Conley gets three-year grant from Teiger Foundation

Kelsie Conley

Kelsie Conley, assistant curator at the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA), has been awarded the Teiger Foundation’s highest curatorial recognition, supporting three years of exhibition development and presentation.

This nationally renowned foundation offers awards for a variety of innovative curatorial endeavors, but only a handful that span three full years of activity. As such, it is a resounding accomplishment for Conley, and a profound vote of confidence in the Knoxville Museum of Art.

Since joining KMA as a preparator in August 2019, then moving to a curatorial assistant role in 2021, and advancing to assistant curator in 2025, Conley has championed experimental and evolving art practices rooted in the American South. She earned a BFA in painting & printmaking with a minor in art history from Virginia Commonwealth University.

The first exhibition will open November 2025 – The Body is a Drum, The Voice a Song, The Soul a Fire –featuring works by Chattanooga-based Tabitha Arnold, Lexington-based Dianna Settles and historical photographs by Lewis Hine. This exhibition will reveal the entwined histories of labor and community in the American South. Arnold’s tapestries trace labor movements; Settles’s paintings evoke collective organizing; Hine’s photography captures the industrial realities and inequities of early 20th-century East Tennessee.

See a timeline for upcoming exhibits here. Sarah Kaplan provided information and quotes for this report.

Duncan to lead new nuclear workforce strategy

Teresa Duncan

Teresa Duncan, VP of workforce development at Roane State Community College, is also the new nuclear workforce lead strategist for the Tennessee Board of Regents.

She was appointed by TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings who said, “Tennessee is experiencing a nuclear renaissance, and we must be ready to meet immediate, emerging and long-term demands in this growing industry. Teresa Duncan is the ideal leader to strengthen our workforce pipeline because she has forged effective partnerships with industry leaders.”

Duncan holds an associate degree in business administration from Roane State, a bachelor’s in business education and management from Tennessee Wesleyan University and a master’s in curriculum development from Tennessee Tech. Prior to joining Roane State, she served as a national corporate trainer for the Avery Dennison Corporation. Info on the local program here.

Johnson joins Johnson Architecture

Katie Johnson

Katelyn “Katie” Johnson has joined Johnson Architecture as an interior designer. Daryl Johnson, company founder, said Katie “elevates design with the eye of an artist.”

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in interior architecture from the University of Tennessee. She holds several professional certifications and has experience in hospitality projects including designing several regional restaurants.

Three new physicians in town

Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic (KOC) has hired three new physicians who bring expertise in hand and wrist, foot and ankle, and physical medicine and rehabilitation.

David Cooper

David Cooper M.D., a hand specialist, will see patients at KOC Lakeway in Morristown as well as the Powell, Weisgarber and West locations in Knoxville.

Mary Crowe

Mary Crowe D.O., a foot and ankle specialist, will see patients at KOC offices in Oak Ridge, Turkey Creek, Sevierville and at KOC University.

Michael Heslin

Michael Heslin D.O., a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, will see spine patients at KOC Oak Ridge, Powell, Sevierville and University offices.

Notes & Quotes

Charlie Kirk: “I started a college campus-based nonprofit in June 2012 called Turning Point U.S.A. to target millennials in college. Our mission was to create a powerful conservative grassroots activist network on campuses and identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets and limited government.” Read more here.

Joyce Vance: “Tonight, people from across the political spectrum should be joining together to condemn political violence, no matter who the target is. It’s never acceptable. … There is a floor here below which our country cannot be maintained. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” More here.