Every spring, some of the most gifted young artists in Sumner County showcase their art at Monthaven as part of the Annual James B. Hawkins Sumner County Student Art Show.
This indispensable art exhibition is open to all Sumner County middle and high school art students. Each school is allowed to enter artwork in drawing, painting, 3D, Mixed Media, and Animation. More than 150 students displayed nearly 160 art works at the MACC in 2024.
Student Art Show prizes include awards for “Winning Art Department,” “Best of Show” and “Director’s Pick,” along with First, Second, and Third Place ribbons and cash prizes for painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, digital art, printmaking, animation and mixed media. Participating middle school and high school art teachers also receive recognition and cash prizes. The exhibition’s presenting partner is Nossi College of Art & Design. The college typically awards about $10,000 in scholarships to Sumner County’s amazing art students.
The 49th Annual James B. Hawkins Sumner County Student Art Show ran March 28 to April 13, 2025. The exhibit’s VIP sponsors were Brauer and NASTC. For more information about the 50th Annual James B. Hawkins Sumner County Student Art Show in 2026, call Deputy Director Tonya Mirtes at (615) 822-0789 or email admin@monthavenarts.org
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 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.