Nov 8, 2017 3 min read

Wheeling Heritage will host an exhibit of work by Amity artist Susan Phillips. The exhibition, “Clay as Clay” will run Thursday through Nov. 30 in the Third Floor Loft Gallery at the Wheeling Artisan Center. The exhibit opens with a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday.

Phillips’ current work is informed by the Japanese aesthetic wabi sabi, which is complex but can be partially defined as rustic, unrefined beauty.

“I am attracted to this way of working because it seems to celebrate the nature of raw clay and emphasize the tactile qualities of the material used, which in this case is red stoneware clay with heavy grog that I has used for years to build sculpture and am now finding very satisfying as a medium for these vessel forms and wall pieces,” Phillips said.

Her approach is to utilize stiffened slab shapes that are joined with liberal amounts of slip, which is allowed to ooze out and form an irregular linear element.

“I also try to use the natural edges of the rolled slabs as much as possible as a balance against the cut edges,” she said. “Borrowing a term from woodworking, I refer to those textured, somewhat randomly occurring slab borders as ‘live edges.’ The finishing process I use is a mishima treatment, in which red iron oxide is brushed over all and then sponged off, creating a contrast of light and dark areas and emphasizing textures. On some pieces, I followed the sponging with some light sanding before firing the pieces to cone six.”

Phillips received a degree in art education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she studied ceramics under Frank Ross. She earned a master’s degree of fine arts in ceramic art at Ohio State University.

Phillips, now retired, had a 40-year career as an art educator, including 38 years as a professor of art at Waynesburg University, where she taught ceramics, clay sculpture and art history. She also served as chair of the Department of Fine Arts and was director of the Benedum Fine Arts Gallery. At Waynesburg University, Phillips was selected to receive the Lucas-Hathaway Award for Teaching Excellence. She also received the WQED Multimedia Volunteer in the Arts Award for helping to establish the Southwestern PA Region of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Program.

Phillips maintains a home studio in Amity and exhibits her work regionally. She is a member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh.

The Artisan Center’s Third Floor Loft Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For information on this or upcoming exhibits, call 304-232-1810 or visit www.artisancenter.com.