MURFREESBORO, TN — The Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center at Middle Tennessee State University is partnering with Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center in Hendersonville, Tennessee, to host a 60-piece art exhibit that coincides with the nation’s Veterans Day and this year’s 40th Salute to Veterans and Armed Forces game on Saturday, Nov. 12.
The exhibit — “Vietnam: 2 Soldiers, 2 Artists, 2 Journeys Then and Now” — officially opens Friday, Nov. 11, in the second-floor lobby of Keathley University Center and continues through the end of the fall semester in early December. It is free and open to the public and university community.
It is the story of two brave soldiers (David Wright and Chuck Creasy, both from Gallatin, Tennessee) who battled their way into the world of art, trading the tools of war for the tools of the trade.
Whether it’s Wright and his historically researched paintings of classic American history or Creasy’s watercolor works of subjects from the jungles of Honduras to the hidden backroads of rural Tennessee, your senses are in for a treat, the Monthaven website reveals
This memorable, one-of-a-kind exhibit features highlights of both artists’ best work from Vietnam: Wright, from sketches and drawings done in-country during his deployment; and Creasy, from a much-anticipated trip back to Vietnam, 50 years older and a lifetime wiser.
“They have been lifelong friends who served in Vietnam,” said Cheryl Strichik, Monthaven director.
An artists’ reception with Wright and Creasy will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, in the KUC venue and Daniels Center. Contact center Director Hilary Miller (Hilary.Miller@mtsu.edu) to schedule a visit, parking pass or for more information.
The late country music legend, Charlie Daniels, whose name is part of the MTSU’s veterans center along with his wife, Hazel Daniels, wrote the forward to Wright and Creasy’s art book, “Vietnam: 2 Soldiers, 2 Artists, 2 Journeys Then and Now.”
The exhibit arrived at MTSU after a showing at the Virginia War Memorial Museum in Richmond and appeared at the Customs House in Clarksville, Tennessee.
LISTEN TO A PODCAST WITH THE DANIELS CENTER ABOUT THIS EXHIBIT
