CLOSING RECEPTION
+ ARTIST TALK

August 28th, 2021 6-8pm
artist talk @ 6:30pm

WORKSHOP

August 28th & 29th, 2021
more info here

IN THE NEWS

KDNK Express Yourself Interview
Sopris Sun Article
Post Independent Article

ABOUT THE ARTISTS & EXHIBITION

Kelly and Kyle Phelps are Professors at private Catholic universities in Ohio. Kelly Phelps is a Professor at Xavier University (Cincinnati) where he oversees the sculpture department. Kyle is a Professor at University Dayton (Dayton) where he is the head of the sculpture department. Both Kelly and Kyle continue to work collaboratively to create their artwork and share a studio in Centerville, Ohio. The twins share numerous grants, regional and national exhibitions, and commissions. More notable examples of the twins’ accomplishments include major reviews in the internationally acclaimed Ceramics Monthly, Sculpture Magazine, and American Craft Magazine, and their work being part of private collections of film director Michael Moore, and actor Morgan Freeman.

Much of the twins' work is about the blue collar working-class, race relations and the common struggles of the everyday man and woman. The twins grew up in a blue-collar/factory environment in Indiana where they were inspired by family members and friends who worked in various manufacturing plants, steel mills, and foundries. These everyday people became working class heroes that have inspired over a decade of working-class art.

For a number of years the twins have produced work that incorporates both the hand-crafted (clay/resin casts) juxtaposed with found objects/site specific objects. Kyle and Kelly have combined gears, corrugated metal and scrap-machined parts along with modeled ceramic/resin cast figures to create a visual narrative composition about the blue-collar experience. It is important for the twins to continue to combine hand-crafted art form together with these found objects to give their work an authentic sense of place and time. The found objects are, in a sense, historical artifacts. Much of Kyle and Kelly’s work not only allows the viewer to visualize the created compositions, but also allows the viewer to evoke their other senses as well. Some of the found objects that have been incorporated into their work are soot-covered or soaked in cutting machine oils that emit a distinctive odor commonly found in automotive factories.

Outside of their blue-collar working-class art that they are most widely known for, they also explore the intersections of other social issues that affect our world today. Social topics like, but not limited to, political, environmental, race, religion, class, sexuality, gender, poverty, war, and other issues of our time are also being explored.