Ellen Phillips is a founding member of California Fibers, having been juried into the group in 1970. An artist and educator, Phillips is known for her leadership and strong compassion for the environment and its issues and concerns. Phillips’ work demonstrates superior quality and set the bar for other members who were juried into California Fibers. A nationally and internationally known artist, Ellen received her MFA degree in sculpture from San Diego State University.
Phillips writes that her work is an extension of her experience, particularly of her inner experience of self search, change, and growth. Segments of that experience relate to current themes of thresholds, walls, barriers, boundaries, and passages that investigate physical spaces that impinge on inner psychological space and allow an openness to the irrational. Squeezing this physical/psychological space forces confrontation with inner barriers built for self protection, as well as with the boundary between the conscious and the unconscious. These ephemeral barriers leave traces in memory and dream, and pull from the collective unconscious. The process of tapping the energy sources of the unconscious evolves through manipulation of material. Processes of stacking, interweaving, and meshing, and their effects on dematerialized inner space give information on decision making and reveal thought patterns. The immaterial funds the material.
Below is Passage #18 (1990, rebuilt 2002), 28” x 18” 15”; hardware cloth, wire, tin, screening, transparencies, steel, paint, etc.
Below is Passage #21 (1993), 74” x 48” x 40”; hardware cloth, steel, wire, S-hooks, vinyl, writings, stones, paint, etc.
Below is Bridging #2 (1990), 52” x 30”x 78”; hardware cloth, steel, wood tar, resin, paper, wire, nails, etc.
