Kelly & Kyle Phelps: Blue Collar

January, 24 – July, 31 2020

OPENING FRIDAY, JAN. 24 | 5-8 PM

––POSTPONED–– ARTISTS LECTURE THURSDAY, APRIL 16 | 6:30 PM | BERNATH AUDITORIUM, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY 

Working-class heroes, race relations and the everyday struggles of the common man and woman have inspired nearly two decades of art by Kelly and Kyle Phelps. Working together in a shared studio, the twin brothers create visual narrative compositions about the blue-collar experience utilizing handcrafted clay/resin cast forms juxtaposed with found- and site-specific objects from abandoned factories, steel mills, warehouses, and railway lines. The Phelps brothers discuss their work and process in the first eight minutes of PBS's The Art Show, Season 4 Episode 5.

Both are professors who oversee sculpture departments – Kelly at Xavier University in Cincinnati and Kyle at the University of Dayton. Learn more about their work from the December 2016 issue of Ceramics Monthly.