The Walter Anderson Museum of Art (WAMA) is located in historic Ocean Springs, Mississippi. WAMA is dedicated to the celebration of the works of Walter Inglis Anderson (1903â€"1965), American master, whose depictions of the plants, animals, and people of the Gulf Coast have placed him among the forefront of American painters of the Twentieth Century; and to his brothers, Peter Anderson (1901â€"1984), master potter and founder of Shearwater Pottery; and James McConnell Anderson (1907â€"1998), noted painter and ceramist.
The Walter Anderson Museum of Art began as an idea by a group of people in Ocean Springs and Jackson, Mississippi to preserve the art and culture of Walter Inglis Anderson. The Friends of Walter Anderson was chartered in 1974, and through their efforts funds and grant money were raised to build the museum on Washington Avenue in Ocean Springs on land leased from Jackson County. Mark A Tullos, Jr. was hired as the museums first director in 1990. The museum was dedicated on May 4, 1991 at a cost estimated at $1.3 million. The conceptual architect of the project, Edward Pickard, former husband of Mary Anderson, the eldest child of Walter Anderson, designed the building to keep it in the style of the Shearwater compound. The Museum combines the public side of Walter Anderson's artwork, the Ocean Springs Community Center Murals, with the private, The Little Room art treasures, which were discovered after his death in 1965.
External links
- Walter Anderson Museum of Art