Blue and White Delft Style Hand Painted Vases by Michael W. Moses, Ocean Springs, MS

A while back I did a piece that involved a hand sculpted bottle that had a blue and white design called "Alien Nafaar unguentarium", that I featured just a few posts back as having been sold.

I started thinking about how some of my earliest ceramic pieces were simple blue and white works that were in a modified Delftware style.

I thought it would be interesting to create a few new pieces in the Delft manner.
I was a bit leery about using a pre made blanks, but it was brought to my attention that it really did not matter who made the canvas that a painting is painted on. It was the painting that was important, not the canvas. This seems to make sense to me so, I went ahead and purchased a few commercially available blank vases and got to work painting them.

Here are the first two of these new pieces. They are undreglaze painted with my original free hand designs. These are not transferware, they are each a one of a kind hand painted work of art.

 

 

I have started a few more pieces that I will post as I have them finished.

Last week I started some new hand sculpted pieces that are now covered with plastic and are slowly drying on the rack. In about a week or so I will take each piece and start all the intricate hand stamping. Then They will have to be put back on the drying rack and left to very slowly dry out completely before being fired in the kiln.

"Come to me my Love" Pod Vase by Michael W. Moses of Ocean Springs, MS

Here is one of my newest pieces of hand sculpted ceramic art pottery, which I call the "Come to me my Love" alien pod vase.

 This piece looks as if it might have been captured just above high tide on a delightful tropical beach on an alien planet far from our everyday lives!

Then again it has that organic quality that makes it seem to be some type of quasi animal-plant life that hungers for small creatures to come forth and give themselves up to it's desires.

Then again this type of life form may not passively wait for good things to arrive in it's presence, it may actively go out on the prowl looking for the unwary.

What ever the case, this neo Victorian objet d'art will be the master of whatever domain it will be placed, be it your bright conservatory or a cool shady curio cabinet in your front parlor. This piece will surely be the dominate species in any setting!

SOLD! Ceramic Art Pottery Alien Nafaar Unguentarium by Michael W. Moses, Ocean Springs MS

Yesterday, I had a surprise visit from two people that collect my pottery. We had a good long chat and got caught up on many different things in our lives, being that it had been a couple of years since we had seen each other. Well, to make a long story short one of them bought three piece of my ceramic art pottery to add to her growing collection.

The first piece was a very nice spike covered pod vase. I call this piece "A Sip of Nektar". The spikes are all glazed in a wonderful dark lustrous metallic that jump out from a rich sky blue color and has a a striking organic green interior.  there is a single mottled red tendril groping out from one side, handle like.

 The second piece was a pod vase with a dragon like reptilian creature on the side. A bright orange pod vase with a multitude of individually hand painted light blue dots basks in the bright tropical sunlight while the small hunter sits beside it on a blue and brownish rock quietly waiting for a tastier snack than an orange pod vase to make it's self available for a fast lunch.

The third piece, and I think it was a great choice, was the "Alien Nafaar Unguentarium"

This Alien Nafaar unguentarium is a highly detailed ceramic art pottery lidded jar or bottle depending on how you might look at it. This hand sculpted vessel has an abundance of almost glowing green spikes, an almost aubergine purple-red mini bulb vase and features intricately hand painted alien images and calligraphic inscriptions.

Pieces showing images of the Nafaar are rather uncommon here on Earth.  Most pieces are from the area of the Pleiades star cluster and many will even predate the existence of Earth itself.  This piece is more than likely from Darhlis Denarbith and appears to be from the early Deknerg culture, judging from the inscription.  Being an early Deknerg inscription there is little chance of an accurate translation, being as there is so little information on the earliest of their scripts.  The writing is more than likely a dedication involving the archetypal story of the last of the Nafaar and the end of their world.  An highly romanticized fable dealing with the atrophic end of a vastly ancient master civilization that withered from a planet wide moral and social malaise. A story that even in our own time we all know well.

