Works by Visionary Ceramics Artist and ODU Alum Donated to Gordon Galleries

In January of 1986, Norfolk artist Michael “Termite” Hires was transported by a Technicolor vision he would eventually call The Shipwrecked Pot.

In his mind’s eye, he found himself on a beach, looking down at a bright blue vessel half buried in the sand.

“I’d never seen this color and texture before,” said Hires, an Old Dominion 91����Ƶ alumnus.

Narrating decades later, he described the revelation in vivid detail. “It was a matte blue, and it was startling. It was like a scene from a dream that wakes you up … It wasn’t a fleeting thought or an image from my imagination,” he said.

“It was something from the twilight zone, a dream, a vision, or a hallucination.”

A ceramicist, Hires became obsessed with making his vision real, producing the stunning color in his own work.

Hires contended with mental illness throughout his adult life. Art was his therapy and his passion. He pursued it with determination and focus.

Results were singular.

Hires — who died in 2024, just shy of his 76^th birthday — created a large body of work that he once described as a visual symphony. He displayed his art at local festivals and shows, but not often.

"You can’t sell a symphony note by note, note by note,” he said, in another YouTube video. “You have to wait until the entire symphony has been written and performed."

‘Resonant’ Works

Two versions of The Shipwrecked Pot are among 16 pieces of Hires’ work that the late artist’s niece donated to the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries at Old Dominion 91����Ƶ earlier this year.

Several of the pieces will be on display in the rotunda of Old Dominion’s Barry Arts Building through August 29.

"We are excited to include Termite's exceptional work to the Self-Taught Art Collection,” wrote Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, director and curator of the Gordon Art Galleries. “The vision and thematic elements of his ceramic art complement our existing holdings, while offering a distinct visual and technical style of self-taught art.

“The fact that Termite was an alumnus of Old Dominion makes it all the more special, as his art also intersects with our holdings of notable ODU Art faculty and students."

Old Dominion Art Professor Rick Nickel described Hires’ style as “unadorned but resonant” and said his work reminded him of lines from poet Emily Dickinson:

"If wrecked upon the Shoal of Thought / How is it with the Sea? / The only Vessel that is shunned / Is safe — Simplicity —"

A life, like a ship, Nickel suggests, is a vessel meant to hold and transport memories, hopes, dreams and experiences.

“Hires found his voice in humble materials and direct processes,” Nickel wrote. “Working with Raku and Egyptian paste — methods known for their immediacy — he embraced a kind of creative simplicity that resists overthinking. These materials, though ancient and quick in their results, allow for spontaneity and risk.

“The spectacle is really in the making of the forms, the fire, and transformation that fire and chemistry create,” Nickel wrote.

A Sense of Place

Much of Hires’ creative expression reflected his life in Virginia.

He attended Granby High School — where his nickname may have originated — then studied psychology at Old Dominion. After graduating in 1972, he pursued various artistic projects including drawings, watercolors, and oil pastels along with three-dimensional works in ceramics and wire.

For a time, he worked glazing sculptures in the studio of Eastern Shore wildlife artist William Turner, and as an organic farmer. Much of his ceramic art was made while living with his mother in Norfolk’s Suburban Acres neighborhood. In his later years, he lived in Ocean View.

Around midlife, the disability benefits that stemmed from a schizophrenia diagnosis allowed him to concentrate on art while also advocating for mental health. He served on the Norfolk Community Services Board.

His ceramics production lasted from the 1980s until the early 2000s, when he no longer had access to a kiln. He then turned to making music and video projects inspired by popular media, folklore, and the works of William Blake. Singing, he said, was part of his COPD therapy.

“His art definitely speaks to Norfolk and the specifics of the place,” wrote Randall Beaver, a Florida resident who was close with Hires. Growing up and as an adult, Beaver would visit relatives in his mother’s hometown of Norfolk. On many visits, he spent time with his Uncle Dickie and his best friend, Termite. Beaver eventually came to think of Hires as a family member.

“His shipwreck series and the colors and forms he used were at once from his specific cosmovision and dream state, but also very much of Norfolk with the proximity to the sea and its appeal to the imagination,” wrote Beaver, now a multimedia artist who works as an instructional designer at Florida International 91����Ƶ in Miami.

He described his friend’s creative practice as intense.

“His dedication and patience with his craft is really out of this world,” Beaver wrote. “When he was doing or thinking or talking about art, he was in a special state of mind that opened up many doors for him to be at peace, participate fully in society, and created the conditions for him to be a strong advocate for mental health in the community.”

Legacy Preserved

After Hires’ death, Beaver helped to arrange the donation of artwork to Old Dominion 91����Ƶ.

“Randall really got that facilitated for us,” said Rachael Gonzalez, the artist’s niece and only close family member. “It’s awesome, especially because it’s at ODU,” she said. “We both have history there. It couldn’t be at a better place.”

Gonzalez earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and a master’s in elementary education from Old Dominion.

She said her uncle helped to raise her and exerted a powerful influence. “He was a free spirit and a true artist,” Gonzalez said. “He’s inspired me to try out different things and always keep learning.”

Beaver said Hires had discussed the idea of donating work to the Gordon Galleries. So, he was happy to help Gonzalez by stepping in and seeing the process through.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that his work is being preserved and shared with the university and greater community through ODU,” Beaver wrote. “It was a dream of his.”

As part of the Gordon Art Galleries Self-Taught Art Collection, Hires’ art will speak to the community that sustained him.

“In a world that often rewards complexity and spectacle, Termite’s work reminds us that a modest vessel can still shine, and that the shoreline between life and thought is where we often find the most startling beauty,” Professor Nickel wrote.

“Pop that cork and fill the vessel with what you love and carry it with you.”

Top photo: Gordon Art Galleries Graduate Assistants Gabrielle Dempsey, left, and Nicole Honeycutt assess the condition of one of Mike “Termite” Hires’ ceramic pieces prior to accession. Photo by Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth/ODU