Michael Fulghum

Michael was born in Tempe into an Arizona family that has lived here for at least 6 generations. They were ranching in Southern Arizona close to the border during the Earp era: they were and are resourceful tough customers. His family was intimately involved with the development and running of Roosevelt Dam, and some continue farming and ranching among other endeavors to this day. Growing up in the immediate post-WWII era Arizona, Michael & his 3 brothers walked, camped, and hunted all over the State. He loved this state - its peculiar plants, its landscape, its expansiveness, its history, its variety of peoples, its textures, its geology, its moods and its skies. This captivation would later surface in his artwork. Michael's parents were both teachers, committed to childrens' education and sports coaching activities. All 4 boys played baseball, football, etc. Michael’s favorite school sport was wrestling- he loved the challenge of individual responsibility, the calculation under pressure and the extreme training required.

Cantankerous and fiercely protective as he was, Michael had a gentle side to his personality. He would rescue baby birds and animals, and eventually lost interest in hunting.

In the early days of the Vietnam era, to keep the peace in their home, Michael’s mother helped sign him into the Air Force. With training in aircraft mechanics, he served on the Okinawa flight line during its busiest time, where he learned to develop sensitivities for the precise and the absurd. When stationed in Hawaii he learned to love surfing and broke his nose when a surfboard rocketed straight up and came down on his face (his surfing buddy rescued him that day). He also experienced a "new kind of grey hell" when stationed in Washington state for an extended time with only one clear weekend. That’s ugly for an Arizonan…

Despite his attraction to the aircraft, Michael wasn’t interested in a military career. Returning to Arizona with his GI Bill funds, he enrolled in college with the intent of getting a degree in history, following the family trajectory to teach. It was there that he discovered a serious level of artmaking and changed his degree program. Fortunately, this was during a renaissance period of American interdisciplinary craft and art-making as a whole, and in the Ceramic area of ASU in particular. Things were hot and he jumped right into the thick of it with top-notch ceramic and sculpture professors. His MFA was in ceramics, but he also developed skills in papermaking, photography, woodworking and sculpture. In these things, his Arizona sensibilities found visual form. He was taking pictures right up to the end of his life.

Like most artists pursuing an active art life without independent wealth, Michael supported himself with a variety of day jobs, including making furniture on commission. He picked up a lot of additional quality woodworking training from his position as a laboratory technician in the ASU Geology Department. He assisted in installing exhibitions for the Arizona Traveling Exhibition program. At Pueblo Grande Museum and Cultural Park, he served as an exhibit preparator, building exhibit materials and benches, and then later in Building Maintenance at the park.

Best known for his flat stoneware raku-fired slab "landscapes" (a difficult technical achievement), Michael’s ceramic work was exhibited in many competitions and at the Phoenix Art Museum. He was a Board Member of the artist cooperative MARS Artspace where he exhibited and installed exhibitions. Locally in Tempe, during the 1980’s he was known as “The Carrot Man” for his use of carrot imagery in his works. He met his second wife, artist Kay Emig at MARS.

Their marriage continued for 36 years. Michael stepped into the role of a family man helping to raise two children and a variety of pets and plants.

Medically retired in 2009, Michael continued to photograph the family succulent and cactus garden. He used his sculpture skills to build little bird toys and structures for his pet cockatiel buddies. His several health conditions eventually deteriorated into a long-term extremely painful neuropathy and it became impossible to work with his hands. The Lord mercifully ended his suffering and took him out of this temporal life. “Crazy Mike” is survived by his wife Kay, two brothers, Steven and Gregory Fulghum, as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. May his memory be eternal.

“For you are my workmanship (His own work, a work of art), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which Christ prepared for us beforehand (taking paths which he set) so that we would walk in them (living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for you). Eph 2:10

A visitation for Michael will be held Thursday, December 8, 2022, at 9:00 AM at All Saints of North America Orthodox Church (11234 W. Alabama Ave, Youngtown, AZ 85363), followed by a funeral service at 10:00 AM. Michael will be laid to rest at Resthaven Park Cemetery (6450 W. Northern Ave, Glendale, AZ 85301).

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.westresthavenfuneralhome.com for the Fulghum family.