The
centennial exhibition honoring the Mississippi
artist Walter Anderson (1903-1965) will open
at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis,
Tennessee, on January 25 and remain there until
April 4, 2004. Walter Anderson: Everything
I See Is New and Strange is currently at the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.,
and will travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast
for exhibition at the Walter Anderson Museum
of Art (WAMA) in Ocean Springs beginning in
May 2004. The exhibition, organized by WAMA
and the Anderson family, is accompanied b a
full-color catalog compiled and edited by WAMA
curator Patricia Pinson and published in collaboration
with the University Press of Mississippi. The
Press is also the new biography of Walter Anderson
by Christopher Maurer, Fortune’s Favorite
Child, which comes out in November as part
of the centennial celebration.
The
exhibition is a collection of over 100 multimedia
works created by the artist over a 40-year
span. It includes examples of pottery he created
for the family company in Ocean Springs, lyrical
and colorful watercolors he created on the
Gulf Coast, prints and illustrations he did
for books and his children, and examples from
his three outstanding projects as a muralist.
Anderson, who suffered from schizophrenia and
battled mental illness most of his adult life,
also kept journals about his life and art.
Excerpts from the journals are included in
the exhibition, which is organized chronologically
into three periods of Anderson’s life
that correspond to three places where he spent
time creating his art: Ocean Springs, where
he created his murals and spent most of his
adult life; Oldfields, his wife’s family
home on the Gulf Coast; and Horn Island, where
the reclusive artist spent his time observing
nature and making hundreds of watercolors.
The
Dixon has planned a wide range of programs
to complement the collection, beginning with
an opening lecture by curator Pinson on Sunday,
January 25. A family day using Anderson’s
art as a basis for hands-on activities for
children is scheduled for Sunday, March 28.
Special guest for that event is Mary Anderson
Picard, who will give a children’s program
about her father’s art. As a Valentine
treat, Mississippians will be able to view
the exhibition at no cost the weekend of February
14 and 15. On Saturday, February 28, the Dixon
Museum Store will sponsor a pottery show featuring
Mississippi artists and invites interested
artists to call for information about participating
in that event. On Saturday, March 6, naturalist
and conservationist Donald Bradburn of New
Orleans will give a talk on the Horn Island
flora and fauna that figures prominently in
Anderson’s work. Another aspect of Anderson’s
career as an artist--his mental illness--will
be explored at a half-day seminar on art therapy
in February.
A
dance and music program based on Anderson’s
children’s book Robinson: The Pleasant
History of an Unusual Cat is being produced
by Mississippi opera diva Lester Senter of
Jackson. The program combines original music
composed by the Mississippi Symphony and original
interpretative dance created by Belhaven College.
The program debuts in Jackson on November 14
at the Belhaven Center for the Arts. Performances
are scheduled at the Smithsonian in January
and at the Dixon on Sunday, February 8. A shortened
version of the program will be repeated at
two school venues in north Mississippi.
The
Dixon invites Mississippi schools to take advantage
of the museum’s policy of free admission
for organized school groups--elementary through
college--to see Anderson’s work. Docent
guided tours are available for school groups
(one-week advanced reservation required), and
a learning activity packet based on the artist’s
work will be available free of charge to Mid-South
teachers. The museum is seeking funds to provide
transportation grants to Mississippi schools
within a 100 mile radius of Memphis.
For further information about the exhibition
or programming related to Walter Anderson,
contact the Dixon Gallery and Gardens at 901-761-5250
or consult
the Dixon’s Web site (www.dixon.org). Other programs that relate to
the celebration of the centennial of Walter Anderson are available through
the Mississippi Arts Commission (www.arts.state.ms.us/) and the Walter
Anderson Museum or Art (www.walterandersonmuseum.org/). Curriculum materials
are available on the Mississippi Department of Education’s Web site
(www.mde.k12.ms.us).
Jane
Faquin
