follows the enigmatic trail of one, James Paulson, the man responsible for inadvertently igniting the devastating mine fire that would claim his rural community. A Broker of Fragments tells the story of Frank Olson, a scientist working to create biological weapons for America, and who died under mysterious circumstances in Manhattan. Born in Whitestone, New York in the 1980ʼs and raised in the Hudson Valley, Meaney has been working in film and video for the better part of a decade.
CTV's November 2010 First Friday event featured footage taken at Beardsley Community Farm, an urban demonstration farm that grows organic produce and houses bee colonies and free-range chickens. All the food grown at Beardsley is donated to local food pantries, volunteers and others in need of fresh produce.
CTV's October 2010 First Friday event featured live music by Elam Blackman. Elam "writes songs and he sings them, too. He gets compared to some talented fellers, but is constantly striving for a sound that is uniquely his. Off beat, non sequitur, groove folk full of images, hijinx and hilarity. Disguised in poignant truthiness."
CTV's September 2010 First Friday event featured Ijams Nature Center, a 275-acre wildlife sanctuary and environmental learning center celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Ijams provides community-wide connections and experiences through education, conservation, recreation and responsible environmental stewardship for all people. A number of families joined us as we watched highlights from recent Ijams events and CTV programs as well as youth-created footage from a recent Ijams summer camp.
CTV's August 2010 First Friday event featured the Knoxville Writers' Guild, a local non-profit organization dedicated to promoting writing and creativity in the Knoxville community through education, public events and workshops to help writers create and share their work. It was a joy to see how these Knoxvillians communicate through the written word.
CTV's July 2010 First Friday event (July 2) featured story teller Tommy Oaks who delighted a record size audience with some of his humorous and scary tales. As far as we know, Tommy was the first person in the world to receive a Master's Degree in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University. He also holds a Doctorate from the University of Tennessee.
