{"id":867759,"date":"2026-10-02T02:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T02:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/867759\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T02:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T02:26:13","slug":"ocean-springs-unveils-new-gateway-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/867759\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Springs unveils new gateway sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">Ocean Springs, Miss. (WLOX) \u2014 A new three-dimensional shearwater bird sculpture now stands at the entrance to Ocean Springs at the end of the Biloxi Bay Bridge, unveiled today as part of the city\u2019s Gateway Sculpture Project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The project was a result of the partnership between the City of Ocean Springs and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, funded through Mississippi legislation. It\u2019s meant to stand as a symbol for the city, representing its culture, arts, history and community.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The project was a result of the partnership between the City of Ocean Springs and the Walter...\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Y6FSOXVWFZFGRIUFVRVXJ2M3QU.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>The project was a result of the partnership between the City of Ocean Springs and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, funded through Mississippi legislation.(wlox)Inspiration rooted in community<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Walter Anderson Museum of Art Strategic Director Julian Rankin said the inspiration for the shearwater bird comes from within the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThat\u2019s homage to Shearwater Pottery, an almost hundred-year-old small business now. Also, the Peter Anderson Arts and Crafts Festival shares that logo,\u201d Rankin said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Walter Anderson Museum of Art Strategic Director Julian Rankin said the inspiration for the...\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/PK4GCFGM5VFOXOIWLODDBUTQKE.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>Walter Anderson Museum of Art Strategic Director Julian Rankin said the inspiration for the shearwater bird comes from within the community.(wlox)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The project has been four years in the making. Ocean Springs Mayor Bobby Cox said it\u2019s a perfect representation of what the city is: arts, culture and community. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">With Cruisin\u2019 the Coast coming up, he said he\u2019s excited for the hundreds of tourists to see it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI think it\u2019s perfect timing with the visitors coming in. You\u2019re going to see cruisers parking here and taking pictures in front of this sign, and I think it\u2019s going to continue for years to come,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"With Cruisin\u2019 the Coast coming up, he said he\u2019s excited for the hundreds of tourists to see it.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TSYN7QS5SJAR7LS6V7FLKFHWWU.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>With Cruisin\u2019 the Coast coming up, he said he\u2019s excited for the hundreds of tourists to see it.(wlox)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">State Rep. Hank Zuber played a role in helping bring the gateway sculpture through legislation. He said he\u2019s excited for the impact it will make on a wide scale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s not just an image and a gateway for Ocean Springs. It\u2019s a gateway for the entire nation to see Mississippi in a different light and in a different way,\u201d Zuber said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">City leaders announced at the unveiling that a gateway sculpture in East Ocean Springs is also in the works.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlox.com\/page\/error-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\">HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WLOX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ocean Springs, Miss. (WLOX) \u2014 A new three-dimensional shearwater bird sculpture now stands at the entrance to Ocean&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,365950,365952,13708,365951],"class_list":["post-867759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-gatewaysculpture","tag-oceansprings","tag-sculpture","tag-shearwaterbird"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}