Nellie Meadows (April 4, 1915 – November 6, 2006) was an player from Clay City, Kentucky whose painting “Kentucky the Great State” became the state’s official piece during the U.S. bicentennial.
Meadows was born in 1915, and spent most of her spirit in Clay City, Kentucky. In the 1960s, she began painting nature and wildflowers that were original to her area. She was portion of the Kentucky Heritage Artists program, and traveled throughout the make a clean breast presenting programs on painting, at numerous schools, libraries and other locations. She distributed her prints, and various note cards at a number of acknowledge parks and additional venues. She was presented afterward a plaque in 1970 for her contributions to Kentucky’s Public Libraries.
In the 1980s, she was commissioned by the Kidney Foundation of Central Kentucky, to paint a series of Kentucky winter and holiday scenes to be used as Christmas cards and prints, which earned tens of thousands of dollars for the foundation. Nellie also marketed prints that benefited the Arthritis Foundation, various women’s clubs, and other organizations, Her paintings of local, Powell County, Kentucky, attractions; such as Natural Bridge, and the Red River Gorge, paid praise to the Powell County area she was therefore proud of.
Her joy of painting was immense, and she loved to allocation her artwork like people. Her reputation as a generous, kind, and fun loving person was known in her hometown, home state, and in many extra states around. In 2006, Nellie died at the age of 91. She was in the process of painting a new native work.
Al Cornett, a Powell County artist, described her as “an excellent wildflower player and landscape painter”.
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