Most people know Steve Wariner as an outstanding musician, singer, and songwriter, but those aren’t his only creative talents. Wariner is also a gifted artist. Some of his artwork is now on display at Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center, as part of The Flip Side: Paintings by Steve Wariner, an exhibit that will remain open until July 26, 2026. The Flip Side: Paintings by Steve Wariner features Wariner’s acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media artwork from the last 30 years.

Interestingly, Wariner was originally planning on studying art in college. Instead, he began performing with Dottie West when he was still a teenager, the beginning of a career that is still going strong more than 50 years later.

“I always painted, always loved art, and my dad would paint,” Wariner tells Everything Nash. “So as a kid, I painted and loved art and music. My dad did both. But when COVID happened, and the world shut down, I started. I told myself that I’m gonna learn. I’m gonna dive into some art projects, and learn some art that I missed when I was going to the Dotty West and Chet Atkins Conservatory of Music, traveling down the roads.”

Wariner began following an artist named Stuart Davies, who works with oils, something Wariner had not done much of before.

“I was kind of hesitant with oils, because of the factors of it drying so slowly, and chemicals you have to use, and so forth,” Wariner explains. “So I really started learning, and I loved it. The things about it that I was hesitant about, I loved about it. ..  It just takes forever to dry and so forth. But I just told myself I’m gonna learn.”

Why Steve Wariner Is Doing An Art Show

 

It was the people at Monthaven who saw Wariner’s art, and brought up the idea of showing off some of his work.

“I’ve never done a one-man show, ever,” Wariner says. “I was intrigued with that. I thought, ‘Well, I have all this work. I want people to see it.'”

Monthaven Arts &Cultural Center, located just outside of Nashville, is a free museum held in a historic building dating back to the Civil War. For Wariner, there isn’t a better place for him to display his art.

“The people are just wonderful,” Wariner boasts. “I call it an all-star team. … They’ve been wonderful to me. So encouraging, too. I’d show them different styles of art. They were just great to me, and I can’t say enough good about them.”

Steve Wariner’s Future in Country Music

Wariner fans need not worry that he is giving up his music career. The 71-year-old is still planning to continue performing and writing songs. But he does find satisfaction in doing art as another creative outlet.

“I’m still writing songs,” Wariner says. “I won’t ever give up my day job, playing and writing and composing. But it’s kind of fun to explore my other creative outlet, which is making art, visual art. … It’s really therapy. It’s really been kind of a release and therapy for me over the years, especially when the world shut down. That was a great time to shift gears, really.”

For Wariner, working on both his music and his art is an easy transition for him.

“People always say, ‘I really like that. Are you gonna show it somewhere?'” Wariner says. “I don’t even think about it. I just paint, and then I go to the next one, and then hang that one over here, and go to the next one. And so it’s the same way with my music, really. My writing, I’m not really out producing records right now, so I’m just writing. And every now and then, I’ll pitch someone to someone, or they hear it, and they say, ‘Hey, I like that.’ And so I’m not really actively trying to do anything. I’m just being creative.”

Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center is located at 1017 Antebellum Circle,  Hendersonville, TN 37075.