Museum on Wheels

A trip to the local library is becoming a more colorful experience in Mississippi. And it’s drawing a lot of visual interest. As MPB’s Arts reporter Ron Brown tells us, if you can’t make it an art museum, no problem; the museum is coming to a library near you.

Keesha Jordan has a number of responsibilities as assistant librarian at the Petal Public Library, including calling members when she has something they want.

Keesha Jordan: “May I speak to Wendy please?”

Like a special book or two.

Keesha Jordan: “May I leave a message? This is Keesha calling at the Petal Public Library to let her know that we have two books that she requested, okay? Great. Thank you, you too. Bye bye.”

Her friendly services go far beyond courtesy telephone phone calls. She does something you wouldn’t expect a librarian to do; Keesha Jordan freely admits that she often directs visitors away from the library books..

“Yes I do, I encourage them to go and look at the art display.”

The art display is the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Museum on Wheels, a special temporary exhibit of 18 painting reproductions. The artists range from local talent like Glennray Tutor and Walter Anderson, to masters like Pollock, Van Gough and Picasso.

“We get a lot of people who just walk around and stand over there and look at it for a moment and they give different comments about it.”

People like Shirley Drawn. “It’s very pretty, I mean It’s so different. Just about every picture has it’s own unique look.”

The exhibit covers both sides of five office divider panels. Along with the painting reproductions of classics like the Mona Lisa, there are examples of texture, color combinations and brief bios of the artists.

Pamela Pridgen is the Director of Petal Public Library; “It shows masters work in full color and then it also has little interactive tools like … there’s a section that talks about texture, and there’s tactile things there that you can touch There’s a piece on collage, different textures there, It talks about color and the range of color wheels, and then you can look in the paintings, and see those colors and how they’re used to create balance or to create emphasis”

It is, in short, a mini art education in one stop.

"It brings art out into the community. And it says that art is not something that is housed only in museum walls, but that art can be a part of your daily life. It can be in public buildings, in your own home.
The other thing is it starts us to thinking about art and by putting an exhibit of this nature in the library, then if you see something that interests you, you can go explore it.”

That is exactly what Crystal Smith did… explore; “It was interesting. I like the pointalism and the impressionism paintings on the other side.” But Smith was not won over by the reproduction of a painting by major abstract expressionist Jackson Pollack. “I don’t get the splatter paint thing, but you know… laughs… my four-year-old could do that.”

It’s called a museum on wheels. But it’s not really a museum, and it’s not really on wheels. The Mississippi Arts Commission, is taking artistic license with the exhibit name. It implies movement and that’s just what it does.
It was in Waynesboro in October. Next week, it moves on to Long Beach, and Petal assistant librarian Keesha Jordan will reluctantly have to say good-bye.

“It’s a traveling display so it’s not here for very long. I am happy to see it here, and it will be missed.”

But Jordan says it will not be forgotten by the hundreds of visitors in Petal who came in looking for books, and left with something more. For MPB News, I’m Ron Brown