A new temporary exhibit currently on display at the Delta Cultural Center Visitors Center in historic downtown Helena-West Helena at 141 Cherry Street in recognition of Black History Month in February explores images of an era three decades past in Arkansas blues music.

The works collected in “The Arkansas Blues: Photographs by Louis Guida and Cheryl Cohen,” a traveling exhibition from The Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, were captured as part of a Bicentennial project in 1975-76 sponsored by the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Music Department, focusing on the state’s blues traditions and contemporary blues musicians of the time.

A reception in connection with the Black History Month exhibition will be held Friday, Feb. 16, from 4:30-6 p.m. at the Delta Cultural Center. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Over an eight-month period, a total of 50 musicians, as well as club owners, record producers, disc jockeys, and others were contacted in an attempt to photograph and record Arkansas blues of the mid-1970s, particularly artists who had not previously been recorded.

“The Arkansas Blues” currently consists of 20 silver gelatin, black and white photographs taken by Louis Guida and Cheryl Cohen at points around the state, including blues haunt juke joints of the day like the Party Lounge in North Little Rock, Pine Bluff’s Jungle Hutt Club, and the Cavalier’s Club in Little Rock. The original concept for the exhibit was developed in 1976 by the Arkansas Arts Center and Guida, former director of the Bicentennial Blues Project at UAPB.

“It is a true pleasure for us to bring this exhibit to town,” said Terry Buckalew, DCC assistant director, explaining that he had long known that the photos had been collected and gifted to the Arkansas Arts Center by UAPB’s Bicentennial Blues Project, but bringing the works to the DCC as a collected exhibit required coordination between the DCC and the arts center.

“I remember reading about the photos years ago in graduate school,” Buckalew explained. “It mentioned that this exhibit was in the hands of the Arkansas Arts Center.”

In 2006, Buckalew’s memories were rekindled when he spotted one photo from the collection in an Arkansas Arts Council exhibit, “Images of the South,” that visited the DCC. At that point, he and DCC Curator Gregg Cook became involved in working with the Arkansas Arts Center to gather the collection and ready it for exhibition at the cultural center in 2007.

“To my knowledge, it hasn’t been shown in years,” Buckalew said.

Though “The Arkansas Blues” had once been one of many traveling exhibitions available through the Arkansas Arts Center’s State Services Department, the exhibit had been removed several years from the traveling series and had been moved to the AAC’s archives, Cook explained.

The Delta Cultural Center was also instrumental in returning the music collected during the Bicentennial Project to the attention of the public. Though a compilation of performances produced by Guida, “Keep It To Yourself: Arkansas Blues Volume 1: Solo Performances,” was first released on LP in 1983 by Rooster Blues Records, it had long been out of print when re-released on CD in 2004 by Stackhouse Recording Co. in conjunction with the Delta Cultural Center and BluEsoterica Archives & Productions of Kansas City.

The album is currently available for purchase on CD at the cultural center’s gift shop.

“The Arkansas Blues” is again one of 13 traveling exhibitions available through The Arts Center’s State Services Department. Designed to be both educational and aesthetically appealing, these exhibits are organized by The Arts Center’s curatorial staff from the permanent collection or from artist loan.

In addition to Traveling Exhibitions, The Arts Center’s State Services Department also schedules the Artmobile, a mobile gallery, and the Tell-A-Tale Troupe, a touring theatre company. All touring programs are supported, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on the Arkansas Arts Center’s touring programs, interested persons can call (800) 264-ARTS.

For more information, interested persons can contact the Delta Cultural Center at (870) 338-4350 or (800) 358-0972.

Delta Cultural Center hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

The Delta Cultural Center shares the vision of all seven agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage – to preserve and promote Arkansas heritage as a source of pride and satisfaction. Other agencies within the department are the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the Natural Heritage Commission.

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