Phillip Stern

I greatly enjoy connecting with nature through sculpture. In my walks through woodlands in the northeast U.S., I am drawn to the fantastic diversity and adaptability of trees, marveling at the forms, textures, and colors of their roots, trunks, bark, and leaves. I gather fragments of fallen trees in my studio, study them, and see what they are hinting at. With these cues, as well as ideas and images from science, I seek to generate a dialogue between humanity and nature.

These natural objects are intriguing to me because I find some aspect of humanness in them. I use the objects to help articulate a figure—a twisted vine becomes a spine, wavy bark becomes an undulating torso. These objects come to me already sculpted by nature—by genetics, storms, insects, or microbes—and it’s delightful to find clever new ways to employ their wonderful characteristics.

Sometimes I’m thinking of a different animal—a bird or a bat—at the same time as a human. I want viewers to see my work as a space to feel free and explore what it is like to be human in such a complex universe.

M.F.A. University of Pennsylvania
B.A, Swarthmore College