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What does it take to walk 2,000 miles?
Find out at this special double-feature lecture hosted by two "thru-hikers" of the Appalachian Trail.
Greg Powell, who conquered the entire 2,000+ mile trail twenty years ago, sits down with artist Ellen Langford, who recently completed a 1,700-mile trek from Georgia to Vermont. Though her journey was paused by illness, Ellen plans to return to finish her remaining 500 miles this summer.
Together, they will compare stories of life on the trail and discuss how the hiker experience - and the trail itself - has evolved over two decades. Ellen will delve into how she found inspiration not just in the majestic landscapes, but in "trail life" itself.
The lecture will feature an exhibit of paintings created both during her trek and in her studio after returning home.
This lecture is included with museum admission or MMNSF membership.
BONUS: View a stunning pop-up gallery of Ellen Langford’s trail-inspired artwork, available for purchase! See Ellen's bio and more photos from the trail below the gallery.
ABOUT ELLEN LANGFORD:
Ellen Langford is a painter whose body of work is inspired by landscapes, chance meetings, and the South’s mighty cross-currents.
Ellen notices and captures the relationships between the land and its inhabitants – a child with his dog, a clothesline in the breeze, a figure with the landscape. We don’t only see them in her paintings, we feel that joyful connection.
Langford worked for years as a paramedic in central Mississippi. She became heavily influenced by the often tender narratives of her patients’ stories, as well as the quiet rituals that they incorporate into their lives. As the parent of a young boy herself, and owner of chickens and dogs, Ellen often incorporates children and animals into her compositions as she finds sweetness and vulnerability in their movements, as well as joy and adventure.
Native to Mississippi, Ellen has pursued academic studies in her craft in New York, San Francisco, DC, and Italy, among other places. However, her work took on its recognizable narrative quality when she returned to her home in the Deep South.
Langford’s painting process involves layers of paint, often sanded away and then glazed over, searching for shape and pattern, color, and texture, to build the story worlds her figures inhabit. (Bio courtesy of Betsy-Rose Weiss of the American Folk Art Gallery in Asheville, NC).
Museum of Natural Science