Monthaven Art and Cultural Center

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center
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Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center
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SALVADOR DALI’S THE DIVINE COMEDY COMES TO MONTHAVEN ARTS AND CULTURAL CENTER IN HENDERSONVILLE, TENN.

Media Inquiries:

Cheryl Strichik: Cheryl@monthavenarts.org
(615) 293-3767

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 19, 2024) – One of the legendary Spanish artist Salvador Dali’s most ambitious projects is coming to Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center this summer. Stairway to Heaven: Salvador Dali’s The Divine Comedy, features 101 wood-block engravings made from Dali’s original watercolors. The exhibit runs Aug. 24 to Oct. 13, 2024.

“We are thrilled to present one of Salvador Dali’s great masterpieces at Monthaven,” says Cheryl Strichik, the MACC’s executive director. “Dali truly captures both the agony and the ecstasy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. It’s the kind of exhibit that our visitors will remember for the rest of their lives.”

Born in Spain in 1904, Salvador Dali was one of the most captivating and challenging artists of the 20th century. While many remember Dalí for his notorious reputation, far fewer remember that Dalí was a deeply spiritual man, and he frequently used his singular Surrealist perspective to illustrate scenes taken straight from the Bible and great works of literature. His illustrations of scene from Dante’s The Divine Comedy are a prime example.

In 1951, the Italian government commissioned Dalí to create 100 illustrations from The Divine Comedy to celebrate the upcoming 700th birthday of the poet Dante Alighieri. Dali embarked on a 14-year project to create original watercolors and engravings illustrating Dante’s epic poem. Dalí’s attention to detail was meticulous—he created over 100 watercolor studies, worked tirelessly with the publisher, and even personally approved the more than 3,000 woodblocks used for the engravings. The final result was a series of 101 breathtaking engravings bringing the classic poem to life.

Tickets for Stairway to Heaven: Salvador Dali’s The Divine Comedy are $10. The MACC is a Blue Star Museum, so active and retired military are free. Students are also free. Tickets are available at monthavenarts.org or by calling (615) 822-0789. A complimentary members-only event celebrating Dali’s Stairway to Heaven will be 6 p.m. Saturday, August 31, 2024.

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) is a jewel-box art museum and education facility housed in one of Tennessee’s most spectacular antebellum mansions. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the MACC has staged exhibitions featuring everything from the ceramic art of Pablo Picasso to the evening gowns of Princess Diana. The artwork of local artists and military veterans are also on frequent display. As an art school, the MACC offers classes to more than 900 children and adults each year. The MACC also provides free arts outreach and healing arts to underserved children, families and military veterans. For more information, visit www.monthavenartsandculturalcenter.com or call (615) 822-0789.

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Robin Willis

HEALING ARTS COORDINATOR

Robin Willis is the MACC’s Healing Arts Coordinator. She also works as the Exhibition and Events Manager and Director of Outreach. Robin has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Clemson University with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She is a multi-discipline artist with emphasis in writing, mixed media abstract painting, alternative process photography, collage, and book arts and binding. In addition to her art practices, she holds several healing modalities certificates, such as extensive kundalini yoga teacher training and education, Reiki master, systemic family constellation facilitator, and depth psychology-based therapy trainings. As an avid learner, she explores and encourages others in their exploration in art, psyche, and our relationship to the micro and macro worlds within and around us. Influenced by John Muir’s quote, When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe, she fuses art, healing, and organization throughout her work and personal life as a creative-scientist minded person.

Kaylin Warden

Creative Design and Operations Manager

Kaylin Warden serves as the MACC’s Creative Design and Operations Manager. In this post, she oversees the organization’s graphic design work for exhibitions, events and special projects. She also coordinates the MACC’s arts outreach activities and assists with bookkeeping, among other duties. Kaylin, above all, is passionate about the arts. It comes as no surprise, then, that she is now pursuing a master’s degree in art history. When she’s not at the MACC, you can find her reading her favorite books (especially ones dealing with maritime mysteries), cooking, gardening, playing with her cat and two dogs, and cheering for the Nashville Predators.

Ruth Chase

Regional Arts Director
Ruth Chase is the Regional Arts Director of Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center, joining the team in 2023. For Ruth, the job is all about community, bringing people together to uplift and educate artists and art lovers alike. Her role at Monthaven is to strengthen the local artist community and build connections that will enrich Hendersonville and our surrounding communities through art exhibitions, art education, and opportunities for regional artists.
 
Prior to joining Monthaven, Ruth worked in the arts for over 30 years and is a multimedia artist and graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute. Her artistic practice is inquiry-based and engages in community bridge-building. She was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles, curated and juried exhibitions, and has taught at the Crocker Art Museum.
 
Ruth was awarded an Artist-in-Residence for Artist Activating Communities through a grant from the California Arts Council for three consecutive years. Her film Belonging screened at both the 18th Annual Nevada City Film Festival and Wild & Scenic Film Festival. She has received the Legendary Female Artist of Venice award, and she has exhibited in The Crocker Kingsley, the Museum of Northern California Art, and the Diego Rivera Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute. Ruth also continues her work as a Curatorial Consultant and Art director for the Californian Indigenous Research Project, where she has worked with the local tribe since 2018. 
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