Michael W. Moses New Year Greetings and The Peaceful Gulf Coast Life!

Wishing everyone a very joyous and prosperous New Year! 

2013 was a nice year for me.  I did not have anything earthshaking happen, either good nor bad.  

 It was a year in which my heart and mind were filled with an almost serenity that I have rarely encountered in my life.  I must admit that I did less pottery, less art, and just flat out less of everything in 2013.  And even a bit less weight, which is of course not a bad thing.  My brain is now reeling with all manner of new and exciting things to do in 2014!  

I have a bunch of old pottery to finish and I have tons of new ideas that I just can not wait to start.   Who knows I might even do a few painting....I have not done any painting in a very long time.

Living on the Gulf Coast has made me slow down a little and take things at just a bit more relaxed.  No real hustle or bustle here.  I know that I make this place sound like the land bountiful, but it is for the most part an area where things just seem to move at a different, quieter pace.

I hope that the upcoming year will be full of love, happiness, and prosperity for you and your family and friends.  I hope that 2014 will be as full of peacefulness for you as 2013 was for me.

With hope and love to all,

Michael W. Moses

Art Ceramicist

Ocean Springs,

Mississippi

A Photographic Veterans Day Memorial from Michael W. Moses, Ocean Springs, MS

My last post was about the great time that I had a couple of weeks back at the Fall Muster at Beauvoir, over in Biloxi.  I took a lot of images and did some nice art photography.  One of the images I did was basically a put together from four different images that I took at Beauvoir.  The image shows a soldier kneeling before the body of his fallen comrade. I did two versions of this image one in full color  and it is called "The ultimate Sorrow"

 and one that is Black and white sepia toned and using a hand colored look muted filter to give it an antique look. I call it "The Ultimate Price"

These two images basically say it all for me when it comes to all wars past present and future.  I just can not imagine the unbearable sorrow of seeing your best friend cut down in the prime of their life in front of you and not being able to prevent it. The total sorrow of it overwhelms my mind.  Loosing ones life is sad, yes indeed, but having your best buddy taken out in front of you....now that would be truly the ultimate pain for a soldier.

This veterans day take the time to think about your loved ones that served and some of the things they have had to go through.  Not everyone in the military experiences hurt to the level of having lost there best friend in battle, but many loose so much in so many other ways. So take the time and tell a Veteran or his family that you care. It is not important whether or not one is pro or con towards war and the military. You must always remember that a lot of what we as Americans cherish the most about our country was given to us to us by none other than the most humble of soldiers, because they were willing to go out and pay that ultimate price for love of our country.

Michael W. Moses, Beauvoir, the Home of Jefferson Davis and the Fall Muster

Click here to view all my images of the 2013 Fall Muster at Photobucket

 
 
To begin with, reenacting is not about politics.  It is about American history and portraying the average person from that period.

Two weekends back, on the 19th and 20th of October, the 27th annual Fall Muster was held over in near by Biloxi, Mississippi.  The Fall Muster was as usual at "Beauvoir" The last home of Jefferson Davis, located at 2244 Beach Blvd (highway 90).

 The Fall Muster is a historical reenactment that allows the people of today a chance to see and experience a bit of what it was like in the mid Victorian period.  Specifically the period 1861-1865 during the great War Between the States or the Civil War as it is mostly commonly referred to now.  One may look at the Fall Muster (or any other reenactment) as an educational opportunity to surround one's self with a lavishly rich cavalcade of living history.

People come from all over the United States to participate in these events.  Contrary to what I think is a popular belief, These reenactments are not an affectation of the "Deep South", but were originally conceived and produced in the more northern states.  Specifically in the New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia areas.  The earliest of these groups that I know of was the North. South Skirmish Association. This group was founded around 1950.

The people involved in doing these events today are from every walk of life imaginable. They are doctors, lawyers, educators, construction workers, store clerks, students, and even greeters at your local Wally World.  They are men,women,youths,and children of all ages.  It does not matter who you are or where one is from, everyone can play an historical part in the fall muster if they have a desire.

Most of the participants come to these reenactments as well trained and researched historical actors.  There are of course the newbies that are unseasoned and still a bit stage shy about what to do, of course, but this is a learn as one goes type of thing.  These people have spent many years working and studying the history of this time period as well as learning the now archaic military standards of dress, order and movement as practiced during this era.

