BIO:

My paintings and murals tell the stories of Makers and of the power of the Arts to uplift the human spirit. I create traditional oil portraits, using the timeless techniques of the Old Masters. I often incorporate silver leaf, which adds an ethereal element. Glazes create light filled surfaces. When someone sees my work I want them to feel a connection to the sacredness within us all.
The strongest influences on my work have always been close to home. These influences include sounds and imagery from the Old Time Music that permeated my childhood and the woods and forests that still surround my home. My grandfather was a Fiddler, and his music held the power to transform the greatest of life's hardships. Somehow, through his music, he taught me the same. I began to paint at a very young age. I remember being swept away by the process of creating when the adversity of life became nearly unbearable.
In addition to works in Oil and Silver Leaf on panel, I created a series of murals to honor and preserve the heritage of Old Time Music and Arts in my community. These murals, installed throughout downtown Mountain City, depict legends of Old Time Music from Johnson County, including GB Grayson, who first recorded the Ballad of Tom Dooley and Clarence Tom Ashley. The murals sparked a revival of interest in the history and music of Johnson County and inspired Long Journey Home, a musical heritage festival. The murals tell our community's collective story and celebrate a rich heritage that was nearly forgotten.
The strongest influences on my work have always been close to home. These influences include sounds and imagery from the Old Time Music that permeated my childhood and the woods and forests that still surround my home. My grandfather was a Fiddler, and his music held the power to transform the greatest of life's hardships. Somehow, through his music, he taught me the same. I began to paint at a very young age. I remember being swept away by the process of creating when the adversity of life became nearly unbearable.
In addition to works in Oil and Silver Leaf on panel, I created a series of murals to honor and preserve the heritage of Old Time Music and Arts in my community. These murals, installed throughout downtown Mountain City, depict legends of Old Time Music from Johnson County, including GB Grayson, who first recorded the Ballad of Tom Dooley and Clarence Tom Ashley. The murals sparked a revival of interest in the history and music of Johnson County and inspired Long Journey Home, a musical heritage festival. The murals tell our community's collective story and celebrate a rich heritage that was nearly forgotten.
November 2023, American Artists Professional League 95th Grand National Exhibition. The Salmagundi Club, New York, NY. Finding Freedom.
The Lunar Codex, October 2023, A collection of 30,000 works of art and poetry placed in time capsules and installed on The Moon. August 2023, The Serpentine Chain: Works Inspired by the Essays of Sharyn McCrumb. Johnson County Center for the Arts. November 2022, International Guild of Realism's 2022 Fall Salon Online Exhibition, Among the Wildflowers. October 2021. International Guild of Realism's 2021 Fall Salon Online Exhibition. The Triumph of Truth. October 2022. Illuminations: The New Pre-Raphaelites. Era Contemporary. Mine is the Morning. May 2020. Special Collection: Art in the Age of the 2020 Global Pandemic. Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University. Johnson City, Tennessee. Dixon's El Dorado October 2019. Honorable Mention at Art in the Park, Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The Fiddle Maker. October 2019. Sacred Space Solo Exhibit at HoLa Hora Latina gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee September 2019. Third Place HoLa Festival. Knoxville Tennessee. Flying In. September 2019. International Guild of Realism's 14th Annual Exhibition at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. The Fiddle Maker II. October 2019. Sacred Space Solo Exhibit at Johnson County Center for the Arts, Mountain City, Tennessee March 2019. International Guild of Realism Spring Salon. The Fiddle Maker. April 2019. Sacred Space. Solo Exhibit at Warren Cultural Center, Greenfield, Iowa RESUME:![]()
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ARTIST STATEMENT:

There is a wisdom that comes from living next to and out of the land- a humility that is central to our identity here in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Here we love the land for what it is- not for what we can make out of it. And so I paint the land and the people of Southern Appalachia for what they are.
I am rooted here by family and community and by an intense love for the landscape. Not only beauty, but truth emanates from the rhythms of the music and dialect, the infinite complexity and simplicity of tree branches and snail shells, the hard-won wrinkles in the faces of old timers.
As I see it, my role as an artist is to be open so that the creative force that exists in the universe can speak through me. I paint what I am compelled to paint, knowing enough not to question this.
Cristy Dunn
I am rooted here by family and community and by an intense love for the landscape. Not only beauty, but truth emanates from the rhythms of the music and dialect, the infinite complexity and simplicity of tree branches and snail shells, the hard-won wrinkles in the faces of old timers.
As I see it, my role as an artist is to be open so that the creative force that exists in the universe can speak through me. I paint what I am compelled to paint, knowing enough not to question this.
Cristy Dunn