Attic Gallery

The Attic Gallery is one of my favorite places to visit in Vicksburg.
Wait. You mean to tell me that you’re in a town with a massive Civil War Battlefield and you pick an art gallery as one of your favorite places? Dude, you are weird.
The Attic Gallery is not a traditional hoity-​toity art gallery and that suits me just fine. The stairs, walls and pretty much every available space are covered in folk art. Luckily for me I have very little storage space in my vehicle or else I would be buying some of the larger pieces for my office. Instead of staring at a map of America I could be staring at a Jimmy Lee Sudduth mud and molasses painting. Never heard of him? Look it up. He is one of my favorite American artists.
The owner is an incredibly sweet lady who has amassed quite a collection of amazing art. Prices are very reasonable, and in some cases, cheaper than I’ve seen at the actual creating artist’s gallery. If you are at all interested in American Folk Art, I strongly encourage you to visit The Attic Gallery.

I will echo the other review. This is an eclectic place with something to hit every spot on the spectrum. Some local, some from the far corners of the states. Very friendly folks own and work here.
There were funky sardine can reliquaries to lovely large canvases with realistic portraits. Fridge magnets to fine pottery. Stuff piled everywhere.
Having sold my work in galleries in the past, I would be hesitant to sell my work here since things are piled and stacked and it is not clean. But I found a couple items to take home and hang on my walls.

I read the previous reviews of this gallery and could not agree more. My husband and I have great difficulty agreeing on the art to put in our home. Yet, we found several pieces here (primarily by Earl) that we had to have. That shot our budget so we didn’t buy some other equally great pieces. They were so great that we made a special stop in Vicksburg when we went through again this summer. Unfortunately, we got there outside their operating hours. We were bummed but are thinking about making a special trip from DFW to see the gallery and the battlefield again!

I want to move into this über cool art gallery. Located upstairs from an über cool coffeehouse (hubby runs the coffee shop, wife runs the art gallery), this little place just screams awesomeness. Warning: It’s pretty small and if you turn around you’re almost guaranteed to bump into someone or something. I’m a person who really can’t tolerate small spaces and/​or other people all up in my personal space. However, this place is special and after I got over myself and relaxed I actually enjoyed myself immensely, despite the tight quarters.
Everywhere you look there is something interesting to ponder. The artwork in here is like nothing I’ve seen before. A collection showcasing people who truly do march to the beat of their own drum. It’s eclectic and fun and will make you see art and the world, even, through different eyes.

GREATNESS!!!
Abstract art, cool as hell owner, unique, creativty just oozes out these walls.
I stopped myself from spending crazy at here since I don’t own a house but once I do… All you’re gonna see is the joker smile on my face.

If I had more money and lived in Vicksburg, I would decorate my walls with works from Attic. However, the prices were out of my range for what I wanted to spend on wall dressings. The art was nice though and the owner/​crowd there were friendly and helpful. I did end up buying a little something, since it was difficult to leave there empty handed.

The Attic, positioned right at the start of the commercial district on Washington Street, sits like a metaphorical crossroads of culture in the state of Mississippi. All manifestations of creativity — from paintings to sketches to dioramas using found pieces — push this gallery to the edges, making a delightful playground for any art lover.
I debated for a considerable time in front of a fabulous piece involving Elvis Presley’s head superimposed on a guitar, but sadly, I had nowhere to display it at home.
What a nice problem to have — admiring raw, authentic folk art and desperately trying to figure out how to make it work in your own home.
Lesley and Daniel themselves are kind and delightfully kooky — a tall order to fill in a state whose culture loves its artist community but quietly layers on the weight of suggested conformity.
It’s my wish to figure out how to support the Attic Gallery for years to come. I might just have to move into a new place.

Where I come from, galleries that specialize in local artists veer comfortably towards the middle of the road. Pastel landscapes, portraits of gap-​toothed children, some abstract paintings of flowers or fruit — oh, and not to mention every damn Conde McCullough bridge on the Oregon Coast, each mysteriously rendered from the exact same point-​of-​view by each individual artist. All of it is perfectly serviceable as motel wallpaper, but it’s not art.
The Attic Gallery is not that kind of local art shop. Chances are, the Attic Gallery is not like any other gallery or museum you’ve ever seen. This is real art, done by artists who create not to earn middle-​class dollars or satisfy some middlebrow sense of aesthetics, but to express a creative urge that springs from a very personal place, deeply felt, and that must be released. Many of the artists on display at Attic Gallery struggle with serious demons; Jimmy Pitts, whose to-​the-​point paintings are reminiscent of Wesley Willis’s schizophrenia-​driven songs, is blessed with a prominent place in this gallery. So is Earl, a troubled local artist who specializes in leering clowns and cheerful ice cream sundaes and tamales, many painted on scrap metal. These artists and more are displayed in a cluttered space that invites careful looking; those who rush are bound to miss something wonderful.
My challenge to you: next time your mom is out of town, tear the Thomas Kinkade off the wall over the living room couch with as much violence as is necessary. Replace it with something weird, wild, and wonderful from the Attic Gallery. When mom comes home, she can rest comfortably knowing that the middlebrow menace has been annihilated and that she is supporting a REAL artist and a REAL good gallery.

Best folk art gallery in the South, hands down. This gallery has grown from a shotgun-​style hallway display, hidden above a jewelry store, to a three-​story explosion of color and music, fine oil and pastel painting, lithographs, woodwork, found art, sculpture, and photography.
The owners, Lesley Silver and Daniel Boone (his real name), have impeccable taste, and they develop close personal friendships with their artists. Some of these artists are socially awkward, which is part of what makes their work so brilliant. Lesley and Daniel are loyal, and in turn the artists are loyal to them — giving them first pick of their best work, or complete exclusivity.
They discovered and cultivated Earl Simmons, whose amazing Wurlitzer jukeboxes — handmade from scrap wood, chrome, glass and paint — now sit in House of Blues across the US (there was a time when the HOB almost totally bought out Earl’s work), and they popularized dozens of NOLA, Mississippi, and more broadly Southern artists whose work can now be found in galleries in NYC and in Europe.
I worked for Lesley and Daniel for two winters and they changed art for me. I came to see it not simply as an elite pursuit, but as a powerful, lived experience for many people.
If you are traveling anywhere near Vicksburg, this is a must stop. Daniel also runs a great coffeehouse — Highway 61 Coffee — on the ground floor.
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