BOONE, N.C. — The new issue of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review (vol. 52, no. 3) focuses on the many talented and brilliant visual artists who call Appalachia home and whose work often depicts and engages with the region but is not limited by its boundaries, thematic, geographic or otherwise.
This special issue coincides with the annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition and the Center for Appalachian Studies and Appalachian Journal will be collaborating with the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts to host a panel discussion on Appalachian photography alongside the issue’s official release on April 4, 2025. This issue features scholarly investigations of work from Jakeli Swimmer, Lacy Hale, Vivian Swayne, Robert Villamagna and Charlie Brouwer; artist series features, book and media reviews and poetry centered on art and ekphrastic response.
In “Art in Them Mountains: Critical Discussions on Appalachia, Identity and Abolition” by Vivian Swayne and Michelle Brown, the two explore the work of three Appalachian artists: Jakeli Swimmer (Qualla Boundary, NC), Lacy Hale (Whitesburg, KY) and Vivian Swayne (East TN). Swayne and Brown analyze how, through subversive stories, each artist reveals contradictions in the Mountain South through political art that counters violence, hate, vitriol and ongoing settler intrusions in the region. This article is a part of a larger digital archival project, Abolition Now: Images for Study and Struggle, that features interviews with artists, organizers and curators about the productions and contexts of their work.
“Contemporary Appalachian Photography: Panel Discussion” features a transcribed discussion from the 2021 Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition in which artists Clarissa Sligh, lydia see and Megan King, moderated by shauna caldwell, discuss their own art’s participation in and intersection with the region through identity, resistance and expression. Each artist discusses how their respective mediums help them explore identity based in place and their aims to represent the diversity of identity in Appalachia.
Jeffery B. Grubbs expands on the life and work of the “West Virginia Tin Man” Robert Villamagna in his article “‘West Virginia Tin Man’: The Life and Art of Robert Villamagna.” Through a combination of personal interviews and analysis of Villamagna’s work, Grubbs retraces the path Villamagna took to becoming an artist fraught with rejection, cultural and political tensions and perseverance. Grubbs describes Villamagna’s career as one of unwavering love for art making and full of overcoming hardship and self-determination.
Central to this issue are the artist series features, displaying the work and artistic statements of some of Appalachia’s finest visual artists. These features include work from Frances Bukovsky, Laura Walkingstick, Kari Gunter-Seymour, Elle Ivy Green, Jen Picicci, Jody Bradley, Jason Flack, Marcus Morris and David Underwood. Each work speaks to the large breath of Appalachian visual art through their diverse mediums, artistic statements and expression of Appalachian identity.
Through a creative nonfiction piece, “Finding Thoreau in the Blue Ridge: Charlie Brouwer’s ‘Framework Walden,’” Suzanne Stryk recounts a time spent exploring the wooden sculptures of Charlie Brouwer in Floyd County, VA. Shortly after rereading Thoreau, Stryk expounds on Brouwer’s recreation of Thoreau’s cabin and how his sculptures speak to attunement with nature. In conversation with Brouwer and images of his breathtaking sculptures, Stryk transports us to the nine rural art-filled acres Brouwer calls home.
Sixteen brilliant poets contribute to this issue: Joseph Bathanti, Wesley R. Bishop, Susan O’Dell Underwood, Marianne Worthington, Gary Grossman, Jeremy Michael Reed and Gene Hyde. A special multi-author poem “New to the Country: The Refugee’s Song” features the voices of Linda Kennedy, Lu Henninger, Allan Bowers, Laura Johnson, Lorina Stuter, Jim McKinley, Keith Dowdy and Clare Traynor and was facilitated by Abby Minor at of the Centre Crest Nursing Home Creative Writing Group. This issue also features illustrations by artist Annie Greenwood, accompanying “Signs of the Times.”
Five reviews delve into recent Appalachian literature and media with a special focus on photography anthologies, ekphrastic poetry and graphic novels. Caleb Brown reviews Rich Community: An Anthology of Appalachian Photographers, edited by David Underwood. Tonya Nagle explores the photography collection Deep Ruts by Julie Rae Powers. Todd D. Snyder analyzes Appalachian hip-hop album No Options produced by J.K Turner, Ted Olson and William H. Turner. Audrey Nidiffer unpacks Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance, and Pauletta Hansel delves into Dirt Songs by Kari Gunter-Seymour.
To order this issue of Appalachian Journal, visit appjournal.appstate.edu and navigate to the "ORDER ONLINE" page.
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About the Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review
Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, founded in 1972, is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed quarterly journal housed at Appalachian State University. The journal features field research, interviews and other scholarly studies of history, politics, economics, culture, folklore, literature, music, ecology and a variety of other topics, as well as poetry and reviews of books, films and recordings dealing with the Appalachian Mountains region. Learn more at appjournal.appstate.edu.
About the Center for Appalachian Studies
The Center for Appalachian Studies promotes public programs, community collaboration, civic engagement and scholarship on the Appalachian region. The center is committed to building healthy communities and deepening knowledge of Appalachia’s past, present and future through community-based research and engagement. Learn more at appcenter.appstate.edu.
Written by Dr. Jessica Cory
Edited by Lauren Gibbs
March 12, 2025
BOONE, N.C.
Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review (vol. 52, no. 3)
Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review (vol. 52, no. 3)