BRISTOL, Tenn.-Va. (Feb. 21, 2025) – On March 8, the work of acclaimed artist and muralist Ellen Elmes will be featured in the latest special exhibit coming to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Historic Downtown Bristol. “Ellen Elmes, The Art of Music & Mountains” will be on display through Sept. 30, 2025. Elmes’ “Tribute to the Stanley Brothers” series, on loan from the Clintwood Community Hall in Clintwood, Va., will be part of the exhibit.
“We are thrilled to work with the Ralph Stanley Museum in Clintwood, who have generously loaned us several objects from their collection,” said museum Head Curator Dr. Rene Rodgers. “The Stanley Brothers remain one of the most influential acts in bluegrass music and play a crucial role in the music history of our region.”
Ellen Elmes moved to Appalachia more than fifty years 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. 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 – 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.
Free and low-cost complementary programming will be scheduled during the months of the exhibition, supported by the United Foundation. For more information visit BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org.