Ocean Springs, Mississippi, often pops up on top 10 lists of arty towns and coastal communities. The combination of a strong art scene, old oak trees and a constant sea breeze factor into those lists. Every year, the town celebrates all this during the juried Peter Anderson Arts and Crafts Festival.
"It's the Gulf, it's the history, it's the birds," Beth Ashley said. Ashley, who lives in Ocean Springs, is the granddaughter of potter Peter Anderson.
A repeating motif shows up in paintings and ceramic works all over town. Three generations of the Anderson family used themes of pelicans, crabs and driftwood – and they still do. Their style put Ocean Springs on the arts map, from Shearwater Pottery near the harbor to a museum at the heart of town. The local Chamber of Commerce has embraced the style and sponsors the annual festival.
Peter Anderson founded Shearwater Pottery in 1928 at the family compound. He and his brothers, Walter and Mac, created and glazed ceramic plates, bowls and figurines. Now, the third generation of the family still lives and works at Shearwater, jiggering and throwing clay, baking it in kilns, decorating it all and selling it on site only. It's an industrious blend of creativity and business housed in several cottages along a curved gravel road that leads down to the water.
"When he was a boy, Peter saw Joseph Meyer potting on Deer Island, and that influenced him," said Marjorie Ashley, Peter's daughter. Like her daughter Beth, Marjorie works at Shearwater in the showroom. Of the 16 employees at Shearwater, seven are family members, including Peter's son Jim Anderson and Jim's son, who is also named Peter. Both Jim and his son are potters, working with clay every day to fill orders.
The Walter Anderson Museum of Art in downtown Ocean Springs includes many of the block prints and water color paintings of the elder Peter's brother, a man who often rowed his boat to nearby Horn Island to paint nature. Walter Anderson's work is like Gulf Coast myths told in pictographs.
That style permeates numerous galleries, shops and government buildings. During the Great Depression, Anderson painted murals in the city's recreation center. (Today, it adjoins the museum.) His style is also prominent at the visitor's center at Davis Bayou, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
A bed-and-breakfast just a couple of blocks from the Walter Anderson Museum of Art is the Inn at Ocean Springs. Dozens of bars with live music and restaurants with fresh seafood are in walking distance. Many other hotel options are available.
But if you want to capture the inspiration for all this art, go camp on Horn Island for a couple of nights. It's just wilderness, so if you go you need a tent, plus other camping essentials and a charter boat. Charters are available through Eco-Tours of South Mississippi and T&J Island Cruises
Beth Ashley has her own boat and puts it to good use on excursions to Horn Island. "I go there about twice a month," she said.
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