May 16 to June 28, 2026
Opening Reception 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 23, 2026
Artist Talk 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2026
The Long Way Home at the Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center, 1017 Antebellum Cir, Hendersonville, TN 37075 (just off The Gallatin Pike)
Taking inspiration from pop artist Edward Joseph Ruscha’s Every Building on the Sunset Strip, artist Wendy Murray set out in early 2025 to document the buildings, vacant blocks and food trucks over a 6.5-mile section of Gallatin Pike in Nashville. The first drawing was completed on Feb. 25, 2025, and Murray is on track to have approximately 250 drawings by May 2026.
Both sides of Gallatin Pike are being drawn plein air for this ambitious project. Her work will capture the complexity and subtly of urban spaces changing under the pressures of gentrification. Recording the human experience and community response to the changes is part of her broader research.
The Long Way Home will include approximately 170 drawings in the MACC’s Papillon Gallery. Taken together, these works reflect the atmosphere of a 6.5-mile section of Gallatin Pike. All of the art will be for sale. The exhibit will include a section that takes a behind-the-scenes look at her process.
Murray is a Nashville-based contemporary visual artist known for her documentation of urban space through drawing, painting and poster making. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville.
Murray will be on hand at Monthaven for an artist reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, 2026. She will also give an Artist Talk about her process on Sunday, May 31, 2026 from 2 to 4 p.m. Her talk will focus on how she has developed her drawing practice over the past 15 years. Among other things, she will discuss the rewards and challenges of working, painting and drawing on the streets of such big cities as Sydney, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Detroit and Nashville. For more information, call (615) 822-0789.
506PM WEDNESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2026, 4.7 x 6.3 in, Acrylic on archival board (4 ply)
Gallatin #1, Watercolor on Arches 300gsm, 2026
Wendy Murray on The Pike, with her cone, 2026 Photo Elizabeth Ratliff