| Kelly and Kyle Phelps | ||
| Birth Date: 1972 |
||
Artist Gallery |
||
| Kelly and Kyle Phelps are twin brothers who work collaboratively in a shared studio in Centerville, Ohio, to create their artwork. Both brothers are Associate Professors at private Catholic universities in Ohio. Kelly Phelps is an Associate Professor at Xavier University (Cincinnati) where he oversees the Sculpture Department. Kyle is an Associate Professor at the University of Dayton (Dayton) where he is the head of the Ceramic Department.
The twins grew up in a blue collar environment in Indiana where they were inspired by family members and friends who worked in various manufacturing plants, steel mills, and foundries. As in most U.S. factory towns in recent years, closures came and jobs disappeared. Much of the twins' work is about the blue collar working-class, race relations, and the everyday struggles of the common man and woman.
Their sculptures combine clay figures with found objects from factories that have closed. Those objects include everything from gears to corrugated metal and scrapped machine parts.
“Found objects have a sense of place and time,” Kyle Phelps said. “These pieces are part of the machinery that came from a place that meant something. New materials don’t have that kind of life.”
The twins share numerous grants, regional and national exhibitions, and commissions. More notable private collectors of the twins work are film director Michael Moore and actor Morgan Freeman, as well as major reviews in the world acclaimed Sculpture Magazine and American Craft Magazine.
|
||