Maria Phillips
PlasticBeach
Plasticbeach exploits the shared physical qualities of water and plastic as a metaphor for their undesirable co-existence.
Ubiquitous, convenient, single-use, filmy plastics intended to contain and protect have instead become the world’s greatest source of pollution. It dots every landscape, clogs landfills and is choking the oceans. A large sheet of plastic masks and mimics the natural source it is suffocating. Simultaneously alluring and deceptive, the plastic swells and recedes, its diffused surface undulating, buoyant, hypnotic.
About the Artist
Maria Phillips is an artist and educator based in Seattle, Washington. Attuned to the inconspicuous beauty awaiting in the random encounters and habitual rhythms of daily routine, Phillips leverages these observations into work that considers experience as material, whether wearable, sculptural, or some place in between.
Maria received her BA from Loyola University in New Orleans and her MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle. She lectures widely, serves as a guest critic and teaches workshops at various programs throughout the country. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Art and Design New York, the Renwick Gallery – Smithsonian American Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Rotassa Foundation and numerous private collections. Maria’s work has been published in the books The Art of Enameling, 1000 Rings, 500 Brooches, and The Penland book of Jewelry in which she wrote a chapter on the process of Electroforming.