We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Phillip S. Moore. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Phillip S. below.
Alright, Phillip S. thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
There have been many different emotional re-imaginings of this creative process, and they all strategically help me find where I need to be, in my life. Dabbling in high school art only to have found myself joining the US Army at age 21, six months after 9/11. After three deployments to Iraq, I exited the military, in 2010.
It was very difficult to transition to civilian life, and PTSD has been a constant struggle. Fighting through the anxiety, I revisited the fine arts through Parkland College, in Champaign Illinois. I’ve been in SW Florida now for 11 years, In 2021, my wife and I took a few local pastel classes. Struggling through the nervousness of being around people, Michele talked me into it. I’ve also found great solace in the woods, embracing landscape painting as well as plein air in watercolor. Being colorblind makes things a bit more interesting. I have also developed a love for the natural creatures around me. In addition to painting, I also build animal skeleton articulations. -FLASHPOINT FORWARD- I knew I wanted to paint and build articulations for a living when I successfully created a 25-piece series of paintings from photos from my deployments, “Art of War”… when my local Congressman asked for a commissioned painting for his office on Capitol Hill, DC…or when my wife and I raised thousands of dollars for local veterans to receive art therapy for free…or when we’ve sparked children’s enthusiasm, by having free tours of our museum of art and natural history we have, in our home…to receiving artwork from retired veterans that have been inspired to continue to be creative…to my high school Vice Principal showing up at my house one day for a visit, a tour, and a hug! Art has saved my life, and help me reconnect with people, when social isolation was my only way of life. I continue to struggle with PTSD from the war. I also continue to have hope that my artistic journey, will continue to not only help me to tell my story, but inspire others to tell theirs as well. Thank you for the opportunity.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a 45 year-old color-blind veteran artist, grown up in the Midwest. After three deployments to the Middle East with the US Army, I exited the military in 2010 and earned a degree from Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois. In 2010, I moved to SW Florida. Like so many, I dug for sharks’ teeth on the beach. I found that creeks and sloughs also have hidden gems and fossils to discover. Together, my wife and I applied for digging permits from the University of Florida. As we found sharks’ teeth, we also found skeletons out in the woods. After countless trips to local museums, this inspired us to start collecting deceased creatures where we found them, Ethically sourced and responsibly cleaned, these animals are brought back to life, articulated, and mounted. This is all for the sake for the education of future generations, and for the creatures that have already given their lives.The skeletons are built in a manner where some can travel. We conduct educational programs for parks and recreational groups with different displays and information. We educate folks not only about the specimens, but we teach them about invasive and indigenous species, in addition to being able to identify dangerous animals. This is how I got into building animal articulations. The actual art and painting came from a shove off of the cliff, from my wife. We both joined our local art center, she joined for some lessons, and I joined to get out of the house at night. At first, I sat in the car, too anxious to meet new people or talk to anyone. That slowly blossomed into looking forward to the weekly classes, as well as seeing my classmates. Flash forward after a year of classes, and I was able to produce 24 paintings from photos I took from my military service overseas. These paintings went on display Veterans Day 2021, “Art of War”, at the North Port Art Center, and this was the series that my Congressman had chosen to commission me to recreate one painting 36″ x 24″ for his office in Washington DC. We served together at that time, we just didn’t know each other. Finding that the act of painting was so therapeutic for me in regard to PTSD, we sold calendars of these paintings. We were able to raise over $20 thousand dollars for the local art center here to help other veterans gain art therapy for free. I’ve lately been working in water color, and I paint under a UV light, because I am color-blind.
The collective artwork that is produced is called “Images of Therapy”. Creating these works is therapy for me, and I hope they can be visually therapeutic for others. I wish to encourage others, never to doubt your artistic capabilities. We all have to start somewhere, and creativity is the spice of culture. I think what sets me apart from others is obviously the color-blindness. Perhaps also, is the humility of seeing what a “third-world” looks like, and emotionally metabolizing how these images and memories influence future endeavors, on the canvas. To date, I am very proud to have left a fully funded and functional art scholarship program for veterans at the North Port Art Center. They provide free memberships and classes for veterans, in addition to having full day workshops with different instructors. I am also very proud to have built and maintained what is now the Moore Museum of Art and Natural History. Free of charge, we take groups of up to 10 people, into our home for a scheduled one hour visit. In this visit, people can see fossils, skeletons, paintings, sculptures, skulls, wet specimens, dragons, exotic insect collections. bone jewelry, and it’s all professional displayed with over 80 individual lighting effects. With both my wife and my studios on display, people can witness where all the magic transcends into creation.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the human connection. Volunteering at the North Port Art Center with kids, I was able to connect with a young boy named David, who drew a picture of a military Hum V for me, At the same time, I was gifted a painting from a retired veteran that had questioned whether or not to continue to paint. He was gracious enough to paint the plane he flew in Vietnam, and gave it to me as an inspirational gift. He continues to enthusiastically paint. The effects from creative expression are more than a song, or dance. It is more than a physical sculpture or a fine work of art. Creative expression produces emotion, and emotional response. In this day and age, our senses are heightened, our brains are constantly firing off in random paths. These paths are chasing vague memories, and keeping up with processing constant onslaughts of information. It is a special thing to stop and appreciate an emotional response that is generated from any form of artistic expression. Sharing this emotional response with someone feeling the same way, is a tremendous way to connect with someone. This connection transcends all aspects of human indifference, and helps us see things from different perspectives.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
When people make the comment that they can’t even draw a stick figure, it is because they haven’t practiced enough. Artwork is about constant practice, and refinement of the craft. A constant betterment is needed in order to stand out from so many different artists. The need for arts and culture is ever-present in any society. What people fail to realize, is that when the spirit and the will for creative expression is hindered, it is up to the creatives to continue to produce the culture that is immediately surrounding us, in all of our aspects of life. A community without any reflective culture is a community lacking just that; community. Working with animal bones, people think that we are out head-hunting. The animal bones that are acquired for the specific articulation projects, are always ethically sourced. We only use what we can salvage. It is out of respect for the animals in our natural world, that we responsibly clean and sanitize every bone, and present them in the most professional manner. Conservation and preservation of our natural world is very important. Part of that is learning about the different species of wildlife, that make Florida so special. This is made possible by presenting the various natural wonders that make up the Moore Museum of Art and Natural History.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.boneboutique.biz/art-of-war
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imagesoftherapy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ImagesofTherapy
Image Credits
Photos taken and edited by Michele Moore