Page 97 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2025

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.”
“The Offering” by Kathy Tosch
“Wedding Vase with Bouquet” by Dusti Bongé
“Goldenrod on Horn Island” by Walter Inglis Anderson
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