Special Exhibit: Ellen Elmes, The Art of Music and Mountains

Dates: March 8-September 30, 2025

Location: Special Exhibits Gallery, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Artist Ellen Elmes moved to Appalachia over five decades ago, intrigued by the beauty of people and place. She continues to admire the close-knit kinship of families and neighbors, and the reliance of mountaineers on hard work, community, nature, and the grace of God to build a life, and every day she finds wonder in the ethereal beauty of misty mountains, the rhythms of changing seasons, and the expanse of the night sky unobscured by city lights. Many of these elements became the substance of her art.

Ellen Elmes: The Art of Music and Mountains features her creativity across a variety of mediums and themes, from traditional instruments, musicians, and songs to the grandiosity and minutiae of nature. The core of this exhibition – a series of acrylic on canvas, large-scale paintings entitled “Tribute to the Stanley Brothers” and inspired by their songs – is an example of a body of work that awakened in the artist a deeper understanding of the roots, stories, and expression embodied in old-time and traditional songs of the mountains.

Artwork will include examples of acrylic, watercolor, and murals. Objects related to the Stanley Brothers will be on display, including several on loan from the Ralph Stanley Museum in Clintwood, VA. The “Tribute to the Stanley Brothers” series is on loan from the Clintwood Community Hall.

Additional free and low-cost complementary programming supported by the United Company Foundation will be scheduled during the exhibit.