The 15th annual Lenten Fine Arts Series will get under way Friday with Nature’s Colors, a exhibition featuring the works of local artist and photographer Melody Golding.

Sponsored by The Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, the series will run Fridays through March 30, said Dorothy Brasfield, the church’s organist and choir director.

Nature’s Colors includes images of flowers and greenery, she said.

“They’re absolutely gorgeous. They’re spectacular,” Brasfield said. “Everybody that knows Melody’s work knows how good it is. It’s the first time we have featured her, and she’s a parishioner here at Holy Trinity, so it’s very special.”

Friday’s event, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Holy Trinity’s McInnis Parish Hall, includes a wine and cheese reception.

All other events in the series will begin at 12:05 p.m. in the church, followed by a gumbo lunch in the parish hall. The shows are free, while tickets to the gumbo are $10 each.

Golding’s published collections include the books “Panther Tract: Wild Boar Hunting in the Mississippi Delta” and “Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember,” and her solo documentary exhibit about Hurricane Katrina was acquired by the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History Archives Center.

The Jubilee Singers of the Utica campus of Hinds Community College, a men’s choir with roots that date to the 1920s, will perform March 2. The Jubilee Singers have performed in other venues across the city and county but have not previously been a part of the Lenten series, Brasfield said.

Another — much younger — school group will sing March 9. Fifth- and sixth-graders with the Beechwood Elementary School honor choir will perform selections including patriotic songs as well as folk and blues, she said.

March 16 will feature the Chamber Ensemble of the Vicksburg Orchestral Society playing a J.S. Bach suite of dance music balanced by some Louis Armstrong favorites, Brasfield said.

“The dances are delightful,” she said. “They are not the typical Bach pieces, but are much lighter.”

An abridged version of the musical “Smoke on the Mountain” that was part of the 2005 Lenten series returns March 23. Directed by James Anderson of the Chimneyville Reader’s Theater, the reading will feature local actors, said Brasfield, and include suchpopular songs as “Christian Cowboy” and “Filling Station Song.”

“It’s a lot of fun and everybody loved it,” she said.

The series concludes March 30. Scheduled to perform are members of Capitol Brass, who were part of the first Lenten Arts Series, in 1998.

Capitol Brass is an independent group but its members also play with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, she said.

“It’s a great way to close the series,” Brasfield said. “The music is light, entertaining and pleasing.”

If you go

Lenten Fine Arts Series events, except Feb. 24, start at 12:05 p.m. at The Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, at South and Monroe streets, each Friday during Lent. Gumbo will be served at 12:35 for $10.

• 5-7 p.m. Feb. 24— “Nature’s Colors,” art exhibition of the works of Melody Golding

• March 2 — Jubilee Singers of the Utica campus of Hinds Community College

• March 9 — Beechwood Elementary School Children’s Choir, directed by Frances Hassell

• March16 — Vicksburg Orchestral Society Chamber Ensemble

• March 23 — “Smoke on the Mountain,” Chimneyville Reader’s Theater

• March 30 — Capitol Brass