Besides the massive amount of time learning and studying every aspect of life during these turbulent years of American history, these people spend considerable amounts of cold hard cash.  It is not an inexpensive affair assembling a circa 1860's impression for either a correctly dressed man or woman.  Almost all clothing has to be custom created. Some items may be bought off the rack either at an event, as sold by sutlers or ordered offline, take a look at some of the prices at online historical reenactors sites, for the most part they can tend to be a bit pricey in my opinion.  If one is lucky they can find items that are being sold by other reenactors that are pre owned.  However you goes about it, once one starts to buy the basic clothing necessary for ones impression, it starts getting expensive very rapidly.  Also many reenactors have  two full outfits ready to do an impression of either a Northern soldier or a Southern soldier.  Yes, that is correct two full sets of clothing one for the Union soldier and one for the Confederate!  Because they may end up at an event where there are to many of one side and they will be needed to do an impression on the other side to keep things balance out so to speak.  The average person ends up spending a fairly considerable sum of money in the end, so this activity is really not for those that are faint of spending the moola

I myself have always had a love of costuming or as many to day refer to it as Cosplay.  Some younger people may think that cosplay is only dressing up as your current favorite anime character, but in fact historical reenacting is truly cosplay also, just think about it. It is all the same thing, dressing up in a costume and giving an impression of a character from a different world than the one that you are currently dwelling.

Many of the people that one sees that are participating in these events are with their families and spend the weekend dressing and living as many did with their families back during the Civil War era.  For many of these people there is just nothing to match the fun and just flat out camaraderie that can be encountered during these encampments.  This is such a wonderful, wholesome, truly American family activity.

Well, on with the story.

Due to one thing and another, I have not been able to attend the Fall Muster for the last couple of years.  This year I was able to have a free day and go on Sunday.  It had rained on Saturday so a number of the reenactors had left.  So, on Sunday when I went there were fewer people involved than during the previous times I attended.

 After the wet Saturday the reenactors that remained were in very good form and were ready for getting on with the show!

All I can say is that Sunday the 20th was a beautiful day. Warm with a light cool breeze and oh, so, very sunny.  This all added together to create one of the most perfect of Gulf Coast days!

Upon arrival at Beauvoir,  I went all around the camp doing some basic photography. I was looking for those perfect little vignettes that can so easily appear to be moments stolen from time.  I was lucky and was able to capture a few images that I thought were especially worthwhile.  I took a few of the more compelling images and did digital photo manipulation on them until I was able to artistically render to them into what I saw in my mind.

 I love doing my ceramic art pottery, but I also love doing digital art!

I then took a break for a quick and yummy Beauvoir burger and some chips.

Then I went on to capture some pre skirmish moments and then the actual battle reenactment.  The over all conflict was very well staged, especially considering that there were not a great number of soldiers on the field, due to the ones that had been forced to leave because of the poor weather.  They created a fairly realistic impression of what it would have been like during such a  military encounter.

I have to say that at the end of the military engagement there is one thing that happens that effects me so very much.  A specified person comes out and yells loudly, "resurrect"!  After which all the fallen soldier arise from the field and join there fellow soldiers!  If only this could happen after the real wars were fought!

I would like to thank all the people that helped make the 27th Fall Muster at Beauvoir come together.

The people of Beauvoir

The Chairman

Richard V. Forte, Sr.

The good people on the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees.

All the vendors and assorted sutlers.

And most of all.  Every single person that came and did their Civil War impressions!

You all did a wonderful job and I hope to see you next time!

Plus a special thanks and a tip of the hat to the people that ended up in my photographs.

If you see an image of yourself or your unit and you would like to be identified please let me know and I will gladly add name, unit, or web info to the images!  One may also leave the information in the comments section and I will add it upon seeing it there.

Also, if for any reason you do not want an image that I have taken of you displayed on the internet,  please feel free to contact me and I will have it removed post haste!

Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Halbactorian Alien Canister Number 683j Ceramic Art Pottery Vase by Michael W. Moses

I recently sold my large wall pocket "The Constant Gardener", that I featured in my Sunday, March 31, 2013 post. It was shipped out to day and is going to a collector in Tennessee. 

