Pottery & porcelain
Shearwater Pottery mark includes impressed “SHEARWATER JA 00” on earthenware in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States.
Opened 19 January 1928; continuing family pottery.
Undated
W/A credits the Walter Anderson design; adele identifies Adele Anderson Lawton as executor of this later plate.
incised · earthenware · Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States
A dated example does not establish every year in which the design was used.
Undated
The paired dates identify the fiftieth anniversary format, unlike undated factory name stamps.
moulded · earthenware · Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States
A dated example does not establish every year in which the design was used.
Undated
Open arch has no enclosing circular stamp. Compare it with the later-looking circular JA example without treating that comparison as a full chronology.
impressed · earthenware · Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States
A dated example does not establish every year in which the design was used.
Undated
Straight wording differs from the familiar arched factory stamp.
impressed · earthenware · Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States
A dated example does not establish every year in which the design was used.
Undated
An enclosing circle and separate JA initials distinguish it from the open arch. The 00 is separate from the company name.
impressed · earthenware · Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States
A dated example does not establish every year in which the design was used.
Undated
Individually cut lettering and a separate carver monogram differ from regular stamped capitals.
incised · earthenware · Ocean Springs, Mississippi, United States
A dated example does not establish every year in which the design was used.
Peter Anderson opened Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, in January 1928 after training in Pennsylvania and at Alfred in New York. His parents, George Walter and Annette McConnell Anderson, supported the enterprise on the family’s property beside Biloxi Bay. Peter built the kiln, workshop and showroom and developed the pottery’s forms and glazes.
His brothers Walter Inglis Anderson and James McConnell, known as Mac, contributed designs and decoration. The workshop produced thrown vessels, jiggered plates and cast sculpture. Vases, bowls and jars ranged from simply glazed forms to carved or painted pieces. An Annex established in 1931 developed the small cast figures Walter called widgets, including animals, birds and human subjects. Factory stamps and individual artists’ signatures can appear together on these wares.
Shearwater remained an Anderson family business across later generations. James Anderson succeeded Peter as master potter, and Patricia Anderson Findeisen became a leading decorator. Hurricanes Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005 damaged the pottery and family compound. Production continued after Katrina at temporary premises, and a rebuilt showroom opened in 2007. The pottery’s name refers to the seabird, linking the workshop to its coastal setting.
Also known as: Shearwater Pottery, Ocean Springs · Shearwater Annex · Shearwater Pottery
W/A alongside another artist’s name can credit Walter’s design on a later object. The adele 76 plate was made after Walter’s 1965 death; distinguish the design date from the decorated object.
Both are associated with the Mississippi coast and adventurous glazing. Ohr used his own name and Biloxi signatures; Shearwater is the later Ocean Springs pottery founded in 1928.
