Up From the Deep, Sponge Vase by Michael W. Moses SOLD

Today's post is of images of my newest piece in my sponge vase collection.  This creation is entitled "Up From the Deep".

 

Ceramic Art of Jason Briggs

I have just today found a ceramic artist online that does some truly exceptional work.  His name is Jason Briggs and he teaches part-time at Lipscomb University in Nashville while maintaining a studio in Watertown, Tennessee.

 Here are a few images of his workis his website

Bulb Vase in Natural Outdoor Setting by Michael W. Moses

Often when people come to South Coast Antiques & Gallery they ask where the brightly colored pottery is from. I usually tell them that I make it myself in the shop. To be perfectly honest this is only partially true. Some of the pieces like the bulb vases actually come from a totally different source. We go out into a very remote area in a local bayou. This is an area that I discovered a few years back. This area has many strange animals and plants. Like these bulbs many I can not identify. We search very early in the morning just as the sun is rising and the bulbs can be found hiding in remote nooks and crevices at the roots of trees. The process is similar to hunting the wild mandrake root. Instead of them making sounds they are found by visually scanning for their vibrant colors.

 

The vivid colors readily stand out in the myriad greens of the bayou. We sneak upon them very quietly and grab them. We then wrestle it until submission. They do get a bit feisty and try to escape sometimes. Once we get it in a box it usually calms down considerably. Once in the shop they for the most part become rather friendly and will set for extended periods of time with out moving.  If they are happy in the location they are placed they will remain still almost indefinitely. Also, if the are content with their new environment they will often bloom. Almost every one we have had so far have bloomed. Amazingly each one we have found so far have had completely different flowers. Well, I thought it would be nice to let some people know about this.  I have included a photograph that I took of one of the last ones that I discovered. It will give you a better Idea as to what they look like in their natural outdoor setting.
Signed prints available upon request.

The Ceramic Art Pottery of the Martin Brothers of London

One of the great inspirations in my artistic life was a book that I saw at my local public library when I was about 10 years old. This was a book that had about eight pages of photographs of the pottery of the Martin Bothers of London. The brothers created Martinware studio Pottery from 1873-1923.  I was deeply into all things to do with the city of London and especially Victorian London. When I first saw these eight pages of images I just could not look at them enough.  I checked this book out of the library over and over and over again. There is something about their quintessentially Victorian, Arts and Crafts pottery that is almost the epitome of the Victorian era. Read a bit more about the Martin Brothers here.

Here are a few images of pottery that the Martin Bother made, that I have gleaned from the net.

Butterfly Fisher Plant Vase by Michael W. Moses, Ocean Springs, MS SOLD

Tuesday January 24, 2011

Here is an image of one of my newest ceramic art pottery pieces. I call this one The Butterfly Fisher Plant Vase.
This vase is adorned with three metallic blue wires that each have a shimmering glass butterfly suspended as a little trembler.

CoastConFan Features Bulb Vase Still Life by M. W. Moses

CoastConFan featured one of my recent photographic prints, "Bulb Vase Still Life" on his blog. He kindly provides some nice details about the items in my image.
Click here to jump to CoastConFan's Blog.

Ceramic Alien Head Vase by Michael W. Moses at South Coast Antiques & Gallery

This is my take on the traditional 1950's Lady head vase. My vase is a hand modeled ceramic piece formed as an exotic being from another world. This work incorporates seed beads, a glass amber colored inset jewel, and a huge, ruby glass tear drop shaped, faceted, gem set in the head dress. I added a turned wooden base that I embellished with matching seed beads to complete this ceramic work of art. A bit of a twist on a great old fashioned collectible.
 

Grenade Reliquary, Art Pottery by Michael W. Moses

Today's post is a work that I finished January of last year. I call it the" Grenade Reliquary".  I started off with a wonderful heavy sterling silver hand grenade (a gift from a friend) on a sterling chain, A great piece of jewelry that was made back in the 1980's. I found a cool looking glass dome and then made a ceramic art pottery base for it. After I had formed the base out of white clay I took a vintage Army hat badge and made holes to attach it to the pottery. I then added a hole in the center for a wooden post to secure the Sterling grenade in place, The grenade has an opening at the bottom and is hollow.  I made sure that the holes were a bit larger than the posts, so that when fired  the holes would not shrink and be to small.  There is a bit of shrinkage when the clay is fired. The clay base was then fired. I then painted it with underglaze colors and then glazed it.  After re-firing,  I added a wooden dowel to the center and attached the hat badge with an adhesive.  I placed the Grenade in place on the dowel and put the glass dome in place. There it is, a work of art completed. This piece is one that I did for myself and is in my collection. If you are ever in the area stop by at South Coast Antiques & Gallery and ask to see The "Grenade Reliquary". I will bring it out for you.

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Video Gallery of One of My Favorite Potters Charles Smith

Charles Smith is an Mobile, Alabama artist that has been doing pottery for quite a while. In my opinion he is one of the best potters in the south. The textures and detail just compel one to want to pick up his pieces and touch them, but the epic formality of these pieces directs you treat them like museum pieces.  I like the timeless, eclectic feeling fused with originality.  His pieces really are one-of-a-kind.

