Two major art exhibitions commemorating the Vietnam War are currently touring the United States. Both are scheduled for display at Athens State University in Athens, Ala. Vietnam – 2 Soldiers, 2 Artists, 2 Journeys – Then & Now will run from Oct. 27 to Nov. 30, 2025 at the University’s Nazaretian Alumni Welcome Center. The opening reception is Nov. 6 from 1 to 3 p.m. The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, will be on view 24 hours a day Nov. 6 to 9, 2025 at the University’s Beasley Field.
Vietnam Then & Now premiered at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in June 2021. The exhibit features the works of two Tennessee artists who both served in the Vietnam War. David Wright, long one of America’s foremost painters of the American frontier and the Civil War, served as an adviser in the U.S. Army while stationed in Vietnam in 1965. During his tour of duty, he drew sketches of his American comrades and of civilians in the highlands of Vietnam. Many of his original drawings from the war are now part of the exhibit.
Chuck Creasy, who spent 48 years working as a top advertising creative in Nashville, was an artillery forward observer attached to an infantry company in Vietnam in 1968. He returned to Vietnam exactly 50 years later, traveling the country and photographing the people and places he visited. He used these photographs as a source to create the deeply felt watercolors that are in the exhibit.
The Wall That Heals is a project of Washington D.C.’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The exhibit is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. Visitors experience The Wall rising above them as they walk towards the apex, a key feature of the design of The Wall in D.C. There will be a candlelight vigil that starts at 6 p.m. on Nov. 7.
The Athens-Limestone County Public Library recently interviewed Museum Curator Lisa Hoffman and Events Coordinator Monteia Moore about the two exhibits. A link to their Between the Stacks Podcast is below.
