The Vicksburg Art Association will open its 2009-10 season Tuesday night with a celebration.

If you go

The Vicksburg Art Association’s first meeting of the 2009-10 season will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Constitution Firehouse Gallery, Main and Openwood streets. A display of paintings by VAA members will mark the group’s 40th year of being headquartered at the firehouse. Also, the group is seeking new members. Dues are $15 per year. For information, call 601-638-9221.

The group will mark the its 40th anniversary of being headquartered at the Constitution Firehouse Gallery, a historic structure at Main and Openwood streets.

“I can’t believe it’s been that long,” said 37-year VAA member Toni Lanford-Ferguson. “It’s a long time.”

The VAA’s longest-running member, Jean Blue, recalled the first few years after the VAA moved into the firehouse in 1970.

“It had been used for storage for the city street department,” said Blue, who has been part of the VAA since its inception in 1964. “We’ve rehabbed the kitchen and the bathroom. We installed gallery lighting. We painted and shuttered the windows. This was all done within the first few years.”

The upkeep, Blue said, is by volunteers.

“It’s a neat, old building,” VAA President Leslie Horton said. “It’s got great windows.”

Before moving into the firehouse, the VAA, first called the Vicksburg Art Associates, gathered wherever available.

“We met in people’s homes, and we would have our shows at the public library and church basements before it grew into a structured group,” Blue said.

To mark the anniversary and the first meeting of the season, six VAA members have been asked to create a work of art depicting the firehouse.

“We’re each picking a different artist and doing a painting based on their style,” said Horton, a member since 1965.

“We will tell about the process we went through and a history about the artist whose style we’re depicting at the meeting.”

The artists are James Smithhart, who’s emulating Alphonse Mucha; Elizabeth Roberts-Hamel, who’s emulating Frank Miller; Mary Qasim, who’s emulating Vincent Van Gogh; Horton, who’s emulating Henri Matisse; Blue, who’s emulating Claude Monet; and Lanford-Ferguson, who’s emulating fellow VAA member Blue.

“She’s my idol,” said Lanford-Ferguson. “She may not be world-famous, but she’s famous to me.”

To attract newcomers to the 225-member VAA, Horton said fliers have been mailed, telling people about the show.

“We have a lot of artists and artist appreciators in the organization,” said Blue.

Membership fees are $15 per year, and meetings are each first Tuesday from September through May.

The firehouse was built in 1870 and originally called the Old Constitution Engine House. It has been designated by the Department of Archives and History as a Mississippi Landmark. The gallery isn’t open daily, but rather is used for the VAA’s monthly meetings, as well as art shows and workshops.

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Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com