Please join us at Historic Jefferson College for a special exhibition on loan from the Mississippi Museum of Art now through Jan 6. “Mildred Nungester Wolfe in Print” brings a collection of 20 block prints made by one of Mississippi’s most prominent artists.

The exhibition honors Mildred Nungester Wolfe’s 70-year career as an artist. She worked in a variety of forms and her portrait of Eudora Welty hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. She was born in 1912 in Celina, Ohio and her ambition to create art was strong. With her father’s encouragement, she took advantage of every educational opportunity available. In the late 1930s, Mildred became involved in the Dixie Art Colony in southern Alabama where she met Karl Wolfe, who she later married. She and Karl moved to Jackson in 1946 and established Wolfe Studio. Wolfe still resides in Jackson and operates Wolfe studio with her daughter Elizabeth Wolfe. The exhibit at Historic Jefferson College is a wonderful opportunity to view her artwork close to home.

The majority of prints on display at Historic Jefferson College reflect the artist’s love of the natural world. The prints, made from hand-carved wood and linoleum blocks, portray a variety of subjects including “Cypress Swamp,” “Moonlight and Pine” and “Royal Street Courtyard” as well as seasonal images including “The Big Snow,” “Autumn Sweet Gum,” and “Winter Sweet Gum.” Other works exhibited reveal aspects of human nature including the heartening “Mother and Child,” “The Good Samaritan” and the painful “Vietnam or Any War.”

The prints exhibited at Historic Jefferson College were donated to the Mississippi Museum of Art in 2005. In 2006, Historic Jefferson College became an affiliate of the Mississippi Museum of art and, through that affiliation, has brought several traveling exhibits to the area. Jefferson College has a long history of supporting intellectual and cultural pursuits in our community. Several associations dedicated to learning met early on in the college rooms including the Washington Lyceum and committees on belles-lettres and committees on antiquities and history. Noted artist John James Audubon chose to send his sons to school at Jefferson College while he taught nearby at Elizabeth Female Academy. The school is now a museum operated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History open free to the public daily and hosts a variety of special events throughout the year. There is no admission charge to visit the school or to view “Mildred Nungester Wolfe in Print.”

“Mildred Nungester Wolfe in Print” is organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art and supported with funds provided by the Museum’s statewide Traveling Exhibition Endowment, a fund made possible through significant private contributions matched by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Historic Jefferson College is located on U.S. 61, a few miles north of Natchez. We are open daily 9-5 and Sundays 1-5 but will be closed Dec. 24, 25, and Jan. 1. For more information call Historic Jefferson College at 601-442-2901 or visit the Web at www.mdah.state.ms.us.

Cheryl Munyer is the director of Historic Jefferson College.