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March 28, 2024

Where Every Family Matters

MTSU Hosts Vietnam Veterans Art Exhibit

The free exhibit “Vietnam: 2 Soldiers, 2 Artists, 2 Journeys Then and Now” runs through the end of the fall semester in early December. 

The Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center at Middle Tennessee State University is partnering with Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center in Hendersonville to host a 60-piece art exhibit. 

The free exhibit — Vietnam: 2 Soldiers, 2 Artists, 2 Journeys Then and Now — opened 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 the story of two brave soldiers (David Wright and Chuck Creasy, both from Gallatin) 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.

The 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.

 

About the Author

Michael Aldrich

Michael Aldrich is Nashville Parent's Managing Editor and a Middle Tennessee arts writer. He and his wife, Alison, are the proud parents of 4-year-old Ezra and baby Norah.