Book + Art | The Loneliest Monk
at the Asheville Art Museum
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Cost:
Free for Members or included with Museum admission
Tickets:
https://www.ashevilleart.org/visit/ticket-options/
An Evening with poet Richard Chess and artist Tobi Kahn Join us for a rich interdisciplinary conversation featuring local, award-winning poet Rick Chess and New York based, abstract painter Tobi Kahn. This special event explores the deep creative dialogue between the literary and visual arts, anchored by Kahn’s painting “NOAPHA II” which serves as the cover art for Chess’s recently published fifth poetry collection, The Loneliest Monk (Orison Books 2026). Kahn will show images of and discuss some of his work and Chess will read and discuss some of the poems from The Loneliest Monk. Then they will engage in a conversation with each other about their work. Richard Chess’s other collections of poetry, include Love Nailed to the Doorpost, Third Temple, Chair in the Desert, and Tekiah. He is professor emeritus from University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA), where, for 30 years, he directed UNCA’s Center for Jewish Studies. Tobi Kahn is a painter and sculptor whose art has been shown in more than 70 solo museum exhibitions. He is currently working on a solo survey exhibition, Tobi Kahn: Quest for the Essence that will open in the Fall of 2026 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida. Use this link to pre-order: The Loneliest Monk This event is generously sponsored by Robert Deutsch.