Special Exhibit | Charles Vess: The Book of Ballads

Ballads – folk songs that tell a story through narrative verse – have been passed down through English, Irish, and Scottish oral traditions and continue to echo throughout the Appalachian Mountains today. Ballads have long captured the hearts and imagination of songsters, storytellers, and listeners, including award-winning illustrator Charles Vess. In 1993 Vess was inspired to illustrate the ballads he had loved to listen to for so many years. He worked with several award-winning and ballad-loving fantasy authors to develop scripts and compiled a series of beautifully illustrated comics, which he published in The Book of Ballads.

The exhibit, Charles Vess: The Book of Ballads, features seven ballads reimagined by some of the greatest fantasy writers of our time. The featured comics, including “The False Knight on the Road” by Neil Gaiman, “Thomas the Rhymer” by Sharyn McCrumb, and “Barbara Allen” by Midori Snyder, are an excellent introduction to traditional ballads for those not yet familiar and a special treat for those who already are. The exhibit also explores the tradition of ballad singing in Appalachia and traces the origin of each ballad and its journey through time. After all, singing is one way to keep ballads alive, art is another.

About Charles Vess

Charles Vess is a well-known illustrator of mythic fiction. Born in Virginia, he began his career working on Marvel’s “Spider-Man” followed by work for other graphic novels and illustrated books at publishing houses such as Tor, Harper, Abrams, and Subterranean Press while living in New York City.

Some favorite collaborations include Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition (Saga) and Rose (Scholastic) with Jeff Smith, as well as Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Folio Society) Joanne M. Harris (Honeycomb) and Charles de Lint (The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, Seven Wild Sisters). Over the years he has also worked extensively with British writer Neil Gaiman (Sandman), including their novel Stardust, which was made into a major film.

In 2022 his first novel, The Queen of Summer’s Twilight (NewCon Press) was published. Set in Scotland as well as across the border into Faerie it is based on the ancient ballad of Tam-Lin.

Another favorite is Walking Through the Landscape of Faerie (Faerie Magazine) a book of art, story and poetry designed by Vess with contributions from many of his favorite writers. This book is only available through its publisher’s website and from Charles Vess himself. Please drop by his table and pick up a copy.

Vess’ artwork has also been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. He has won two Hugo, four World Fantasy, three Chesley, six Locus, one Mythopoeic, and two Will Eisner awards for Best Artist over the years.

He lives on the North Fork River in southwestern Virginia where he works diligently from his studio, Green Man Press.