Walter Anderson and Shearwater Pottery

March 27-31, 2025                                                    Most Recent Posts:
Davis Bayou Campground                            Florida’s Tallest Waterfall
Gulf Islands National Seashore        Last Visit to Silver Springs for This Year
Ocean Springs, Mississippi

I am in Ocean Springs Mississippi for two reasons.
1- It’s on the way to Albuquerque  and The Gathering of All Nations
2- Walter Anderson

My last visit here with David was the first time I saw in person the stunning murals of Walter Anderson.   I have always wanted to return to both the wonderful little town, the water and the Walter Anderson Museum.  This visit only made me want to come again for a month(s).

Like last time I stayed at the National Seashore Campground, Davis Bayou.  It has everything I needed, water, electric, a dump station, hiking trails, an interesting Visitor’s Center and a short drive to Ocean Springs.

Usually on the day I arrive somewhere, I get set up and fix dinner and chill out.  But not here.  I set up as fast as I can and head over to the Walter Anderson Museum which is housed in the former Ocean Springs Community Center.   I simply could not wait to see the main room again.

In 1949-50 the town of  Ocean Springs built a new community center.  Walter Anderson volunteered to paint the walls with a mural for $1 plus supplies.  The room is seriously beyond belief gorgeous.  I’m only going to show a few pictures of it here.  If they intrigue you, my previous post done in May of 2013 has many more and better pictures including some long shots to show you the magnitude of the entire room.  Here is a link to it.

The whole room is the canvas for the monumental 3,000 square foot murals, which depict the historic discovery of the Mississippi Coast and its diverse climates and natural beauty.

Can you find these pelicans in the above mural?

Or this cat in the one above.

I stayed in the room for well over an hour just being hypnotized by this art until I was overwhelmed and had to leave.

It is simply magnificent.

Definitely want to figure out how to be able to see this.  Apparently I have to have PBS Passport.

The next day I ventured out to Shearwater Pottery which was the Anderson Family business started by Walter’s older brother Peter, a master potter, in 1928.  As this picture says, Walter and his younger brother Mac worked at the pottery most of their lives.  They decorated the pots Peter created.   Still owned and run by the members of the Anderson Family, it is one of the oldest continually running family potteries in the southeast.  In the photo, Peter is standing, Walter is sitting to his right and Mac to Walter’s right.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 severally damaged 17 of the 19 buildings of the Pottery including the showroom, repaired and shown below,  the Annex,  the main workshop, the glaze room and kiln houses.  In addition, six of the Anderson Family homes on the property were destroyed including those of Peter Anderson’s children who are the current owners/operators of Shearwater Pottery. 

The workshop building (not shown) was rebuilt and restored by Jason Stebly, Walter’s grandson.  Pottery continues to be thrown by Peter's son James Anderson, the current master potter, and his son Peter Wade Anderson, and decorated by Patricia Anderson Findeisen,  Christopher Inglis Stebly, Adele Anderson Lawton all members of the family.

John Anderson (son of Walter Anderson) was quoted as saying, about 80 percent of his father's artwork went underwater and his cottage “floated like a houseboat” before coming down, damaged, in a different spot.

I love Walter Anderson’s artistic work so that I feel grief when I hear again about how much of his art was damaged and lost in Hurricane Katrina.  Below is a chest he made and decorated which was damaged but retrieved.  

Walter (whom his family called Bob)  not only painted but did woodwork, carving, created furniture, did silk screening, block prints and created and painted  figurines like this Shearwater.  That’s probably not all but it’s all I can think of.

One room of the show room building is a museum of original works.

Shearwater Pottery is high-grade hard fired earthenware intended for functional as well as decorative use.

Peter created sets of dishes which could be purchased in 4 piece sets.  The plates for each pattern, drawn and painted by Walter or Mac, line one room at the ceiling.  I wish I had taken a picture of all the plate designs running around the top of that room.  This is one plate.  At the time you could order a set.  

Shearwater still produces beautifully glazed dinnerware as well as lamps, bookends, and other functional decorative ware.  They also offer figurines, tiles, animals, birds, marine life.  Take a look at their web page under Shearwater Products, if only to see the beauty of their pottery.

Walter’s famous alligator as a silk screen. 

All of these are replicas of the work of Walter Anderson.  The originals of course are museum pieces.

My next post will be about the lovely little town of Ocean Springs and the Gulf Islands National Seashore where I stayed.