Miniature art transforms an alley into a surrealist wonderland at 'Mississippi's Tiniest Museum'

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — In the cramped backroom of a theater, Vicki Taylor glues together tiny figurines that peer over electrical boxes, canoe down drainage pipes and hide in nooks and crannies waiting to be found by someone curious enough to get on their hands and knees to search.

Taylor and her husband, Rick, opened the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum — also known as “Mississippi’s Tiniest Museum” — in 2020, hoping to bring joy and traffic to the city’s downtown during the COVID-19 shutdown. The surreal scenes she creates have helped transform a gray, smelly alley into a major community hub and tourist destination.

“You may come feeling down, but you’re going to leave excited,” said Brianna Moore, who lives in Hattiesburg and routinely brings her two sons to the free museum. “My boys love it.”

The museum started as a small window display facing into the alley behind Hattiesburg's Saenger Theater. It has since grown to include a tiny art gallery, a movie theater, colorful murals, a keychain and DVD exchange, a rainbow bridge for the collars of departed pets, and a motion-activated dance spot that plays music along with disco lighting.

“It is the average alley that is in everyone’s town,” Taylor said. “It just took, like, looking at it in a different way to envision what it could be.”

Taylor's husband is the executive director of the Hattiesburg Convention Commission, which runs the museum and the theater. The organization estimates more than 300,000 people have visited since the museum opened, coinciding with a more than 40% increase in Hattiesburg’s tourism economy, according to Visit Hattiesburg CEO Marlo Dorsey.

Dorsey credited the growth to a concerted effort by city leaders to develop and promote the city’s culture, recreational activities and art scene, including an initiative to paint 100 murals across the city.

Unique attractions like the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum and the nearby Lucky Rabbit, a massive vintage store known for its creative displays, also attract visitors, Dorsey said.

Tony Lymon, who has lived in Hattiesburg since 1990, said he has watched a “monumental rebirth” in the city's downtown over the past decade. He recently opened eYrthBeat Coffee Company a short walk from the museum, and believes the downtown attractions help bring customers to his shop.

The pocket museum has also served as a proving ground for local artists. Gabby Smith, who has painted several murals in the alley, said it helped her build confidence as she was pivoting to pursue art as a full-time career. She now watches her children run through the alley, pointing at various murals and asking, “Mommy, did you paint that one too?"

“This is a city that believes in art and believes in artists," said Shaw Ingram, who opened Wax Fantastic Records downtown in November. “There’s nowhere else I would want to open this business."

Back in her workshop, Taylor marvels at how popular the museum has become. She thought it would peter out after the pandemic. Now, she spends much of her time curating the museum's constantly changing exhibits. But her time and energy are well worth the effort, she said, to help show more people the city she loves.

“Hattiesburg is not a beach town, and it doesn't have mountains," Taylor said. “There's got to be something to get people to come off the highway.”