Be on the lookout for portraits of blues musicians around town — it could lead to winning the Vicksburg Blues Experience prize package, which includes a stay at the Ameristar Casino Hotel, dinner tickets to Ameristar Casino, $100 in downtown dollars and a signed print by local artist H.C. Porter.
The Blues @ Home: Mississippi’s Living Blues Legends exhibition, which is Porter’s documentary collection of portraits and oral histories of 30 living Mississippi Blues artists, will open Friday, and pieces from the show will be displayed at 15 different Vicksburg locations plus the H.C. Porter Gallery on Washington Street.
“Having a contest is a unique way to encourage people to get out and see the exhibition and by offering it at different locations, people who may not be inclined to visit an art gallery will have the opportunity to experience the artwork, which showcases Mississippi’s influence of the blues,” said Porter.
“Sometimes people are hesitant to experience art in a museum or gallery and this way makes it less intimidating,” she said.
“They could run into a piece in their daily routine, get excited and then want to see more,” Porter said.  “This is also an opportunity for people to be introduced to businesses in town they may not frequent or even know about,” she added.
Participants may enter the contest by picking up a “passport” at any of the participating business, said Kim Hopkins, the executive director of Vicksburg Main Street.
Business owners will stamp the passports and entrants with the most stamps collected at Blues@Home venues will be entered to win the prize package, she said.
All of Porter’s blues portraits are paired with oral histories that allow the legends to tell their personal journeys in their own words, she said, and audio guides will be available for the art pieces displayed at the H.C. Porter gallery.
Each blues musician’s portrait will also have a panel installed beside the artwork, which will include a brief history of the musician, a quote and the owner of the art piece.
The Blues @ Home: Mississippi’s Living Blues Legends exhibition premiered April 1 at the University of Mississippi Art Museum in Oxford and was named one of Mississippi’s Top 10 Summer Events by The Culture Trip, a one-stop global website showcasing the best of art, food, culture and travel for every country in the world.
Following the premier in Oxford the exhibition traveled to the B.B. King museum in Indianola before coming to Vicksburg.
“This exhibit has been made possible with the assistance by the City of Vicksburg, the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vicksburg Main Street, the Ameristar Hotel Casino Vicksburg and a Mississippi Development Authority grant,” Hopkins said.
“They all came together to create a successful tourism draw for the community,” Porter said.
The H. C. Porter Gallery will feature 15 of the paintings. Other locations include Ameristar Casino, the Attic Gallery, Levee Street Market Place, Lorelei Books, Main Street Market, Michel’s Record Shop, Peterson’s Art and Antiques, Rouge Boutique and Salon, Rusty’s Riverfront Grill, Sassafras, Vicksburg Visitors Information Center, Walnut Hills, Warren County Welcome Center, Willingham’s and The Wine House.
The drawing is scheduled for Dec. 6, said Hopkins.
For more information call 601-661-9444 or email hcporter@hcporter.com or visit www.hcporter.com/bluesathome.
The 30 Mississippi Blues legends included in the exhibit are:
T Model Ford, “Honeyboy” Edwards, Jimbo Mathus, Jimmy Duck Holmes, Bill Abel, Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry, Alphonso Sanders, Vasti Jackson, King Edward, Kenny Brown, Eddie Shaw, L.C. Ulmer, Mickey Rogers, Eden Brent, Tommy “T-Bone” Pruitt, Elmore Williams,  Hezekiah Early,  YZ Ealey, James “Super Chikan” Johnson, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, Ben Payton, Eddie Cusic, Cadillac John Nolden, Jesse Robinson, Bobby Rush, Zac Harmon, Pat Thomas, B.B. King and Sharde Thomas.