An artist holding stick up in the country (7)
I believe the answer is:
andorra
'the country' is the definition.
(Andorra is an example)
'an artist holding stick up' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'holding' indicates putting letters inside.
'stick' becomes 'rod' (I've seen this before).
'up' says the letters should be written in reverse (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'rod' written backwards gives 'dor'.
'an'+'ra'='anra'
'anra' enclosing 'dor' is 'ANDORRA'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for andorra that I've seen before include "Autonomous principality in the Pyrenees" , "Catalan state" , "Mountainous principality of southwest Europe" , "Principality in SW Europe" , "Tiny European nation" .)