Anderson's trompe l'oeil, corrugated stoneware surfaces simulate the rusted, dented, weatherbeaten look of old metal and barnsiding. Some of them bear faded traces of the decals and signs the petroleum companies used on their cans and the sides of barns back in a time shiny with industrial optimism. Anderson is similarly obsessed with the forms of water towers, "the Sphinxes" of his youth in the Midwest. The ancient look of his glazes is the result of wood-firing at high temperatures in the anagama, or tunnel kiln Anderson built behind his house with the help of his students.