This translated poem from a late digicript reproduction taken directly from Darhlis Denarbith is well known among the worlds of the Pleiades and far beyond.

On vast Shayvar the suns have set  
Time before before
Such sadness is the lands regret
Eons times adore

The Nafaar Sits at Evening tide.
Dreaming of the day
When all their dreams will come to be
Sorrows swept away

The red sky burns upon the land
Hot pink sands of time
Much hotter than poor souls could stand
Even in their prime

The Nafaar's world has come to end
Their world has been slain
And now I tell you this my friend
Nor to rise again

Now back to reality for a moment.

It is always nice when I sell a piece of my ceramic art pottery, but it always seems even nicer when I sell to one of the people that collect my art works. Many thanks to this collector and also to all the other people that have supported me over the years in my many creative endeavors.

"Yellow Red Service Shell Bowl" Hand Sculpted Ceramic Art Pottery by Michael W. Moses Ocean Springs, MS

Fresh to our world from a sun drenched alien seashore comes the "Yellow Red Service Shell" bowl.

A luxurious study in a matt, satiny, sulphur yellow exterior glaze.

The yellow outside is a perfect foil for the shiny glassy red interior of this piece.




 Each little tiny blue dot is painted one at a time and then painted over with a drop of clear glaze. The yellow is three coats of glaze tediously hand painted around the dots.

The flowing pink and red interior is totally hand painted to give it the effect of a natural flowing surface and then covered in crystal clear glaze.

 

The bottom is hand engraved with my signature and place of manufacture. The writing is filled with colored glaze that is fired on to the piece.

For more information, more images and pricing, please visit me at ETSY.Com

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 Pollinator" Sculpture by Michael W. Moses SOLD

As I sometimes tell people.  I love doing pottery and I love doing bead work and sometimes I just get a bit excited and do both at the same time. This is one of those occasions where I do both pottery and bead work to create the effect that I desire. 

I have been using clay as a creative medium for well over thirty years now and I have been doing bead work for as long as I can remember. By the time I was a teenager I was doing small bead work things on my bell bottom jeans dragonflies and such.  So doing a piece like this that is half pottery and half bead work is not a very unusual thing for me to do.

The hand modeled pottery base  has a solid three dimensional sculpted in the round form, that gives this piece a sense of weight and reality that I really like. The bead work portion has a light weight airiness that gives this work a delightfully alienness that blends to form a truly impressive work of art in my opinion. I call this work  "The Pollinator" and if you look closely you can see why I have chosen this name. The little floater is created out of little tiny mini seed beads and is firmly anchored in place, but looks as if he is just floating or swimming on by after having fulfilled his natural duty in his niche in an alien ecosystem.

 The bead work is all created on wire in the traditional French Beaded Flower technique to make a shimmering delicate presentation that will be both eye catching and sturdy enough to last for a very long time if just a little care is taken.

The hand crafted pottery base is about 6 inches across the bottom at the widest and is approximately 6 inches tall.  The over all height of this piece is 19 inches tall with the bead work in place.

I spent more than a small amount of time planning and setting things in place to get this work completed.  Some of the beads I used have been in my stock of glass beads for well over 35 years and were being saved for something special and I assure you that this was the something special that they were waiting for.  The bead work on this piece trembles with the slightest movement or breeze!  as I look at it setting in my kitchen, it just shimmers and shines as it every so often slightly moves in the warm evening air coming through my windows.

What "The Pollinator" looks like in my kitchen

This piece is now in a private collection in Ocean Springs, MS

Alien Orange Canopic Art Pottery Jar by Michael W. Moses

Alien Orange Canopic Jar by Michael W. Moses

I thought I would showcase one of my newest pieces of ceramic art pottery for you today.  I call this one my Alien Orange Canopic Jar. 

I found this great old heavy Italian marble jar that was probably made in the 1960's or 70's and the moment I saw it I knew that it would end up with me making a top that would bring out the beauty of this solidly made stone jar.

