Page 84 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2017

Shearwater
binds generations STORY AND of Andersons
Now in its 89th year, Shearwater Pottery PHOTOS BY SUSAN in Ocean Springs has endured the ups and
RUDDIMAN downs of a small business, including the passing of the founding generation and the forces of natural disasters.
When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, Beth
Ashley look a three month leave of
absence from her tech job in Nashville, Tenn., and worked cleaning the family property. Her parent’s home, the Front House, was gone as well as the Showroom, Annex and much of pottery production equipment. Precious
molds were salvaged and pottery was dug out of the ground, a piece at a time.
“My plan was to come home to Ocean Springs when I was older and retired. So I stepped up my plan. Coming back a little younger created more sacrifice, but I felt the need,” Beth said.
She joined the pottery full time in 2010 and works as business manager in the rebuilt Showroom alongside her mother, Marjorie Anderson Ashley.
“Beth came when I needed her so badly.
BOOTH #134
JIM AND PETER WADE ANDERSON
My husband, Beth’s father, was ill, and then there was the transformation to computers. I still don’t use a computer,” Marjorie said.
Beth not only brought the Showroom to the computer age, she also established a website and Facebook page.
The pottery was founded by Peter Anderson in 1928 with the support of his parents, George Walter Anderson and Annette McConnell Anderson, on 24 acres of property the New Orleans couple had acquired in 1918. While Peter worked on his classic shaped wares and unique glazes, his two younger brothers, Walter Inglis Anderson and James McConnell “Mac” Anderson, sculpted and made molds that
are still used today, and Walter also painted pieces of his older brother’s pottery.
Peter married Marjorie Patricia “Pat” Grinstead in 1930. Their four children followed paths that sometimes took them away from Shearwater Pottery for years, but in one way or the other, they all returned to work there.
Marjorie has served as business manager
2017 PETER ANDERSON ARTS AND CRAFTS FESTIVAL MUG
Shearwater Memory (SM) from James Anderson
Listening to my father, Peter Anderson talk of duck hunting at Lake Borgne in the Louisiana marshes, made it clear it was a favorite memory.
BETH ASHLEY SHEARWATER POTTERY 228.875.7320 shearwaterpottery.com
84 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • October 2017
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