An artist with Vicksburg connections will be featured on Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s “Southern Expressions” at 8 p.m. Christmas Eve.

Katherine Rhodes Fields is the daughter of former Vicksburg residents Janie Selby Fields, who resides in Clinton, and the late Vaughn Fields.

Fields is the visiting assistant professor of art in printmaking at the University of Mississippi. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of the South at Sewannee, Tenn., and a master’s from Ole Miss, where she was a Roy Frank Finger Print Scholar. She attended the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland.

Fields is working on a billboard art piece for a solo print exhibit scheduled for 2010 at the Good Citizen Gallery in St. Louis.

Ballet, guitar focus of SCHC programs

The Art of Ballet, a class for children, is returning to the Southern Cultural Heritage Center Jan. 25.

The classes, in their second round at the SCHC, will be Mondays and are open to ages 4-6 from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m., ages 7-8 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and ages 9-10 from 5:45 to 7 p.m.

Andrea Tower, owner of Cypress Pilates, will teach students classic dance forms and formal steps and gestures.

Cost is $55 per child for 12 classes.

Space is limited and registration is required. To register, call 601-631-2997 or e-mail info@southernculture.org.

Also offered by the SCHC will be a workshop and concert by classical guitarist Jeffrey Bianchi.

Bianchi, an 18-year veteran musician, will give a presentation at 10 a.m. Feb. 18 of The Classical Guitar: From Downland to You Tube. Cost is $1 per person.

A concert by Bianchi will follow at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $5 for adults and $1 for children.

Bianchi is a graduate of the State University of New York at Fredonia and has studied under renowned guitarist James Piorkowski.

Youth symphony sets spring tryouts

The Mississippi Youth Symphony Orchestra will hold auditions Jan. 10 for new and advancing students for the spring season.

Ages 6 to 22 may audition from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the F.D. Hall Music Center at Jackson State University, where rehearsals will also be held from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. each Sunday.

Students must bring their own instruments. The charge is $35 per student, plus a $15 application fee.

Call Romaine Richards at 601-953-1768.