A star honoring influential Mississippi artist George E. Ohr was unveiled Wednesday morning on the Walk of Fame at Dumont Plaza in Meridian.

Ohr (1857-1918), known as the “Mad Potter of Biloxi” created a body of ceramic work defined by thin walls, metallic glazes, and twisted, pinched shapes. His work was rediscovered in the 1960s and is admired by artists and collectors around the world.

Mark Tullos, director and CEO of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience, told the assembled crowd Ohr had a “tremendous impact on the American art scene and the global art scene.”

“He did things with clay – with his own hands – that were ahead of his time,” Meridian Mayor Percy Bland said. “He made the practical extraordinary.”

“Ohr’s work is a fine example of doing what you love,” Bland added. “We always gravitate towards those who answer to their calling with vigor and gusto…The city of Meridian is delighted to have him included on our historic Walk of Fame.”

Kevin O’Brien, director of the Ohr-Okeefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, was present for the unveiling of the star. He was joined by Ohr’s great granddaughters Phyllis Allen, Dianne Ohr Wentzell and Dottie Moran and great, great granddaughter, Lisa Wentzell Hammons.

Moran said she felt “marvelous, wonderful, proud – beyond words, really,” at the unveiling of the star. “He was one a kind,” she said with a broad smile. “He was never duplicated – nobody can duplicate him.”

Ohr joins previous honorees Elvis Presley, Hartley Peavey, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, artist Walter Anderson, singer Moe Bandy, musician Mac McAnally, actor Morgan Freeman, musician Marty Stuart, actress Sela Ward; writers Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner, blues icon B.B. King and Jimmie Rodgers, the father of country music, who earned the first Walk of Fame star in 2009.

The Walk of Fame is part of the MAEE, which encourages tourists and Mississippians alike to celebrate Mississippi’s artists and entertainers. The MAEE, which is scheduled to open in early 2018, will feature interactive exhibits on Mississippi artists in film, literature, music, arts, dance, theater and the visual arts. The two-story, 58,500-square-foot facility is expected to draw between 125,000 to 150,000 visitors a year, officials said.