I purposely wanted something that was a bit different and kinda Chthonian looking, a vessel that would have an alien otherworldly air to it.  I have literally created a small hand modeled sculpture and used the white marble jar as a display stand.

The interior can hold an ancient love note, a small special objet d'art, or even a dozen or so Brasher Doubloons. It's all up to you. 

The vivid orange coloring makes this piece not only stand out, but stand out and yell to be noticed.
This is the type of thing that will be the center focal point of any room that one places it in.

Alien Orange Canopic Jar by Michael W. Moses

Lori Stanley: the Heart, Soul, and Life of a True Artist

"Woman Sleeping with Dogs"  by Lori Stanley 

For those that know me or that have been keeping up with this blog, you will know that I have not had much of a chance to do any real posting as of late due to the fact that I have been in the processes of closing our shop on Government Street here in Ocean Springs and moving to a new house and getting ready to reopen the shop over in D'Iberville at Centuries Antique Mall. 

As I was unpacking I came across one of my favorite works of art. A wonderful painting that was done by an artist named Lori Stanley, that I used to know when I was stationed at Castle AFB at Atwater, California.  This was way back in the mid 1980's.

I hung Lori's painting up in my new living room and it still looks just as fresh and as exciting as the day I first laid eyes on it in Merced, CA.  It is a wonderful image and I have always felt that it was her true masterpiece.  I rather unfortunately do not remember the original title of this painting.  I have always called it "Woman Sleeping with Dogs".  It is an image of a an alien woman sleeping ever so peacefully on an otherworldly beach surrounded by dog like creatures.

Artist Lori Stanley Circa 1969

From the moment that I first laid eyes on this image I loved it!  If memory serves me correctly she was asking a bit more for this work of art than I could afford at the time.  Once I had gazed upon it I could not get it out of my mind.  The image was so alive in my thoughts that I just had to have this extraordinary painting.  Well, as you have probably guessed by now I did end up getting it. That is how it has ended up in my new living room. I hung it in my bedroom in Merced and for the time that I was in Merced I gazed upon it every night before I went to sleep.

I have always found this image both haunting and beautiful.  To me it shows one of humankind's most archetypal  desires, the desire to have peace among the chaos of the world.  This is an image of Bliss. An image of being able to get the mental rest that we all so very much crave.  To be exposed outside and surrounded by the safety of these gentle wearily sleeping dogesque animals that would protect you from all harm as you sleep is the epitome of contentment. What more could one ask for from this world? Perfect contentment. Not much more in my opinion. The image is executed in Lori's typical dream like style, that is so often a literal paradox of sophisticated naiveness.

Lori was as physically beautiful woman that also had such a great magnetic personality.  She impressed me with her simple straight forwardness, but at the same time complex character.  I was not an extremely close friend, but I can say that I was a friend of hers.  We spent a number of times at the Arbor Gallery in Merced talking and she came over to my place for tea and a bit of an art chat on a number of occasions. I sadly do not remember much of what we spoke of, but I do remember that the conversations were always lively and fraught with interesting content.

I was laying on my sofa looking at this painting a couple of weeks back when it just hit me, That I should look her up and let her see my ceramic art pottery.

I went online and typed into the Google search engine "Lori Stanely".   I found some information
on an art site called Pablo Picasso Club.

Lori Stanley Painting

I was so shocked to read that Lori had passed from this world of dull unhappy colors into the world where the colors that people like her and myself have always seen with our minds eye are real and tangible. I read on and on and found a bit more on another site.  I read little pieces here and there.  Some were quite sad. some of the things that people stated sounded so much like the Lori that I briefly knew and other things did not sound right at all.

I could not find an actual obituary. I looked and looked and could not find any information that I could actually verify as factual. There are only bits and pieces of half told tales on a couple of threads. I am now left with so many question and I can not find answers. When was she born? Is there an obituary? Where is she laid to rest? Is there a bio for her? If not, why not?

