A traveling exhibit by Vicksburg artist and downtown gallery owner H.C. Porter will be displayed at the Mississippi Arts Center, 201 E. Pascagoula St., Jackson.

Backyards & Beyond: Mississippians and Their Stories will open Monday and run through April 1.

The collection of 80 mixed-media paintings tells the stories of Mississippians on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

The project began Sept. 18, 2005, two weeks after Katrina. It ended on the storm’s first anniversary, Aug. 29, 2006.

The collection has been published in a book, and the works have been displayed across the country.

Exhibit hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free, but donations to Backyards & Beyond, a nonprofit arts organization, are encouraged.

One-man band to play at SCHC

The Southern Cultural Heritage Center will present a concert April 5 by an Israeli multi-instrumentalist.

Amir Gwirtzman will perform selections from his 2009 concert project, “Inhale-Exhale,” at 6 p.m. He will use 20 woodwinds, horns, pipes, flutes and other instruments to play jazz, R&B and folk music.

Gwirtzman is a member of Esta, an Israeli band. He also conducts workshops. 

Admission is $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Student tickets are $8. Tickets go on sale Monday. Visit the SCHC, or call 601-631-2997.

Ex-park historian pens Civil War book

A Civil War book by the former chief historian of the Vicksburg National Military Park and another historian will be released May 18.

“Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Campaigns that Changed the Civil War” by Edwin C. Bearss, chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, and J. Parker Hills, retired military officer and former president of the Friends of Raymond, tells of the events surrounding the Vicksburg and Gettysburg campaigns and gives an account of the Battle of Raymond.

Hardcover copies of the book, released by National Geographic Magazine, can be pre-ordered from www.amazon.com for $18.48 to be delivered in May. A Kindle edition is also available for $15.40.