Here is a new piece of pottery that I have called the "Halbactorian Alien Canister Vase Number 683j".  This piece is one of my vases that has a story to go with it. So many times I have had people say to me what's the story behind this piece and at first I was a bit puzzled as to what they meant.  So now for many of my works of ceramic art pottery, I have created background stories. I find that some people seem a bit perplexed when I tell them the stories now.

The story behind "Halbactorian Alien Canister Vase Number 683j"

Deep within the countless time sealed caves of Danarlov, are caches of treasure that were hidden away by the eldritch Halbactorians.
The Halbactorians were the most ancient of the keepers of the truths of Seldorov. They lived during the 3,477th trieldrod of the 22nd telvef of the empire of Keldoriss. The beings of Halbactor were a race that revolved around the seeking of the "light of the light" and the infinite quest for the original knowledge. The knowledge that they sought was that which had been the first gift to the first Halbactorians. This knowledge was a gift from the maker of truth and had been stored away in a ceramic canister that had been on display in the gild hall of the written truth. It had been displayed there for thousands of years. Then it had been stolen by the Helgarnd Saval and hidden deep in the nether regions of their planet Selcvardav. This artifact is an original representation of the one that was stolen. The Halbactorians created many such pieces as a remembrance of what was lost to them and a reminder of the canister for which they searched. The over all belief is that this type of empty canister still held the original truth even though it had long before been taken from them.

Neo Victorian Hand Sculpted Belle Epoque Captive Bulb Vase by Michael W. Moses

 Today I am featuring a brand new work of ceramic art pottery that I call, the "Belle Epoque Captive Bulb Vase"  This is a piece that I can describe as being Neo Victorian.  This pieces is completely modern in manufacture and coloring, but has all of the exuberant qualities that also make it a high Victorian design. This type of work is so reminiscent of the lavish over the top creations that were being produced during the period that the French refer to as the Belle Epoque Era (1871-1914).

 

 This one of a kind hand modeled work of ceramic art pottery comprises 4 distinct pieces that I have assembled together into one bold artistic statement. I started out with a really great circa 1910 hand etched glass sugar bowl. I then made a small root system shaped bowl that fits into the bottom of the sugar bowl, Then hand sculpted a bulb vase to fit into the sugar bowl, over top of the small root shaped bowl to create a small covered box like area. I then perched a lively little alien creature upon the side of the bulb vase. Once it had been fired, I meticulously painted all the details, glazed, then refired.  I added a vintage silver tone costume jewelry quality chain and two vintage red aurora borealis rhinestones for the happy little creatures eyes.

The Belle Epoque Captive Bulb Vase is basically a hand sculpted bulb vase that one can use for flowers and that has a small place where one can hide a ring, a few gold coins, or a small precious note. That is attached to a beautiful antique sugar bowl with a chain.

Just to let you know, if you do not know, The chain is added to keep the bulb vase with its sugar bowl home.  These bulb vases can get a little on the wild side sometimes and one will need to keep it chained so that it does not escape into the wild.

An image of what it looked like just after I had pained it and just before it was glazed.




 This work is available

Crystal Anchorite Vase by Michael W. Moses and Other Ceramic Art Pottery Incorporating Found Objects of Virtue

Crystal Anchorite Vase

I had a vintage cut crystal paperweight laying around for many years.  I just loved the deeply crenelated bulbous shape of this lead crystal paperweight but it seemed like it was just missing something.  I got looking at it one day and I envisioned it as a mixed media ceramic art pottery sculpture and it came to be called the "Crystal Anchorite Vase". 

Crystal Anchorite Vase

It now looks to be an exotic alien life form.  It's bright orange tendrils virtually writhe with movement.  This piece seems to be anxiously waiting for that one perfect addition to be added to the small vase opening at the top.  A magic wand? A beaded rod?  An outrageous feather?  A  single rare blossom ? Or just maybe just left as it is. This will be your decision.

I have on a number of occasions used found objects, as they can be called, in connection with my hand sculpted ceramic art pottery.  I have used everything from jewel studded earrings to slightly damaged antique frosted glass toothpick holders.  I always try to use items that are going to last and not be overly fragile.  But items of beauty and having just a special something, an indefinable thing that makes it worth incorporating into my work. 

