The casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport may be the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s biggest, shiniest objects, but they’re hardly the only thing to see. The area also enjoys a high per-capita number of working artists, art galleries and museums, primarily in Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis.
Hancock County
Artists gotta make a living, too—that "starving artist" lifestyle can get old fast—which is how Bay St. Louis came to have so many boutiques and galleries, especially in the Old Town area. At Clay Creations (288.466.6347) you can watch clay sculptures of Gulf Coast architecture being created from start to finish, while Gallery 220 (228.466.6347) features locally created fine photography, jewelry, pottery and other items.
Those who want to get their hands dirty should visit Proudest Monkey Pottery (228.467.2872; www.proudestmonkeypottery.com), which hosts groups and sets them up with glaze, stencils, expert advice on creating in clay, and a kiln.
Visitors may also want to stop by the Alice Moseley Folk Art and Antique Museum (228.467.9223; www.alicemoseley.com), which promotes the arts and charitable works. It’s named for a local painter whose remarkable career began at age 65. In addition, the Chamber Gallery (228.216.2999; www.hancockarts.org/gallery_chamber.htm) showcases emerging local artists, as does the funky Purple Snapper Gallery (288.493.5712).
Jackson County
On the eastern side of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast is Ocean Springs, which also carries a hefty artistic pedigree. Visitors should stop by the Walter Anderson Museum (228.872.3164; www.walterandersonmuseum.org), which commemorates the life and art of Walter Inglis Anderson (1903–1965). Originally from New Orleans, Anderson pursued a vision of democratizing art and worked on several public murals during the Great Depression. In the late 1940s he began "commuting" between his wife’s home in Gautier, Miss., and Horn Island in the Gulf, where he lived a solitary life and created some of his most intense paintings.
Anderson wasn’t the only artistic soul in his family, and today the Anderson family business, the Shearwater Pottery, is still at work in Ocean Springs despite a Katrina-enforced hiatus.
One more cultural site on the Gulf Coast bears mentioning: the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center (228.818.2878; www.themaryc.org), a rehabilitated school building that is not only a venue for the performing and fine arts, but a beautiful space in its own right featuring theatrical and musical performances, a Saturday art market, galleries, the Viking Cooking School and rooms for conferences, music recording, pottery and woodcarving.
