A potter with work inspired by the movie “Black Panther”? I was hooked. The press release from Mississippi University for Women about a graduate’s current ceramics exhibition made me curious about Stephen Phillips. Photographs of his dynamic work showed vessels of powerful design and high quality. And he was making all this in Crawford? I wondered how I had missed him before. This is how I came to be driving down a gravel road in the rural Lowndes County town (population 641 in the 2010 census) on a cold and glittering January morning.
Phillips, 30, was waiting outside his studio, dressed for the weather in warm jacket and knit cap. His wide smile was instantly noticeable. But the most indelible impression from the visit was of his genial naturalness. Phillips is “at home” talking about his passion for clay. Enthusiasm, tempered with humility, underpins his conversation. There is a sense of eagerness to get on with it, with making more pieces, with putting his sketches and imagination to the test on the potter’s wheel.
From the outside looking in, it seems an exciting time to be him: He has his first professional solo show up at The W, through Feb. 8. His work is being accepted in gallery shops at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi as well the Rosenzweig Arts Center in Columbus. He’s currently making some pieces for another gallery in Alpharetta, Georgia. His Etsy and social media exposure is fueling interest in and demand for his work, with customers already from the west coast to the east.
All this, while he holds down a full-time manufacturing job in Columbus. It’s a position that allows him several consecutive days off, days he can spend in the portable storage building-studio he’s put up next door to the family home in Crawford. An interior door in the studio holds particular meaning; it’s from his grandmother’s house.
“I have a part of my grandmother with me every time I’m in here,” the potter said.
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This all started with mud elephants.
“I played in mud when I was little all the time,” Phillips grinned. “I made elephants out of mud. I’d dig in the earth; it was so mold-able. I just had a fascination about creating stuff with my hands.”
It wasn’t until he entered East Mississippi Community College in Scooba that he discovered “playing in mud” could be a bona fide art form. In 2008, he earned the Artistic Achievement Award from EMCC. He graduated in 2013 from The W with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art. In 2011, he won the First Place Ceramics Award in the Mississippi Collegiate Art Competition. He also won awards in ceramics and printmaking in annual juried student exhibitions.
Phillips had been working at a convenience store in Crawford, but graduation meant searching for more substantial work; he got a job with what is now Steel Dynamics Inc. But he knew he wanted to pursue his art.
“One of the things I wanted to do was get my work out there, to actually be able to have my own business,” he said. “And I really wanted to get work into galleries and work on a professional level as an artist.”
Once Phillips established a dedicated studio space, he went after his goals in earnest, naming his enterprise Stephen’s Potter House Productions. He creates a variety of vessels as well as plates and even jewelry.
Making his work distinctive is a priority. Pieces often bear design signatures applied by manipulating the clay with his fingers.
“It’s the mark of the potter, so you know it’s handmade,” he said.
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Phillips’ “Black Panther” series is rich and bold, just as the 2018 film is. The raku fired pots have a matte black color and are accented with a gold wax-turned-bronze color.
“It’s major for the African American culture to have a black superhero on the main screen, and when you see a movement like that for your culture, it’s inspirational,” Phillips said. “It’s empowering for me to see other African Americans do things on a large scale, something that’s positive, something that’s encouraging and inspiring.”
Phillips is continually exploring technique and design — experimenting with finishes, geometric shapes, different lines.
“For me, it has been about trying to find my own voice, my own identity for my work,” he explained. “That came from a conversation I had with my professor, Ian Childers. He was telling me about finishing my work. He told me, you know how to create pieces, you know how to throw well, but how will you finish your work, to make it your own?”
Beverly Joyce is director of galleries and professor of art at The W. She taught Phillips art history and recently invited him to mount the solo exhibition currently at The W. A reception open to the public begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Summer Hall.
“Stephen is very disciplined and very enthusiastic; he is determined to pursue his art interests,” she said. “I invited him to do the show because Ian Childers had been keeping up with him and talking about his work. Our gallery is a great place for young artists who are breaking out. He’s done really, really nice work.” The W, she added, has offered to purchase one of his pieces because “it is so high quality.”
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At his studio Thursday, Phillips sat at the wheel and pulled out a spiral notebook filled with design sketches and notes. He has ideas; they spring from almost everywhere, including his full-time job.
“I’m surrounded by scrap metal all the time, and it’s inspiring to watch the firing technique,” he said. “I got to see them pour the steel; it’s an amazing process. I hope to do a series mimicking the industry.”
Social media has been a great tool for the Crawford craftsman, connecting him with others around the globe, creating a digital round table for sharing ideas, asking questions.
“I’m amazed at the network of potters from around the world. I have potter friends now in Russia, England, Trinidad … ”
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Just as his wheel and kiln are, Phillips’ faith is integral to what he does. He is repeatedly drawn to Bible scripture found in Jeremiah 18.
“It talks about when the Lord came to Jeremiah and told him to go to the potter’s house,” Phillips began. “There he saw the potter working with clay, and when the potter saw that his work wasn’t pleasing, he took it and started over again. And the word of the Lord came to him … can I not do the same thing with my people?”
It often causes him to reflect as the clay takes shape beneath his fingers.
“A lot of the time I look at myself as being the clay and just seeing myself in God’s hands in my journey.”
Editor’s note: More of Stephen Phillips work can be viewed on Facebook or Instagram. Email reaches him at [email protected].
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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