Sculptures on View

Nestled on twenty acres of hardwood in Jefferson County, Kansas, retired ad agency owner Phil Smith has found a new purpose in sculpting wood. From the rich hues of walnut to the amber cast of Osage and Kentucky Coffee trees, he crafts towering figures and petite flower vases.

Phil’s creations aren’t just art—they’re a lifeline for charities. All sales, including those of his favorite causes (St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Pawsperity, Halo Foundation, UMKC Conservatory, Ensemble Iberica) directly support the community he cherishes.

Horses | by butch Murphy

I'm the creator, fabricator and metal sculptor, autodidact by training, combining new and found carbon steel producing representational/figurative forms. I'm often asked if I make preliminary drawings, but beyond a simple chalk figure on my workbench, the rest is in my head.  I make no bones about it, the sculptures are as much a mystery to me as to the viewer, until they are complete. Stealing the words from Jackson Pollock, as I'm producing my sculptures, there's definitely a period where I spend time just getting acquainted with the piece, providing me final direction.  I create to instill a degree of spectator confusion or in the words of John Yau, "ambiguity trying to invite the viewer's scrutiny" and participation. Although in recent years I've focused on horse sculptures, I've been inspired by such things as a reflection on the ceiling or an early morning dream, most that fortunately vaporize. I don’t see myself being trapped by a leitmotiv, however, I am definitely captured by geometry and Cubism as a component of Modernism. On reflecting, I seem to draw from different movements so not to limit my efforts to one era or another.  I'm taken by the layering three dimensional effect seen in paintings by Braque that best describes what Donald Baechler defined, and I borrowed, "editing." For now, each production is a study....never expecting perfection, as that would eliminate the search,* and for me, the end. And, after all, attraction is only in the eyes of the beholder.