Lori Stanley Painting "Birds"

I was not surprised to hear so many people going on as to how valuable her works have become. I was also shocked at how many people were going on about how they seemingly did not want to share information that others might use to sell her work or for them to use to write a book.  I must admit that I am a bit confused as to the attitudes of both friends and family. I as an artist can relate were she was coming from in many ways. One of the things that she loved most in her life (and on occasion hated the most in her life) was her art.  The relationship of a genuine artist and their art is a very complex thing and virtually inexplicable. Art for her as for myself is a hard master that sometimes rewards and sometimes punishes us. Artist's of our ilk never walk the gentile boulevards of the nice sleek gallery world.  We spend our time doing art. We literally do art for arts sake.  We do our art because we are driven over everything else to do it.

If Lori is actually no more of this Earth, all I can say is what a sad, sad, sad, loss this is for our poor bleak world.  Her work was astounding, haunting, and I can not stress enough, complex!  She had a full appreciation for her own technique and worked it to great advantage.  Here work was always, her work.  She copied no one.  She did things as she saw them and was always true to her own image of how she saw things.

Lori Stanley Painting

I can not imagine how anyone in her family or any of her friends could ever say anything about anyone wanting to sell her paintings for crazy amounts of money.  All artists consciously or unconscionably are doing art for one reason. That reason is to be remembered.  Yes, to be remembered.  We devote our lives to create things that will be held onto and loved and treasured for generations. If Loris paintings are worth very little, she would have just wasted her time.  I would never even consider that she wasted her time.  She spent hundreds and hundreds of hours of her brief existence on this bland little blue rock, creating vivid images of how she and she alone saw the world.

She had magical eyes and saw incredible beauty, albeit sometimes a sorrow filled beauty, but true beauty none the less and she was able to directly channel this vision onto her canvas and let the world have a glimpses of here inner being.  I will be honest and say that in my opinion anyone that truly loved this woman would not only consider her paintings to be of the utmost value, they would demand it!  Her works should be selling for insane prices.  Not just because I have one, but because her work is worth it.  It is the duty of everyone that cared for her to get her story out to the world. Let someone write a book. For that matter write one yourself.  Let the world know about this wonderful woman that dreamed of being at peace with the world and was able to paint the painting that I have, lived and loved and cried and dance her happy little dances and sometimes walked out into the night alone and dreamed in colors that most people will never see or even know.

Lori Stanley Painting

She needs a Biography. She needs a Wikipedia entry, she needs, a web site, she needs to be remembered, she needs to have her paintings being sought after and sold for unimaginable prices! Her work was that good. She deserves to have what all real artists want to end up with.... their own immortality through their art.

As a matter of fact I must tell you that I do "NOT" want to sell my painting.....I might consider an offer, but it would have to be of an earth shattering amount for me to even entertain the idea and my idea would make even the wealthiest collector turn a bit green at the gills.  So be very cautious of any offers one might make. I can be made to laugh at some fairly large sums of money.  Money is a wonderful and great thing. But money is not art.  Real art is one of a kind and that is it...just one...no more.

Lori Stanley Painting "Some Sleep"

It fills my heart with such sadness at the thought that there will not be anymore art from Lorraine Gay Stanley.  I must now make a much belated condolences to her close friends and family. Her lose will always be in my heart. I look at her painting, that I have been blessed to be the custodian of at this time, and I will think of her daily!

Artist Lori Stanley Circa 1969

If you have one of her paintings and would like to include it on this blog I will post it so that we can all keep her art alive!  Also I would so much appreciate any factual information about Lori that one may have.

As an afterthought, I must state that I did this post with only the intention of trying to create a bit of online buzz about an artist that I held and hold in great esteem. I truly hope that I have not said anything that will offend anyone.  I must also state that I hold no copyright upon any of the images used here other than the image of my painting by Lori Stanley that I own.  If for some reason you object to my use of an image that the copyright belongs to you.  Then let me know and I will remove it from this post.

Art is survival.


Update: 2014 05 14
I have set up a website for Lori's Art, Lori Stanley Art .

please contact me if you have any images or information that you would like to share.