Page 64 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2019

Walter Anderson
MUSEUM OF ART
STORY BY LYNN LOFTON
PHOTOS BY KATHERINE SWETMAN AND COURTESY OF WALTER ANDERSON MUSEUM OF ART
In some ways, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art is the heart and soul of the Ocean Springs art scene. It will have major involvement during the festival which is named for another Anderson brother, Peter, when thousands of art lovers throng the downtown streets.
WAMA Executive Director Julian Rankin says the museum will be open Sunday as well as Saturday, showcase work of the Ocean Springs Art Association, feature kids’ art out front (Young at Art), and have specials in the museum store.
“We’ll have a lot going on here,” he said. “With the nature of the festival being about the Anderson family, we’ll also have an exhibit
of Matt Stebly’s tattoo art – Bloodlines. He’s the great grandson of Walter Anderson and brings
entrepreneurship to his work.” Matt Stebly has put his mark on
the art world through a particular – and sometimes under-appreciated – medium: tattooing. Stebly regularly creates masterpieces
on skin at his studio, Twisted
Anchor Tattoo & Fine Art Gallery
in downtown Ocean Springs. From the point of his needle great blue herons take flight, flowers blossom, and alligators sun themselves on the skin of art collectors. Unlike more traditional modes of art, Stebly’s clients become the canvas.
Some say that Stebly’s talent is “in his blood,” stemming from the work of his great grandfather. Although the creative impulse may course through his veins, Stebly has found his own individual style inspired by the talents of his family, his natural
environment, and the work of other coastal artists.
Additionally during the festival, there will be activities across the street in the Art Cottage, which is owned by the museum.
For visitors who may be discovering the museum and work of Anderson for the first time, Rankin says, “There is no greater portal to experience the Gulf Coast than the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. The museum is always refreshing itself. The Peter Anderson Festival celebrates a variety of vendors
and artists coming in from other areas. We relish the opportunity to celebrate and share WAMA with them.”
Rankin points out that Walter Anderson’s work is firmly rooted in the Coast.“It was about nature but really about everything; it infiltrated everything, and his work continues
64 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • October 2019
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