I like items that may have a bit of history or damage that in some cases will actually add to what I am trying to get across with a particular work of my ceramic art pottery. There are pieces that I look at and I will immediately see the finished work that will come from it and there are items that I look at and look at and over a long period of time I will see what they shall become.

Either way, I only use pieces that are special in my vision of how my pieces should and ultimately will be.  Also one of my big things is that I want to use some very crazy and expensive items, but I  do not do so because, one might think it silly of me to think about this, but I would hate to have my pieces destroyed to get a highly precious item removed from it by future scrapers.

 

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 Grenade Reliquary

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Orange Captive Bulb Vase

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Alien Orange Canopic Jar

"The Constant Gardener" Wall Pocket Orchid Planter by Michael W. Moses...Sold

Initial Fired Bisque Ware

 This is a piece of hand sculpted ceramic art pottery, that I started quite a while back and just finally finished last month.  It seems that the last six months has been so busy with relocating the antique shop and moving into a new home that I just have not been getting much pottery done.

I almost always take images of my art works as they progress.  I do this so I can have a permanent visual record of the development of each piece and also so that I can show people the different stages that my pottery goes through from start to finish.  Here are some of the progressional images of this new Wall Pocket / Orchid Planter

Painted and Selectively Glazed

After Final Firing

Side View

Painted and Selectively Glazed

After Final Firing

Signed Back

 For further information on this work of ceramic art pottery please visit me at Etsy

Michael W. Moses goes to CoastCon 36 Science Fiction Convention in Biloxi, MS

Here is a non pottery related post for you.

Over this last weekend I went on Saturday to the 36th annual CoastCon Science Fiction convention at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Colosseum in Biloxi, MS

This year the convention saw what seemed to me to be a considerable increase in attendees from the last few years. I would like to thank the many people of CoastCon for putting together a pretty good one for 2013. It makes me anxious for the 2014 one next year!

There were a fairly large number of gamers that showed up and there were many people in costume. I found this years layout for CoastCon a bit better than in previous years at the Colosseum. There was a nice flow to the setup that really worked well.

I picked up a few items in the merchant room and went to the costume contest. This year the prize for best costume was a reproduction Brave Heart Sword, that was donated by South Coast Antiques. The sword was won by a young lady that had a great looking Wonder Woman costume that she made herself. I took a few images during the costume contest and once again was not happy at the Biloxi Colosseum's difficult lighting for photography.  After the costume contest I went around and took a few more images with my digital camera.  If you want to see a few more of the images that I took at CoastCon please go to my photobucket gallery.

I spent the evening setting around talking with some of my friends that I do not often get a chance to spend time with. We had pleasant conversation all Saturday evening, until the convention closed and we were sent out into the night.

I have spent the last two evenings processing the images that I took. I have created a few Art Photo Manipulations using some of the images that I took that I thought deserved a bit of a bump up to the next level so to speak.

I have a passion for doing my ceramic art pottery, but I must admit that I sure do love doing digital photography a whole lot.  I just love taking an image and making a collage of unrelated images that create a new and wonderful image to behold. Many do not consider this type of work to be art, but many people in the 1800's and 1900's did not consider film photography to be real art either.  To me it does not matter one way or the other. I just love digital art and photography and to me creating because one loves to create is more to do with being art than solely creating to just make money.

For a few more of my digital art photo manipulations you can see them at photobucket

I Am Back With a New Piece of Ceramic Art Pottery!

I know that it has been quite awhile since I have made a post on my pottery blog.  I must make apologies to you for this.  I have taken a small vacation from my pottery and the internet and have focused on on a number of things in the real world.  I have made it sound a bit dire maybe, but it has been far from being so. I have been working in my garden, entertaining company, working on home related projects, selling antiques, buying antiques, and generally having a busy but enjoyable time of it all!  Now I will be back to doing pottery here in Ocean Springs.  I have many new piece of ceramic art pottery in the processes of being made as I write this. About a dozen or so new works to be painted and fired!  I have gained a new and hopefully lasting focus on my sculptural pottery and I am more than ready to start back to the joy that for me is doing ceramic art pottery.

 Here is one of my latest works fresh from the kiln! I call this one "The Thorny Sea Flower Vase".  This is one of those works that just vibrates with life and color.  The tendrils all have delightfully sharp little points that will actually poke you if one picks it up by the tendrils.  This was a piece that really just came together so perfectly.  This one was a total pleasure to create.

