Mississippi’s art community is a study in contrasts.
Over the course of its modern history, Mississippi has been marked by local artists with personalities as epic and status-quo-shattering as their art, but its art scene has been equally affected by quiet craftspeople who continue generations-old decorative art traditions.
Groups can experience both as observers and often as hands-on participants as well at these Mississippi arts institutions.
Mississippi Museum of Art
Jackson
The Mississippi Art Association, the forerunner of the Mississippi Museum of Art, celebrates its 105th anniversary this year, honoring more than a century of organizing and showcasing local artists. Though the museum, which opened in 1978, is much younger, it upholds this tradition today while also seeking to bring the greater world of art to Mississippi.
The museum’s permanent collection, called “The Mississippi Story,” is always free and open to the public, telling the story of the people who live in the state and its art scene, and many of the works on display are special exhibitions, among them the current feature “When Modern Was Contemporary.” Running through October 30 and highlighting selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection, the exhibition includes landmark works from Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko, Alexander Calder, Georgia O’Keeffe and more than 40 other prominent modern painters.
Private tours are customized around the groups’ interests and schedule, said marketing director Julian Rankin, and typically clock in the one- to two-hour range. “It’s built to the specs of what the group needs,” he said. “A lot of times people want to come for a specific exhibition, but some want to whiz through the permanent collection before.”
Before or after their tours, groups can do boxed lunches in the 1.2-acre green space and sculpture garden surrounding the museum, dine in the on-site cafe or one of the museum’s private rental rooms, or do a hands-on studio activity with a local artist.
Shearwater Pottery Workshop
Ocean Springs
When Peter Anderson built the Shearwater Pottery Workshop on the Mississippi Sound in 1928 as a place to work on creating original pottery and glazes, he established a legacy of homegrown Mississippi designs, molds and decorations that is carried on today by two successive generations of his family.
Groups can watch potters in action in two main spaces — the workshop and the annex — and purchase their creations in the showroom.
“In the workshop, you see about three people at a time doing firmware, cast ware, and you might see glazing; and in the annex, you might see casting and decorating,” said business manager Beth Ashley. “The majority of the decorators and potters would be Andersons. We continue the traditions that Peter, the potter, made, and even the workshop is a step back in time.”
Due to the size of the space and the fact that both the workshop and the annex are active production areas, Shearwater can only accommodate groups of 40 or fewer at one time. The showroom is accessible, but the workshop and annex are not; also, standard coaches cannot make the full approach, so visitors must walk 200 yards from the drop-off point to the facility.
