The Gilmer County Genealogical Society’s November Monthly Meeting will be held on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. in the lower level meeting room of the Gilmer County Library. Officers and Committee Chairpersons will be elected and appointed at the beginning of the meeting. Following the election, folk artist Billy Roper will present "Creation: Billy Roper Shares Family Stories and Art." In this unique program representing our Appalachian mountain heritage, he will combine family history, storytelling, and visual art to create a recipe of hearty goodness.
Billy Roper is a prolific and talented self-taught folk artist from Talking Rock, Georgia whose art is created through painting, drawing, sculpting, storytelling, poetry, and more. His most familiar artistic media would be colorful acrylic paintings mostly on canvas with his personal musings painted on the back. He is also known for his sculptures in wood and North Georgia marble. However, some works are created on wood and paper using oil pastels and charcoal.
Billy replied when asked to describe his paintings, “Some of the things I do are happy and cheerful, some ain’t. Just like my life is. The artwork matches my life. I do some things to sell, some to not. The high-end collectors usually get the moody. Anger does not match your couch pieces. The whole range of what I do is broad. There is usually something in there for most people.”
The front of Billy’s paintings do not complete them. The back of them continues the expression with handwritten stories by Billy. When asked how this process came to be, Billy said, “Well any blank space around me is in danger. Ha Ha. Sometimes the writing is about the painting, sometimes not at all. It usually describes more the feelings involved. In a lot of cases I use the writing to help people see what they see. Not so much what I see. They take my ideas and apply it to their lives. That happens a lot. I have had a lot of hurt in my life, most people have. The paintings and writing are used for all kinds of reason with people. It has happened many times that people will give the painting to somebody that is having the same problems the painting addresses. More often people have their own reasons that I never know. Used to a long time ago I would write, carve and paint. With the painting I just started to combine them at a certain point.”
He has been the featured artist in multiple exhibits and his art has won awards in various festivals and shows. Billy’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures are found in many galleries and collectors’ homes. All his works reflect his Appalachian roots, his Cherokee ancestors and their culture. He has said, “I was taught who I was and where I came from for countless generations I know – that does not make me better or worse but it makes me – me.”
The public is invited to the Gilmer County Genealogical Society’s meeting on Saturday, November 15, at 2:00 p.m. in the lower level meeting room of the Gilmer County Library to see and hear how the arts that he creates reflect his roots, ancestors, and their culture in the program "Creation: Billy Roper Shares Family Stories and Art."
Also check out other Arts events in Ellijay, Meetups in Ellijay, Fine Arts events in Ellijay.
