David L. Phillips (born January 8, 1944, in Flint, Michigan)[1] is an American sculptor best known for his public artwork including large bronze sculptures. Phillips has been described as a "Sculptor to Nature"[2] because his work often combines cut stones with bronze castings in a natural setting.[3] He also made a half dozen sculptures spread over 50 acres of the forest in New Hampshire. They range from "Toothed Stone" to the delicate placing of bronze molded leaves atop a granite fieldstone and a boulder inlaid with a whimsical bronze face.[4]
David Phillips, sculptor, in his studio, 2017David Phillips sculpture New Hampshire forest: Toothed Stone 1986 field stone inlaid bronze
Another distinct feature of Phillips' work is his incorporation of playful bronze-cast animals, such as frogs, snails, fish, and turtles in public landscape and fountains in public parks, for which he has been working with landscape architects since the early 1990s.[5][6][7]
Phillips earned a BFA in 1967 at Cranbrook Academy of Art where he majored in painting and minored in sculpture.[5] He continued his studies at Cranbrook, receiving his MFA[5] in 1969,[8] where he studied bronze and iron casting under Julius Schmidt and ceramics with Richard DeVore.[1]
He also obtained an award from the National Parks to build the Spectacle Island Shelter located in the Boston Harbor Islands. This work is part of the Collections of the Boston Art Commission.[12]
The Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund awarded Phillips a commission for a public sculpture in the Angell Memorial Park in downtown Boston.[13]
Phillips also won, along with landscape architect Craig Halvorson, an award from the Cambridge Art Council's Public Art Program in 1997 to design a sculpture and park for Quincy Square.[5]
Scrolls sculpture by David Phillips across from Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA"Fountain" at City Square Park in Charlestown, Massachusetts[16]
