On Wednesday, March 31, I took a group of students to visit downtown Knoxville. I wanted students to be able to explore some of the local areas in Knoxville if they were new or hadn’t already seen them on their own. Part of experiencing a new place is taking the time to visit local landmarks and simply experience life there, by taking time to smell the roses, so to speak.
We started at the Knoxville Museum of Art, where they had some interesting exhibits featuring paintings, textile art, and replicas. Some of us participated in a weaving exercise to help for a large scale textile and media project. The students enjoyed winding the string to be used later in the handicraft exhibition. On the bottom floor was a display of dollhouse rooms, hand-crafted and representing different ways of life in various countries and time periods, ranging from a 16th century Spanish courtyard to a 19th century American frontier home. The upstairs gallery featured paintings of local landscapes, Impressionistic paintings of people, and sculptures in various media. Though it’s a small museum, it’s the only art museum in Knoxville, and showed students the creative side of the community.
Next we stopped in at The Candy Factory, which was a big hit! Easter baskets, chocolate bunnies, and Easter candies and decorations were all over the store. I explained a little bit about how we celebrate Easter in the US. We tried different gourmet chocolates and candies. What a nice afternoon snack!Knoxville’s most known landmark is the Sunsphere, a large steel structure 81 meters high with a ball of gold-colored glass on the top. It served as the symbol for the energy and brilliance of the sun for the World’s Fair, an international exhibition of various aspects of society, in 1982 themed “Energy Turns the World.” From the lookout point, visitors can read about various facts about Knoxville, the World’s Fair, and the Sunsphere, and are also treated to beautiful views of the city. We took lots of pictures!
From the Sunsphere, we headed over to downtown Knoxville, past some historic districts and lovely shops (cultural lesson for students and myself: the US closes at 5 pm on weekdays!). Market Square is a lovely area in downtown Knoxville. The buildings have character, like the historic theater, Mast General Store, and various restaurants and shops. We walked around Market Square, picked up some brochures from the Visitor’s Center, and headed back to the van. It was a nice tour of the highlights of downtown Knoxville, and a good break from studying. Join us on our next trip!