Phillip Finder is a ceramic artist working out of St. Louis, MO, USA. He studied industrial design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI, before earning a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL under the guidance of ceramic artist Stephen Heywood.
Phillip honed his artistic direction through a three-year graduate program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and in 2013 received a Master of Fine Art degree in Ceramics with the direction of Paul Dresang and Matt Wilt.
Phillip has been teaching for over a decade at several St. Louis colleges including Maryville University (2014-2023) where he acted as the Ceramic Program Facilities Manager, and now works with St. Louis Community College at both the Meramec and Forest Park Campuses. He also creates work from his home studio in Compton Heights, St. Louis, MO.
Artist Statement
Through the making of craft objects, I examine our culture’s collective appetite for consumption, immediacy, and the acceptance of over stimulated lifestyles. My work responds as a calm counterbalance to this reality.
The formal language I use supports the notion of clarity, where emphasis is placed on refinement and order. Embellishments in form are minimized, and surfaces favor and reflect the act of making over ornament or decoration. I seek balance between elements of precision and elements of disorder to create tension that excites an otherwise simple object. I apply these ideas to both ceramic vessels and composite sculptural objects made from clay, wood, concrete, metal and other media commonly used in the built environment around us. Through my work, I aim to deliver a carefully considered and unique sense of modernity by way of the handcrafted object.
Beyond my identity represented here as a ceramic artist, I am extremely involved in many other facets of creative expression. Historic architecture is a passion, and I spend much of my time contemplating and admiring the efforts of those who came before us and the treasures they have left behind. My home was built in 1931 in an American revival style reminiscent of English cottages. Restoring this home has almost become a way of life for me in tandem with my art practice. I have taken on large scale projects such as personally re-roofing the home with slate, a craft that I respect with the highest regard. With this, I have also developed an extensive ornamental garden that is very much about creating space, no different than the lines of questioning I follow with Ceramics. In the garden, I find ways to explore other forms of craft and design, and have built traditional timber-framing structures using mortise and tenon with pegs from oak. Gardening for me is a beautiful partnership between human will and nature that nourishes our daily lives. Without it, I would be lost. My art making process is very much a physical one, and I balance that work with cycling as a regular pastime. Many of my best friends I have met through riding bikes both on and off road, and of course, I admire the beauty of the bicycle as a simple machine. Lastly, and most importantly, I have my immediate family. My wife Janelle, and my 4 year old son Fritz. Together we do our best to support each other in living healthy lives in a purposeful manner.