Shiney Moon

Carlos Alpha "Shiney" Moon (born 1906 in Birmingham - died 1953 in Florala, Covington County) was an artist and co-founder of the Bayou Art Colony in Bayou la Batre in Mobile County.

Though born in Birmingham, Moon grew up in Andalusia in Covington County. He attended the Alabama Polytechnic Institute for about a year before returning home to begin a career as a clothier.

One day while encouraging his daughter to use a watercolor set he discovered a love of painting in himself. He came under the tutelage of Kelly Fitzpatrick of the Dixie Art Colony near Wetumpka. The two became life-long friends and Moon took up oil painting full-time. Within two years he mounted a solo exhibition at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

In 1946 Moon began working in watercolor and studied under Morris Davidson in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In 1950 he, Fitzpatrick and Genevieve Southerland established the Bayou Art Colony, where he served as an instructor.

Moon was active in the artistic community, serving as president of the Watercolor Society of Alabama and vice-president of the Alabama Art League.

He died in 1953 at the age of 47.

References

• Williams, Lynn (Winter 2003) "Carlos Alpha (Shiney) Moon: From Merchant to Artist." Alabama Heritage p. 36-46.
• Anderson, Reed (2004) "Carlos Alpha (Shiney) Moon" in Charles C. Eldredge, ed. Tales from the Easel: American Narrative Paintings from Southeastern Museums, Circa 1800-1950. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0820325694
• Richelson, Paul W. The Bayou Painters: South Alabama’s Art Colony (1946-1953), exh. cat. Mobile: Mobile Museum of Art, 2006. ISBN 1893174069