We’ve been collaborating with Keith Phillips for a long time. Brian met Keith in England back in 1986, where they both attended school at RAF Alconbury. Keith runs an art studio in Asheville, NC and we collaborate every time SBC heads to Asheville. Keith is an incredible artist and SBC initially commissioned Keith to make Scottish “Quaches” to give away as gifts to friends. This started a long discussion about beer and ceramics. Brian had been studying ancient drinking vessels for a “Beer History” class that he teaches for learning in retirement at UGA and Brennau. Brian’s vessel research got Keith and Brian brainstorming.
Earlier projects focused more on individual art pieces. Keith studied print making in college and Brian studied sculpture. It was natural to combine the two and that fit well with Keith’s current ceramic style. Keith and Brian worked on two large pieces over two days that Keith later fired and decaled. Those art pieces helped to establish Keith and Brian’s collaborative process. Keith had been to Gratis to help brew on many occasions. That early art project became the jumping point for the “Rhyton” project. Rhytons are ancient Sumerian drinking vessels in the shape of animal heads. They are designed so that the user drinks from the mouth of the animal. Keith and Brian worked on 4 total pieces as mock-ups for future designs.
Keith has also designed countless mugs and steins for SBC and we can’t wait to get his stuff into our brewery gift shop. His talents seem limitless. New collaborations are in the works and his latest “Glass Casting” project showed some very fruitful results. We can’t wait to see where this road will meander. There’s plenty more uncharted territory to be explored.
You can buy Keith’s work from his Etsy shop and connect with him on Facebook. Keith’s parent site for all his projects is called Mud Stuffing Industries. Cheers Mr Phillips!
Link to the gallery for our collaborations with Keith.
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