 One last thing about this vase.  It was sold the same day I got it home from being fired!  I love to make these pieces and I must say that I also love to sell them. 

Selling your work is the benchmark to how much your work is accepted and appreciated.  For us artists it is such a feeling of satisfaction to have a piece sell.  I create art, "Ars gratia artis"(Art for art's sake)and I will create if it sells or if it does not sell, because that is what I have done all my life. So it is such an extra joy and blessing that I have been able to sell so much of my works for so many years now.

 I would also like to take this moment in my life to thank everyone that has purchased my art over the years and all the varied people that have helped me,assisted me, and supported me, in my many artistic endeavors over the years. You all know who you are I should think.

More posts and more pottery to come soon!

Two paintings by Southwestern American Artist Niotaze Sutherland

 A decade ago a friend of mine turned up a painting that features a trio of Southwestern Native American dancers that is signed Niotaze and dated 1966. I could not find any information on the artist that did a painting.  

A little physical detective work on the painting yielded that it was on Bristol board and that the company address did not have a zip code.  That checked with the dated age of the painting.  Zip codes become mandatory around the mid 60s, but you can bet some old stock sat around awhile before being sold.  The frame was also a type generally not seen after the late 1960s.  The painting was originally purchased in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area, although that was thin proof as to its origin.  The name Niotaze is Native American but with no other name attached, the databases yielded little information.  There is a tiny village of less than 100 people in Kansas called Niotaze, but I could find no family burials with that name and more provocatively there was a reservation just south of the village across the state line in Oklahoma
. 

 I have looked for years and not been able to find anything about an artist named Niotaze.  A few months ago I began looking anew on the internet as new information is being added constantly.  I did turn up the Niotaze name in conjunction with some land transfers located outside of Albuquerque in the mid 1950s, but it didn’t make much sense because Niotaze seemed to me a first name rather than a last name.  The last name seemed to be connected with Powers or Sutherland, which were not very Native American sounding at all.

Hoping for more clues, another routine image sweep on Google search, brought up a painting that was on eBay.  The color palate was the same and the name was Niotaze!  I looked closer and the listing showed it to be by a Niotaze!   Although the subject was a southwestern looking landscape, the style and the colors seemed to be very similar.  I may have found a match.  Interestingly it was also signed just Niotaze but not dated, so there had to be more information available.  It has a 60s style frame also.
Here is a link to the Niotaze Painting on eBay.

Item number:170702340525 Niotaze Sutherland Oil 19.5 x 15.5

I contacted the eBay seller via email and found out more.  The name Niotaze Sutherland was written in pencil on the back but lacked a date.  The owner also provided the fruits of their research which were greatly improved by knowing the first and last names.  The seller on eBay had discovered a Niotaze Sutherland Born September 6, 1909 and that she passed on October 1, 1978 in Grants New Mexico.  She was married to a Roy Powers for a while and lived in Colorado during which time she applied for and received a social security number there, possibly early 1940s.  She later married Jack Sutherland, date unknown, but I have to wonder if Powers died and left her the aforementioned land outside of Albuquerque in the mid 1950s.

I made subsequent searches for Niotaze Sutherland place of rest centering on Grants and moving out to the rest of New Mexico and found nothing.  She may have been buried on private land or even on a reservation and no online records are available.  I even moved the search back to Niotaze Kansas for a Sutherland but found nothing.  At this point I don’t know her maiden name, but it would help the search.

So between the two of us and two known paintings of Niotaze Sutherland and with a bit of Googling and a few records, we have  reconstructed only a fragment of what is know of Niotaze Sutherland.  I am hoping this post will bring to light other Niotaze works or information from friends or family about this outstanding southwestern artist. 

From the two paintings that I have now had the privilege of seeing that Niotaze created I can safely say that this artist as I have felt from the first time I saw her work was a talented artist. She may not have been one of histories great luminaries, but she was capable of creating at least two works that have held up to the tests of time and changing styles. These pieces have a beautiful feel to them that seems to say nothing less than art well done. I would so much like to see more of her work and discover more about Niotaze Sutherland

If you have any further information or images of  art works by this American artist please feel free to contact me and I will post your information or images on this blog.