When someone asks how we met Will Moses I always reply, "It was fate."
I always loved Grandma Moses. I grew up far away from my Grandmothers in the midwest. Grandma Moses paintings were like the stories that my Grandmothers had told me when I was very young.
In the early 80’s, Steve & I were selling the paintings of an Old Order Mennonite artist, Miss Emma Schrock. Many people gave her the title of the Grandma Moses of Indiana. I never cared for that label. I prefer to think of her as Miss Emma Schrock of Indiana. However, we were out East selling Miss Emma paintings, and decided to stop by the Bennington Vermont Museum to see their Grandma Moses display. It was wonderful, but I wanted to make a stronger connection with Grandma. So we went to her home town, and walked around. We talked to some people that supposedly had met her. I still wasn’t satisfied. I had not made the connection I had wanted to make.
We saw a small sign saying that Grandma Moses was buried in the local cemetery. So we went to the cemetery, and found her grave. It is a very unassuming grave for such a grand lady. I approached the grave and said, "I don’t mean to disturb you. I just wanted to say thank you."
Grandma Moses was an incredible woman. She achieved more after the age of seventy, then most people strive to accomplish in a lifetime. She was a humble farm woman, who shared her vision of rural life in America. She painted with innocent abandonment, and aged wisdom.
While we were at Grandma’s grave, I wrote Emma Schrock a 3 page letter. I was satisfied. I had made the connection I wanted to make, and we returned to Indiana.
I told this tale to a wood carver from upstate New York. He said I was the only person he knew that was crazy enough to go directly to Grandma, and say thank you. He told me that she had a Great Grandson that was painting.
We called Will Moses. He was a young artist who only had 2 lithographs available at that time. We bought one of each. The next spring we were going out East again. We made plans to stop and meet Will Moses. The night before we arrived, we found out that Will and his wife Sharon, lived in Grandma Moses’ old farm house. I told my husband Steve that he should take the lead. I was afraid that I would do something stupid, like cry.
As Will and Steve talked, I looked at Will’s paintings. My first impression is still true today. I saw a lot of integrity in what he was creating. He was raised to be an artist and a farmer, and that is what he is.
I love stories that start, "Once upon a time," especially when they are true.