Exhibitions
Join Us
Exhibition Schedule
The MACC presents a dozen local, regional and international exhibitions every year. Admission is free. Donations are appreciated and contribute to continued arts programming.
Black History Exhibition
Black Vibrations
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Feb. 22 to March 23 2025
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Admission: free
Black Vibrations is a bold celebration and exploration of the complexity of Black Experience, history, and culture. This group exhibition is a harmony of works by Black artists from different backgrounds and generations and serves as a platform for the celebration of Black History.
The title Black Vibrations derives from the idea that although the familiarities that reside within Black culture are beautiful and celebratory, Blackness is not a monolith. It is an oscillating and dynamic state of being with a pulse that beats life, joy, resistance, celebration, creativity, similarities, and differences.
Just as sound vibrations travel, reverberating across space and time, so too do the legacies of Black communities and their continuous contributions to global culture. Each artwork in this exhibition, whether through color, texture, or form, sends out a powerful vibrational frequency that calls for reflection, engagement, and dialogue.
Artists participating in this exhibit include Omari Booker, Samuel Dunson, Leroy Hodges, Barbara Hodges, Michael McBride, Rod McGaha, Ashley Mintz, Lakesha Calvin, Michael Mucker, Shadale Smith, Trica Townes, Nadine Shillingford and XPayne.
Tennessee State University Art Instructor Donna Woodley is curating the exhibition. For more information, call (615) 822-0789.
**Opening reception and meet the artists February 22nd 6:00 – 9:00.
Monthaven's
Upcoming Exhibitions
Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center presents some of the world’s greatest art in galleries that are intimate and inviting. Subscribe to our newsletter and discover the magic that awaits.
49th Annual James B. Hawkins
Student Art Show
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March 28 to April 13, 2025
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Free Admission
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 premier sponsor 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 will run March 28 to April 13, 2025 For more information the 2025 Student Art Show, call Deputy Director Tonya Mirtes at (615) 822-0789 or email [email protected]
Art from Dana Pettit's Truth Series
A Divine Appointment
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April 18 to 27, 2025
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Free Admission
In celebration of the Easter Season, Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center is presenting an original exhibition titled A Divine Appointment. The exhibit features 11 portraits of Jesus rendered in different styles of Western art. A 12th portrait suggests the Holy Spirit as seen through the lens of contemporary performance art.
Tennessee artist Dana Pettit created the works in this series as part of her own personal quest to find God. Although she grew up in the Catholic Church, she realized early on that the iconography of that religion did not speak to her soul. She flirted briefly with Buddhism while studying art in France, but she mostly turned away from religion. But then, she says, she received a spark of inspiration from the Holy Spirit. He invited her to search for the Divine in the face of Jesus.
Pettit based the portraits in this exhibit on a likeness of Jesus she saw as a child. Realizing that the mystery of Christ was too profound to convey in a single artistic style, she opted to create a series of portraits ranging in styles from Baroque and Impressionism to Surrealism and Pop Art. Ten of the portraits are oil or acrylic paintings. Another portrait is a sculpture of found trash and glue in the style of Dadaism or Tramp Art. The final portrait is an empty room – a nod to performance art – representing the Holy Spirit.
For more information about A Divine Appointment, please call (615) 822-0789.
Photorealism of Scott Jacobs
Master of Detail
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May 3 to June 15, 2025
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Artist Talk May 4, 2025
Award-winning artist Scott Jacobs broke ground as the first licensed artist for Harley-Davidson. Elevating photorealism to new heights, Jacobs does more than replicate photographs—he uses them as a basis to create works that transcend their subjects. Jacobs’ super-photorealism captures figures in incredible detail by portraying transparent and reflective surfaces like glass and chrome.
Not surprisingly, Jacobs can spend anywhere from 150 to 700 hours to complete one of his remarkably detailed paintings. He begins with a reference photo of his subject, focusing on angles and detail. After creating a basic line drawing on canvas, he begins to paint, using brushes with tiny pencil-point tips. Layers of paint and varnish lend his paintings the clarity and luster of a high-resolution photograph.
In addition to his highly regarded motorcycle, Jacobs also paints incredibly realistic still lifes of flora, wine bottles, and spirits. All of these subjects will be on display at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center as part of an exhibit titled Master of Detail: The Photorealism of Scott Jacobs. The exhibit will be the highlight of the MACC’s Sixth Annual Moonlight and Magnolias gala fundraiser on May 3, 2025. For more information, call (615) 822-0789.
Paintings by Kathryn Dettwiller + Sculpture by Somers Randolph
Canvas + Stone
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June 21- July 27, 2025
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Free Admission
Practicing their craft in the complementary mediums of paint and stone, the works of acclaimed visual artist Kathryn Dettwiller and pre-eminent sculptor Somers Randolph, artfully showcase the remarkable fluidity of paint alongside the seemingly impenetrable surface of stone.
The presentation of the paintings and sculptures together casts the artists’ chosen mediums in high relief, engendering a sublime creative tension while sparking a dynamic dialogue. With more than 45 works on view, museum visitors will have ample opportunity to contrast, compare and celebrate the qualities inherent in paint and stone later this summer.
Dettwiller and Randolph will both be present for the Members’ Preview on June 21 at the MACC.
For more information about Canvas + Stone, call (615) 822-0789.
Seventh Annual Event and Fundraiser
Vererans Art Exhibition
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August 2 -31, 2025
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Free Admission
The MACC has long been devoted to art by and for military veterans, in part because Monthaven is so steeped in the region’s military history. During the Civil War, the mansion was converted into a field hospital. Both Union and Confederate soldiers were treated in the home.
Today, Monthaven is a place where members of the armed services and their families are celebrated through the arts. Every year, the MACC presents an annual Veteran Arts Exhibition and Fundraiser. The MACC’s Seventh Annual Veterans Exhibition will run August 2 to August 31, 2025. The featured artist will be announced soon. Participants in the MACC’s Between the Lines (BTL) healing arts program for military veterans will also have their works on display in the MACC’s Papillon Gallery.
Every Veterans Art Exhibition includes a Boots and BBQ Fundraiser, which supports Between the Lines. The program empowers 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.
For more information about supporting the MACC’s Healing Arts Program, call (615) 822-0789 or email [email protected].
Treasures From the Family Collection
The Unknown Picasso
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Sept. 6 to Nov. 9, 2025
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Free Admission
Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center is pleased to present The Unknown Picasso: Treasures from the Family Collection. Featuring many exceptionally rare, limited-edition lithographs from the legendary artist’s private estate, this rich trove is a comprehensive survey of Picasso’s career which features every family member and love interest, every style and every famous theme.
The legendary magnitude of “Picasso’s Picassos” includes many works that are unknown even to experts, but relate closely to such museum masterpieces as Les Demoiselles D’Avignon and Guernica.
There is a great backstory to this amazing collection of art, which is known as the Marina Picasso Collection. As Picasso’s granddaughter, Marina inherited not only a horde of more than 10,000 original works by the artist, including the most prestigious collection of his ceramics, but the splendid villa La Californie, overlooking the Mediterranean, where Picasso spent many years. The villa proved to be nothing short of an artistic gold mine. Indeed, it was filled with so many never-before-seen works that they have yet to be exhaustively catalogued.
This astonishing abundance is a source of wonder, revealing intimate treasures the artist kept for the family legacy. Just when you think you know the master, from the Blue Period through the invention of Cubism, to the Surrealist and Expressionist reincarnations that made him the world’s most important artist, along comes more to astonish and teach us about the greatness of the creative human mind.
For more information, call (615) 822-0789.
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