Like so many things in Mississippi, the port city of Natchez has been here a long time. Its location on the pristine bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River has made it an important destination throughout the state and the nation’s history. A thriving economic, cultural and social hub, it was even the first state capital of Mississippi.

Many of the antebellum houses stand unblemished, and the picturesque geography and riverscapes give Natchez a rich cultural authenticity that embodies the relationship Mississippians have to the land and to the Big River. All who visit leave with lasting visual images.

This is true in the case of Rolland Golden, Natchez painter, who relocated to the port city after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Always enamored with the river, Golden utilized his proximity to the water to paint an entire collection of paintings of the nuanced Mississippi River. The exhibition is entitled River and Reverie: Paintings of the Mississippi by Rolland Golden, and is on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art in downtown Jackson through Jan. 16.

Golden’s powerfully colorful paintings bring the river to life in all its splendor and character. One feels, when looking onto the riverscapes, that the painted canvas is indeed the horizon and the gallery floor in fact a mossy bluff.

As the paintings of Rolland Golden hang in the galleries, you are invited to join the Mississippi Museum of Art for Natchez Day. It is a day to celebrate Natchez, both the city and its people, as well as the creative communities that have long defined the path and history of Mississippi arts and culture. The Mississippi Museum of Art hopes that all Natchezians, past and present, will be on hand to enjoy a day of revelry at the Museum in Jackson on Saturday, Jan. 8.

Natchez Day will begin with a Bloody Mary brunch at 11 a.m. at the museum prepared by Executive Chef Emily Hines Burgess, with a lecture on Natchez art by Natchez native Joanna McNeel, museum registrar. This will be followed by a tour of the galleries with Rolland Golden and Museum Chief Curator Dan Piersol.

Former Natchezian Karen Redhead will lead a private tour of the Eudora Welty House located in the historic Belhaven neighborhood of Jackson. Other afternoon attractions include the Old Capitol Museum, the reopened King Edward Hotel, the newly-renovated Standard Life Building and a peek at the historic Jackson Amtrak Station.

The day will culminate with a 5 p.m. cocktail reception and live music at the Mississippi Museum of Art. The Museum Store will be open and displaying products produced by Natchez artists and writers. In addition, admission to museum exhibitions during the week leading up to Natchez Day is free to all Natchezians.

Come enjoy music and merriment with family and friends, and spend the day and evening in the Capital City. Reconnect with the mystery of the Mississippi River through Rolland Golden’s paintings, and keep alive the storied cultural tradition of arts in and from Natchez.

For more information, call the Historic Natchez Foundation at 601-442-2500.

Julian Rankin is the public relations coordinator at the Mississippi Museum of Art.