Name: Nan Phillips
Email: nan@nan-art.com
What type(s) of art do you like to create?
I love creating 3-dimensional work of all kinds. My current body of work consists of realistic figurative nudes – if I have clay in my hands, that’s what it becomes … I can’t seem to help it – and glass: fused glass and stained glass, flat work and 3-dimensional sculpture. In the past couple of years I’ve started branching out to create sculpture using other unlikely materials like glass frit, crystals, plastic beads and vinyl tubing to create In Over Your Head with Jan Ayers; or combining slumped glass, beading and wire mesh to create Fractured Fairy with Jan Ayers, Nancy Uline and Stephen Potter. I’ve recently started carving Styrofoam, and that’s been incredibly fun! No idea what material will come next, but I’m always ready to experiment!
Where did you learn to do what you do?
After my third child, and approaching 40, I felt it was time to go back to school to finish my master’s (I had been working on a degree in government contracting.) However my husband saw something in me that I had not recognized, and suggested art. I had never taken an art class, and after much deliberation, not wanting to start another bachelor’s degree and retake freshman coursework, I enrolled in a stained glass class at a local studio, and pottery classes at the Craft Guild. I was hooked on glass instantly. Failed miserably at pottery. Can’t throw a pot to save my life, and I have great respect for those who can! However I met two people at the Craft Guild – one who taught an intro fused glass class, and one who was a figurative sculpture student of George Davis. I took the one fused glass class, bought a kiln, and switched to figurative sculpture with George, and the rest is, as they say, history. I took classes from George Davis for many years and still go back to his classes when I can. I took beginning stained glass and beginning fused glass classes, and a few workshops at Kittrell/Riffkind Art Glass, but mainly I spent years learning and honing my craft in the school of failed kiln-work.
Tell us about your most important projects.
I have six projects that are very significant to me:
The first is my figurative sculpture Tranquility. That was the first time that I realized that I could speak through my figurative sculpture – that the placement of hand, leg, and shoulders can convey a story; a human truth.
The second is my sculpture In Over Your Head with Jan Ayers. Jan taught me one of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned … that’s it’s OK to play. That literally opened a new world for me.
The third lesson is two-fold and came from working with Stephen Potter on Earth, Wind and Fire: that by working in concert with other artists I can create larger sculpture than I can working on my own; and that I can stretch myself to solve problems I’ve never faced before, such as how to combine two diverse media to create a cohesive sculpture.
Fourth was the TSA presidency in 2008/2009. It was a truly life-changing experience for me. After resisting the idea for 6 months, I decided that if I was going to take on the office, I was going to throw myself into the job and (1) work toward branding TSA and having our organization becoming more widely known; and (2) work toward having TSA become more of a support system for its members. 2008 was TSA’s 25th anniversary year, and it turned into quite a whirl-wind of shows and Symposium events. It was a lot of hard work for the TSA board and the Symposium Committee, and the year was absolutely fabulous. But what I really took from holding the presidency is that our members are really fantastic people. I have truly enjoyed meeting so many members and seeing their artwork. The creativity and diversity never ceases to astound me.
Fifth, is creating the current TSA web site and continuing to work with our members. The web site is huge (I had no idea what I REALLY said “yes” to) and was a technical challenge for me, not being previously well-versed in computer-speak. My son/graphic designer, Michael Phillips, taught me a great deal and has worked most of the extra html magic behind the scenes. This project has been an enormous learning experience and has been quite rewarding.
And sixth, is creating and opening my own teaching studio two years ago. I discovered that I love teaching. Actually what I truly love is problem solving, and teaching allows me to do that on a continual basis. I encourage students by discussing what they want their end product to be, then working backward to figure out how to get there. Though my own studio is a fairly recent addition, I’ve been teaching classes and private lessons for years. I am currently teaching between 9 and 11 classes a week – one figurative sculpture class at BITY Molds in Richardson; two fused glass classes at Visual Expressions Studio in Cedar Hill; and the rest are fused and stained glass classes and fused glass art parties at my home studio in Richardson.
Describe your studio.
My studio is in my home. When we built the house 16 years ago I added a small craft room upstairs off the game room. Over the years, my work began spilling out onto the pool table, the dining table, the kitchen table, the garage, every closet … As each child grew up and left home, I continued my land-grab and took over their bedrooms too. Two years ago I officially took over the game room, put a large wood table-top over the pool table, and turned it into a glass teaching studio. We can’t play pool anymore, but I was never a very good pool player anyway. I dream of having a real studio one day when I grow up.
What type of music do you listen to while you work?
During class, I put on either classical music or class rock. It’s a nice background to class conversation. When I work on my own I prefer NPR. For some reason I work better listening to words in the background than music, and often something that I hear peripherally will make me stop and listen and think, and often analyze what I’m working on in conjunction with what I just heard.
Where do you find your inspiration?
All over. Often when I see something my mind immediately leaps to ‘gee I wonder if I can do x with y if I do z … or maybe q … and what happens if ….’
Do you have any advice for other artists?
Take risks and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You’ll learn more from your mistakes than from your successes.
Do you belong to any art organizations?
TSA
Arts Incubator of Richardson
Plano Art Association
Do you have a website?
www.nan-art.com
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