Keith Phillips
Keith Phillips works are distinctive in their use of original drawings and digitally manipulated scans of vintage images. His functional pieces are thrown on the wheel and soda fired in a wood kiln. Iron-based decals are added to the pots, as well as to his sculptural works as a way of adding pattern and rhythm to the vessel
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Keith Phillips at MudFire
Gallery group show Asheville in Atlanta, October 2010
Keith Phillips Artist Bio
Keith Phillips earned a BFA from East Carolina University with a studio focus in printmaking. After college, Keith & Gina blind folded themselves and picked a spot on a map, packed up their stuff and headed to Missoula, Montana. Always painting and drawing, life lead Keith to a career as a designer working for various online companies in the 90's. With the crash of the Internet, he found himself jobless with a wife & two kids to support. In a moment of serendipity, he was employed as an assistant to ceramic artist Walker Davis, who was once a bum on the streets of Spokane, WA. In addition to the ceramic craft, Walker taught Keith to "live poor". He bought her old kiln for $200, and started making his own wares. Between pottery, freelance graphic design and creating art in fabrics, bills started to get paid again.
Keith Phillips Artist Statement
I'm slowly working my way through a variety of ceramic processes to create functional wares. Originally everything was handbuilt. Today most pots are thrown on the wheel, but they still involve a fair amount of handbuilding before being finished. In 2008, I built the Cane Creek Kiln. It's a large wood fired kiln. It's unique because it is a very efficient kiln to fire - using less than a cord of wood per firing. To further minimize my impact on the planet, I use discarded and scrap wood from local industries: pallets & millwork discards. Glazes are applied using a combination of dipping an spraying. Soda is added to further enhance the organic surfaces.
For the past three years, I've been applying toner decals to my pots as a way of adding pattern and rhythm to the pot. These are both original drawings and digitally manipulated scans of vintage images. Favorite images are from a 1920 Montgomery Wards catalog. These are fired on the pots to 1900 degress to make them dishwasher safe. The image will not fade for the life of the pot. This satisfies my inner printmaker.
