Is Everybody Ready? by Andrew Saftel

Is Everybody Ready? was what my grandfather used to say after we were all loaded into his Buick Skylark before we took off down the road. This phrase can mean several different things in these times. It’s hard to know what to be ready for next. In this rapidly changing world it is a challenge to know what to prepare for as we head down the road. I think some color, a little
humor, and some quiet contemplative time are in order.

I moved to Knoxville in the mid-nineteen eighties from San Francisco, after graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute. I immediately loved Tennessee and the grittiness of this town. Having a life in art felt like a real possibility. You could work a part-time job and be able to afford a house and a studio space. My first studio was on the second floor of an office building at Central and Broadway. Two years later I was able to build a large studio into a derelict warehouse space next to the railroad tracks on Jackson Avenue, just up the street from where we are now in the Red Gallery. After ten years in Knoxville I moved out into a rural landscape
where I work in the studio every day. I consider myself very fortunate to have had a forty-year run making art in Tennessee.

So this exhibition is a homecoming of sorts. I’m so pleased to contribute to the Big Ears Festival. I love this festival and have not missed one yet. Welcome to my world.

Exhibit Hours:

March 26- April 26

Big Ears Festival Hours

THURSDAY – SUNDAY, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Artist In-Person Hours:

FRIDAY – SUNDAY, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

The Red Gallery, 130 W. Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902