mudstuffing

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.

Artist Statement: “Over the years I worked using a variety of methods and processes. The method and process is really what intrigues me as a maker. So it’s natural for me to make functional wares to give my work a purpose and meaning.

Today most pots are thrown on the wheel, but involve a fair amount of handbuilding before being finished. adding layers and layers of embellishment gives the pots depth and pictorial qualities. I use stencils, silkscreen, washes and decals to achieve these patterns and textures. Using a variety of methods to transfer images on pot satisfies my inner printmaker. ”