Smyrna History Museum opens new Nellie Mae Rowe folk art show

This next story we're working on a new exhibit at the Smyrna History Museum is celebrating Nellie Mae Rowe and her creative world. And our Maria Guzman is at the Smyrna Library now with the details on this one. Hey, Maria. Hey, Tyler. Okay, so listen, if you are planning a day in Smyrna, I recommend you guys to start at the Smyrna Museum where you can see a painting from Nellie Mae Rowe. and then come on over. It's a two-minute walk to the library because this is where the exhibit continues. And I'm going to go ahead and show you there is a replica of her home. Her home was here in Vinings around this area. So I'm going to go ahead and show you guys that and also introduce you to Mary who is with the library. Mary, this home is known as the Playhouse. That's how she called it how did she come up with the name why that name well she wanted to return to play when she later in life when she really focused in on her art she wanted to recall the time in her life when she was most happy when she was a child and so she wanted her her home to be a playhouse and so that she named it herself and as you can see from all the decor that all the art that she created. It is found art. She was a folk artist and a self-taught artist and very intricate. She used what she had. She used what she found and objects that people brought her to embellish the outside and the inside of her home. And her home was here in the Vining slash Smyrna area. The home is no longer there, but people can still visit where she goes. So tell me about that. That is correct. It is in Vinings where Hotel Indigo is now and there is a pocket park dedicated to her with information about her and pictures of some of her art so they can so people can still visit the site but then you can actually come here and get a real sense of what that property looked like. And you know you see so many people around this area with being in the library and you actually met some people who said that they knew her they remember her so what are those stories? Yes we've had actually a couple of different lectures here at the library focused on her art in the past and lots of people who use our library but or live in the community came to these lectures and shared their stories of that they remember her well that she was a prominent figure in the Vinings and Smyrna area and people remember her fondly because she was very welcoming people could visit her whenever they wanted to see her home she wanted people to enjoy it like she does and so you could visit her property or even the inside of her home so So they had shared a lot of those fond memories of getting to know her and enjoying her art. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. So you're able to visit both the museum and the library for free to learn more about Nellie Mae Rowe. Now the exhibit is going to be available for two years. So you have a chance to come down to Smyrna and see what they have. Yeah, Maria, no excuse not to get down there when you have two years to be able to check it out and see this exhibit at the two different locations. Maria Guzman, thanks for showing us around, and we'll check in with you in just a little bit for the latest.