Ceramic Art Pottery Bulb and Flower Vase by Michael W. Moses, South Coast Antiques

This is a new piece that I put out today in the shop. I call this one a Bulb and Flower Vase. It is a small piece
that is full of visual impact!  The vase is in the form of an alien tuber like bulb with an alien flower laying beside it.  

 This is an image that was taken when I was about half finished with the painting on the fired bisqueware piece.




This is after the painting was finished and I had applied the glaze coat.

 This image shows the finished work after it has had it's final firing.











This is a side view.

Michael W. Moses Art Pottery Swimmer's Lamp. Update SOLD!

This is a lamp that I made a while back that features a rich deep red bulb covered in tiny yellow dots. Each dot hand applied one at a time. The roots are a nasty looking dark purple and are covered with hundreds of tiny black hand applied French raised dots. This ceramic art piece has a small insect that has blue metallic legs attached to it. The shade is beadwork embellished with small little beadwork creatures that I make that I call "Swimmers".  The shade is supported by a bead covered metal post. This ceramic lamp is attached to a vintage oriental style black finished wooden stand. With the swimmers and the beaded fringe this lamp has a lot of  eye catching movement.  This one of a kind art lamp is currently sitting at our check out counter right beside my point of contact business card display,

Tattoo Print The Master's Hands by Michael W. Moses at South Coast Antiques & Gallery in Ocean Springs, MS

With all the talk about Tattooed pottery in my last post I thought I would post one of my prints that I did back in the summer. An old buddy of mine that was stationed with me many years ago in panama had came for a visit to the Gulf Coast. We went over to Gulfport and we stopped in at Jack & Diane's Tattooing. My friend decided to get a tattoo and I having my camera with me took some pictures. I took one of the images of Jack tattooing my friend and did a bit of touch up work to it and made a great print. I call this image "The Master's Hands". Signed prints are $24.95 plus $6.95  S&H and are available through South Coast Antiques & Gallery in Ocean Springs, MS.

Too Tall's Tattooed Pottery by Matthew Kennedy

The other day I had a site brought to my attention, called Ceramic Tattoo Art, by Too Tall's Pottery. This site is the home of the pottery of Matthew Kennedy. Matthew Kennedy creates some truly unique ceramics works using a tattoo gun. Yes, gentle ladies and kind sirs, you heard me correctly, a tattoo gun. He starts out making a wheel turned vase and then uses original old fashioned tattoo flash laid directly on to the vase to transfer the design. Then he hand engraves the tattoo outline onto the vessel. then uses the tattoo gun to apply texture and shading. I just love people that are creative and this to me is very creative. check out his video.

Latest Bulb Vase by Michael W. Moses at South Coast Antiques & Gallery, Ocean Springs, MS

These pictures show my latest bulb vase.  I was exceptional pleased at how intense and vivid the colors are on this one. I have used layers of different colored underglaze to produce these deep and luxuriously textured glowing tones.  The roots have a great looking bright red matte finish that is accentuated by the numerous individually applied black spines. The small round glass like ball is actually a lamp-work, glass, globular half drilled bead,  that was hand crafted by our local glass bead maker Nick who has a frame shop directly across Government street from our shop, South Coast Antiques & Gallery, here in Ocean Springs. This piece looks pretty good in the images, but to be truthful this is one of those pieces that has to be seen in person to fully see all the little details and depth that defines this work of art.

Name Michael W. Moses' New Ceramic Art Bowl!

This is a bowl that I finished a few weeks back and It is still un-named! It is a cute little Alienistic snail like creature merrily gorging itself silly on a deep dark purple seed pod. Almost all of my pieces have names as most works of art are named. Give me the perfect name and that will be what I officially call it and I will list your name in my permanent records for this work of art as having been the one who created the name for this piece.  I will have a cut off date for this of February 01 2011. So look at the pictures of the bowl and let me know what you think and I will announce the name on March 04 2011!

Propnomicon: Cthulhu Fhtagn! Moses Edition

Propnomicon: Cthulhu Fhtagn! Moses Edition

How Michael W. Moses is Ushering in the New Year

The New Year is here and I am celebrating it with a bit of a bug of some nature. I did not go into the shop today or yesterday. I have been trying to sleep my way through the aches and chills! It has been a real drag. Sure hope that it is about over. I just have way to much to do to be laid out by illness!

Here's a pod vase that I did a while back. It is one of my reoccurring forms. The interior of this one is encrusted with a treasure trove of vintage jewels!  With pieces like this, I have to make certain that the spots where the rhinestones are to be secured are free of underglaze or glaze.  They will not secure permanently if the spots where they are to be placed are not raw bisque.

Nina & Pinta in Biloxi, MS

 

 We went over to Biloxi to see the Nina & Pinta today. These two ships were built to represent the two ships that Columbus used when he sailed to the new world. It was a really nice day. Here are a few pictures that I took.