Grand opening of 2026 Art in the Gardens exhibit set for Friday, June 5
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Gardens, Knoxville, announces the opening of its 2026 Art in the Gardens exhibition Friday, June 5, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Titled Ursa Curiosa: A Garden Art Exhibit, this unbearably fun and whimsical event seeks to raise awareness about the need to protect our native bears as urban development encroaches on their natural habitat.
The exhibition is part of Knoxville’s First Friday arts celebration, and the grand opening event and summer-long exhibit are free and open to the public. Fifty-one artists’ visions will acknowledge the importance of black bears in our southern Appalachian ecosystems. The artistic displays will include painted, decorated or otherwise embellished three-dimensional bear cutouts in a variety of poses. Local children also are participating by expressing their creative talents on decorated bear faces or acorn cutouts. The children’s exhibit runs concurrently with the adult exhibit.
The exhibit will be open throughout the summer during daylight hours. The children’s pieces will be displayed in the Children’s Garden, while the pieces crafted by adults will be located throughout the grounds. A brochure and electronic maps will be available to assist in finding each piece. Visitors may also simply explore the grounds and discover the fur-nomenally beautiful pieces on their own. James Newburn, managing director of the UT Gardens, Knoxville, says each display will leave you pawsitively fascinated by the creative talent of our artists.
Informational bear facts will also be included as part of the exhibition, and new this year is the expansion of the exhibit to include several pieces to be displayed at the Sugarlands Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park through a partnership with the Friends of the Smokies.
The UT Gardens, Crossville, will also host a display at the UT Plateau AgResearch and Education Center.
Now in its ninth year, the Art in the Gardens exhibit will conclude in late September with an exciting online auction of these fantastic works of art. The auction will serve as a fundraiser to support the UT Gardens and its mission to be a community resource for education, research and outreach on environmental stewardship, plant evaluation and landscape aesthetics.
The UT Gardens, Knoxville, features more than 1,000 woody plants under long-term observation and 2,000 varieties of herbaceous plants evaluated annually. The gardens function as an outdoor laboratory, teaching, and research facility as well as a public garden, sharing their beauty with more than 50,000 visitors yearly. Established in 1983 by the UT Institute of Agriculture Department of Plant Sciences, the gardens are recognized as an official All American Selections (AAS) test site for evaluating new plants for the ornamental market, an American Conifer Association and a American Hosta Society reference garden, and are a Tennessee certified arboretum. They are a valuable resource for home gardeners and landscape professionals. Together with its sister sites in Jackson and Crossville, the UT Gardens form the State Botanical Garden of Tennessee.
You can find the UT Gardens, Knoxville, at 2518 Jacob Drive, just off Neyland Drive behind the UT Veterinary Medical Center on the Institute of Agriculture campus. Free visitor parking is available directly across from the entrance. Contact the gardens by email at utgardens@utk.edu or phone 865-974-3656 for information regarding accessibility.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.