South Mississippi could be called an artists’ paradise. Art and inspiration abound in the coastal environment. Local artists such as the late Walter Inglis Anderson and Dusti Bongé left their mark and continue to inspire artists today, including Kathy Tosch.
Mattie Codling, executive director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art (WAMA), says Anderson’s artwork was intricately tied to the environment of the Gulf Coast. “As he grew up in New Orleans, he spent his childhood exploring swamps and sailing the gulf waters. As his career progressed, he became part of the movement of Southern artists who were turning their attention to their homes for inspiration.”
After Anderson completed his schooling at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, he joined his family in 1928 in Ocean Springs where his brother had started Shearwater Pottery. “From this moment on, Anderson’s focus was on the environment of the Gulf South,” Codling says. “He depicted the flora and fauna of the region, the people, and even the weather.”
Later in his career, Anderson wrote, “In order to realize the beauty of humanity, man must recognize his relation to nature.”
“The Gulf Coast is unique in its close ties to the splendor of the natural world. Anderson sought to capture the beauty and sublime nature of the coastal environment through his artwork, bringing viewers of his art into his personal experience of place,” Codling added. “Anderson’s artwork largely depicts the flora and fauna of the Gulf region. However, I do not think that these were necessarily more important themes but rather they were subjects that were readily available for him to study and depict in his work.”
The work of artist Dusti Bongé is currently on exhibit at WAMA through November 30. Reared in Biloxi, she was named for her mother Eunice Lyle Swetman. She acquired the nickname Dusti after marrying Archie Bongé, an artist from Nebraska. She’s considered a modernist painter of the late 20th Century with a style that evolved over decades.
The Dusti Bongé Foundation website states that her work “traces her powerful artistic journey rooted in the Gulf South.” Her career spanned 55 years and is a colorful juxtaposition of cultural and architectural peculiarities that was enhanced by Biloxi’s beautiful natural setting. She moved through periods of Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.
Ocean Springs artist Kathy Tosch has been painting in her backyard studio for 14 years. She feels the local influence. “Our coastal area definitely promotes and inspires artists. We have so many different environments around us, from beaches, bayous, marshes, maritime forests, and pine savannas,” she says. “Each is filled with unique flora and fauna. There has always been a strong artist community. Artists and artistic ventures are embraced and celebrated.”
She adds that the presence of so many practicing artists, colorful murals, art shows and festivals are a testament to this support. The Ocean Springs Art Association, of which she’s a member, birthed the Peter Anderson Festival that continues to this day.
“I feel inspired by many things. Usually, it’s a vision in my mind, a song, backyard birds, or people I observe. I draw these things in my sketchbook,” Tosch says. “My 40-plus sketchbooks hold these visions until I am ready to create a painting. I will never run out of inspirations or ideas. I am also inspired by my fellow artists at Mississippi Art Colony. Connecting with them and watching them work fills me with a joyous creativity that transcends into my own work.”
Some of Tosch’s favorite subjects are unusual faces painted in bright colors with something unexpected included. Fish, birds, flowers, bugs, tattoos, symbols, or collage all find their way into these paintings. “I want my work to tell a story or evoke an emotion in the viewer. I am a pixie dust spreader on a tilt-a-whirl. I create paintings and fling them out into the universe for others to enjoy,” she says.
“The Anderson legacy continues to be one of creative economy on the Gulf Coast. The three Anderson brothers were so prolific that they created a culture of artistic inspiration and cultural storytelling that continues,” Codling said. “At the museum we welcome visitors from throughout the United States and across the world on a daily basis. The Museum seeks to further this connection both on and off of our campus in downtown Ocean Springs.”
Walter Anderson Museum of Art
510 Washington Ave., Ocean Springs
228.872.3164
www.walterandersonmuseum.org
Dusti Bongé Art Foundation
www.dustibonge.org
Kathy Tosch
www.ktosh.art
Instagram @tosh.k
