Picturing Appalachia: Views from the Permanent Collection

Picturing Appalachia: Views from the Permanent Collection, located in our Masterpiece Gallery, centers artwork and artifacts that engage with the landscape, labor, craft traditions, and people that have called the Appalachian region home. Well-known artists and photographers including Henry Ossawa Tanner, Doris Ulmann, Walker Evans, and Aaron Siskind are presented alongside lesser known and unrecorded artists and makers who either came from or traversed the region and felt inspired to document what they saw. Though by its very nature incomplete – as all exhibitions are – this show seeks to highlight what makes Appalachia so beloved and special and to encourage visitors to think deeply about the rich, complicated history of how this place and its people have been presented in visual art and culture.

Special thanks to our colleagues at Loyal Jones Appalachian Center and Hutchins Library and our summer intern, Joshua Kells (Berea College Class of 2026) for their invaluable contributions to this show.