By Julie Osterman
The ceramic and bronze figurative sculptures of Utah artist Stacy Phillips have a unique flare—they are adorned with colorful beaded skirts, handmade by the artist. She also creates other works based on the female form, such as her large-scale ceramic pots carved with floral patterns. “When you reference a pot, there’s usually a belly, neck, and shoulders,” she explains. “So there is a natural similarity to the human body.”
Phillips always knew she wanted to be an artist, but her first job out of college was an advertising gig in Omaha, NE. “It’s a scary thing to commit yourself to being an artist, and also I didn’t know how,” Phillips explains. She then moved to Park City, UT, and opened a gallery called The Flat Rabbit. After seven years of selling other artists’ work, Phillips decided to focus solely on her own art. “I knew that I wanted to be a working artist,” she says. “That was my goal.” Now Phillips exercises her creative talents full time and thrives on it. She finds inspiration for her work in nature, such as plant forms, as well as fashion and fabrics. “I think that there’s humor and creativity in re-creating ways that we adorn our bodies,” she says.
A show of Phillips’ new work opens October 16 at Coda Gallery in New York, NY. She is also represented by the gallery’s Park City, UT, and Palm Desert, CA, locations.
Featured in “Artist to Watch” May 2004