EXHIBITING GALLERY: St. Louis Artists' Guild
Submitted by Artist: Roxanne Phillips
Tell us a bit more about yourself: your location, professional affiliations, personal stuff…
My name is Roxanne Phillips, originally form Dallas, though I have lived in St. Louis for the last 8 years. I moved to St. Louis to attend Wash U. were I received my MFA in printmaking and drawing in 2003. While there I did a lot of papermaking.
I am Associate Instructor and Gallery Director and at Maryville University where I teach printmaking, design, fibers, and senior seminar. I am also an Instructor and Director of the Permanent Collection at Florissant Valley Community College. At Flo. Valley I teach printmaking, design, drawing, and painting.
I hold positions on the national and local board for Women’s Caucus for Art. Locally I am the Fundraising Chair and on the exhibition and nominating committees. Nationally I am a Chapters’ Council Director and on the committee for Young Women’s Caucus. I am also a member of College Arts Association, Southern Graphics Council, and Mid-America Print Council.
What is your ideal day in the studio? What is your agenda? What music do you listen to?
If I can get four productive hours in then it is a good day. I have a separate studio from my house because I find there are too many distractions at home (laundry, tv, computers…) On an ideal day I would walk in and be able to get right to work- no running around gathering materials or cleaning up messes that I had left out. I would be focused 100% on the art and not thinking about other things on my “to do list” I usually have 3-5 pieces going at once that way if I get to a point where the piece is no longer “speaking to me” I can give it a rest and move to the one that is “speaking”. In the studio NPR is usually on the radio- my studiomate and I both agree on it and I get to catch up on the news.
What is the source of your creativity? How much is from within? How much comes from outside sources?
Often my art is an “inward” response to something “outside”. An example is a series I did “Boundaries” which began with my reaction to the US / Mexico boarder wall. It got me thinking about other boundaries that contain or block people. This led to me focusing more on personal boundaries, overcoming obsticales, emotional boundaries, etc. The thought process began “outside” of me but turned “within” most of my projects do this.
Could you do your art without an audience? How important is feedback?
I love for my art to have an audience but it is not necessary. I have many series in my studio that have never had the opportunity to be exhibited. For me it is about getting the images in my head out only to make room for the next images. Feedback is great- I especially like it when someone interprets my art differently.
How does your process of creating an art object begin?
I am a list maker. I get an idea and start making list of different images I could use as symbols. Form that list ill choose a few words and make list of different ways those symbols could be interpreted. I research the historical or cultural meanings. I then start thinking about which process to use to create the art and how that will affect the “reading” of the piece. Then I start making the works every now and then making list of thoughts I have that could influence the next piece in the series.
to find more information and images of Roxanne's work, visit her website: www.roxannephillips.com
Roxanne Phillips is teaching a workshop at the St. Louis Artists' Guild called Surface Design:Hand Printed Quilts. She will present her artistic process and the methods she uses to create one of a kind printed and embellished quilts or wall hangings. Visit the website for more information:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/node/267
or call the Guild at 314.727.6266. The workshop is held on November 7th and 8th from 10 am to 3 pm and presented in conjunction with Innovations in Textiles 8 and the On the Bias Exhibition Series at the Guild.