Monthaven Art and Cultural Center

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center
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Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center
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Veterans Programming

BY / FOR /ABOUT / VETERANS

For Those Who Served

The MACC’s deep and abiding commitment to military veterans is a driving force behind its Annual Veterans Art Exhibition. Our goal is to advance the message of military honor and sacrifice through the arts.

Who We Are

Between the Lines Healing Arts for Veterans

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center offers a FREE Healing Arts Program called “Between the Lines” to empower military veterans in Middle Tennessee who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and major depressive disorder. Our healing arts facilitators work with participants at American Legion Post 17 Veterans Residence in Gallatin, Veterans Recovery Center in Murfreesboro and other places to find creative ways to overcome depressive and anxious feelings.

 

Our healing arts projects foster self-awareness. They also encourage self-talk, emotional processing, thought restructuring, personal goal-setting, social skills, and community building through the creation of visual art in a positive group setting.  For more information, contact robin@monthavenarts.org. To support Between the Lines, click below.

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WEEKLY EVENT

Warriors Workshop

Calling all military veterans! We want you for participation in our new Warriors Workshop: Stories Forged in Fire. This is a one-of-a-kind, creative process that taps into the unique, burned-in experiences military service members have lived during war and peace. Led by the MACC’s Healing Arts facilitator, metal sculptor, and veteran Val Adams (U.S. Air Force, Ret.), these Friday group sessions are FREE for veterans.

Join us as we use fire, metal, and wood to create personal art pieces that illustrate your story. Through Warriors Workshop, veterans will learn how to channel, shape, and share their experiences while gaining a sense of accomplishment as their creations come to life. Together we will explore the burned-in experience.

Monthaven’s Between the Lines Healing Arts program for veterans is offering this free expressive arts class on Fridays at the MACC from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm beginning September 29, 2023. All materials are provided, and no artistic experience is necessary.

 

Registration for this free workshop is required. To register, click HERE or for more information, call Deputy Director Tonya Mirtes at (615) 822-0789.

What We Do: Taking It to The Vets

Blue Star Museums Logo
Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center proudly supports the Blue Star Museums initiative. Blue Star Museums is a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and museums across America to offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel including National Guard and Reserve and their families. The MACC extends this program to include retired military and their families as well. For more information, call us at (615) 822-0789 or email us at admin@monthavenarts.org.

ANNUAL EVENT

Veterans Art Exhibition

The MACC's 7th Annual Veterans Art Exhibition runs August 2-31, 2025 and is titled Battle Born: Don Olea's Artistic Journey into Historic Military Art. Our Boots & BBQ Fundraiser to support our Between the Lines Healing Arts Program is Aug. 2, 2025 at the Bagsby Ranch. Gallatin resident Don Olea is an award-winning illustrator, photographer, digital and watercolor painter. He is currently a board member of the Nashville Artist Guild and a member of the Tennessee Watercolor Society. As an Airborne Army veteran (1983-86), and military history buff, he has been inspired through his watercolor and digital paintings, to honor and tell the story of those who came before him serving with honor and distinction. His realism style serves the historical military art genre well and helps to tell their story to fellow veterans, family members and enthusiasts. For more information, call (615) 822-0789.

Commited to our vets

MACC Touring Veterans Art Exhibition

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center is now touring an exhibition titled Vietnam 2 Soldiers. 2 Artists. 2 Journeys. Then & Now, featuring the artwork of renowned artists (and Vietnam veterans) David Wright and Chuck Creasy.

 

The exhibit includes many of the sketches of American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians that Wright drew in-country in 1965. Creasy, who served as a forward artillery observer in 1968, returned to Vietnam as a visitor exactly 50 years after his deployment. The experience inspired him to create a series of colorful expressive watercolors of the Vietnamese people and countryside.

 

Together, Wright’s and Creasy’s colorful, remarkably sensitive artwork serves as a lasting testament to the healing power of art. The exhibition’s 2022-23 touring schedule included stops at the Customs House in Clarksville, Tenn., Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Va., Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Ashland City Library in Ashland, Kan. If your museum, gallery or organization is interested in hosting Vietnam 2 Soldiers. 2 Artists. 2 Journeys. Then & Now, contact admin@monthavenarts.org.

Join Us

Our Healing Arts facilitators currently work with veterans at the Veterans Recovery Center in Murfreesboro, Tn. Military veterans and others interested in finding out more about our Between the Lines programming for veterans should contact us.

Contact Monthaven

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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