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My Background
My Inspiration
My Background
My name is Beth Phillips and I was raised on a dairy farm in Southern Tennessee, off winding Highway 64, to be precise. I even helped milk the cows….The open freedom and wildness of country life was shaping me more than I realized at the time, because really, by the time I was nearing high school graduation, all I wanted to do was leave a
My name is Beth Phillips and I was raised on a dairy farm in Southern Tennessee, off winding Highway 64, to be precise. I even helped milk the cows….The open freedom and wildness of country life was shaping me more than I realized at the time, because really, by the time I was nearing high school graduation, all I wanted to do was leave and move to the city and I thought I’d never want to be in the country again. I had always been a creative type of kid-theater, piano, drawing and making things had been what interested me the most growing up, so I got a BA in Visual Art and moved to Atlanta. I was working in art galleries and art education centers and surrounding myself with all things creative, but I had essentially stopped making my own art until my mid-30s. My whole life was different. I was living in Birmingham’s wonderfully eclectic Southside neighborhood and mother to two curious and creative young ones. We had embraced an unschooling approach to education and because our house happened to be on a dead end street and was nestled against a kudzu-covered, hilly lot, we were outside daily and the kids were allowed to explore to an extent. They became interested in what they could make out of the extremely long, fast growing kudzu vines making their way into the backyard. It’s reminded them of yarn and so we started wrapping sticks and making wreaths.
Although the kids lost interest after a few days, I was getting ideas and began using it as a sculpting medium creating very large figurative sculptures that filled up our back yard and got the attention of a local neighbor who gave me my first exhibit! I truly had no idea what I was doing or if the vines would hold up. I was constantly experimenting. I’m pretty sure some of those 1st pieces were stuffed with kudzu leaves! I didn’t know anyone that worked with kudzu vine at the time and had no inkling of the myriad of benefits the plant has to offer. I’m the first to admit my journey as a kudzu ‘artist’ has been slow, but steady.
In the 12 years that have passed since that summer in Birmingham with my curious children, I have been developing my craft, learning about all that Kudzu can offer and how best to manipulate the vines into my creations, specifically as lighting. Due to the free- form, open weave in the design of my one-of-a-kind spheres and lampshades, when lit from the inside, the effect is a dramatic display of light and shadow that mimics the weave and wildness of the vines, creating a mood that excites the senses and imbues the area with the feeling of being embraced by nature.
Drawing on my inspiration from nature and fairy and goddess imagery, I also create figurative sculptures that celebrate the Divine Feminine and the wild, raw beauty of the natural world.
As it goes, the country called me back and I currently make my home in Rogersville, Alabama with my guitar-playin husband, 3 dogs, 3 cats and two now grown children who come back to visit from time to time.
My work can be found at Homegrown Art Gallery in Sheffield Alabama, Kentuck Art Gallery in Northport, AL as well as numerous private collections throughout the US.
Kudzu Vine
My Inspiration
My Background
Kudzu vine. If you ask most people in the south, they hate it. They want to kill it, poison it, dig it up, anything to get rid of it. But it just comes back. I decided to give into its power and turn it into lamp shades that put on a dramatic light and shadow show and sculptures that appear to have come together directly out of the kudzu
Kudzu vine. If you ask most people in the south, they hate it. They want to kill it, poison it, dig it up, anything to get rid of it. But it just comes back. I decided to give into its power and turn it into lamp shades that put on a dramatic light and shadow show and sculptures that appear to have come together directly out of the kudzu patch. I work with the vines while they are green, let them dry and seal them with a protective finish that brings out the color in the vine and gives the whole piece a glossier look. Check it out…
My Inspiration
My Inspiration
My Inspiration
I have been working on my own with Kudzu vines for almost 12 years. What started as an art project with my very young children developed into a passion that has only grown the more I have learned. In that time I have discovered that what I originally thought was just an albeit beautiful, but invasive weed is actually a magnificent source
I have been working on my own with Kudzu vines for almost 12 years. What started as an art project with my very young children developed into a passion that has only grown the more I have learned. In that time I have discovered that what I originally thought was just an albeit beautiful, but invasive weed is actually a magnificent source for paper, cloth, food and medicine that has been used in Japan and other parts of Asia for 1000s of years! Kudzu-fu cloth is highly prized in Japan for its strength, durability and beauty. The south is covered in this resource. It became invasive here in the mid-1930s when the WPA paid farmers to plant it throughout the south for erosion control. There are very few people that have worked with this plant in the above mentioned ways in this country. We have an abundant resource here in the south that is not being utilized. My hope is to bring awareness to the public on the numerous benefits and uses that can be culled from this invasive vine that has taken over so much of the landscape across the South and has a reputation as a noxious, destructive weed that needs to be eradicated.