About

The GumTree Museum of Art, Inc formerly known as The Tupelo Artist Guild, Inc. was established as a non-profit corporation on 1982. Since 1985, the GumTree Museum of Art has maintained a high standard of visual art among members and the public, and serves as an educational institution for the visual arts.
Through the highest quality exhibitions, work shops, lectures, and other activities, the Museum is a center for the promotion of the visual arts and an important cultural asset to the state of Mississippi.

The GumTree Museum of Art, a public visual arts gallery located in the original Peoples Bank and Trust Company in downtown Tupelo, opened in February 1985. The Beaux Arts style building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was begun in 1904 and completed in 1905.

The adaptation of Greco-Roman detail on both the interior and exterior creates a classical structure in the context of what was Tupelo’s early commercial district. Exterior classical elements include the use of pediments and round arch, hoodmold and flat arch, architraves, details, and consoles; on the interior by coffers and highly ornamented pilasters and plaster relief sculptures. A limestone exterior provides a formal contrast to the brick and pressed metal facades of other downtown buildings.

Visit us soon at 211 West Main Street in downtown Tupelo, Mississippi.

2012 Board of Directors

Sam Agnew
Tony Caldwell
Virginia Chambers
Jeni Chandler
Martha Cheney
Gabrielle Cooper
Kim Deaton
Matt Gillis
Randall Godwin
Betty Harris
Sally Kepple
Jean Laney
Jimmy Long
Bubba Nash
Brian Neely
Robert Reed
Misti Wilcox

Kit Stafford – Executive Director

Kit Stafford is the executive director for the GumTree Museum of Art.  She took over that position in August of 2010.   Kit received a Bachelors of Fine Art from Mississippi State University with an emphasis in painting.  Kit has lived in Tupelo and taught art in Tupelo Public Schools for eleven years where she was a National Board Certified Arts Educator.  Kit served as an art educator and resource for Pierce Street Elementary and then Thomas Street Elementary which were Model Schools for Arts Integration through the Mississippi Art Commission.   The Downtown Guitar Art project was created by Kit Stafford and her husband Russell.  She organized and worked with 15 art teachers and their schools to create one of a kind guitar art for downtown.  Kit lives in downtown Tupelo with her husband, Russell, and their 3 daughters, Reid, Shelby, and Sophie.