Neighbor Featured Artist #13: Phil Homes

Potter Celebrates the “Mark of the Fire”

Without question, pottery is one of the most venerated art forms in the culture of Appalachia. This appreciation for one of mankind’s oldest crafts is also found in other social traditions across the world. There is a great deal of consistency in pottery forms due to their functional expressions and the techniques that produce them, which makes it possible for pottery lovers from one region to appreciate pieces from other cultural areas. Folks in Northeast Tennessee have access to such an opportunity in the work of their neighbor from Piney Flats, Phil Homes.
“I’ve been working with clay for more than 40 years,” says Phil Homes, a well-spoken silver-haired charmer, whose long experience with his craft is evident from his assured conversation on pottery of all kinds. Like many of the previous subjects for this column, he was drawn to and relocated to the mountain South but, given the production level of his pottery studio, “retirement” is hardly an appropriate description for his move to Northeast Tennessee. A Midwesterner by birth, Homes joined the Piney Flats community nearly five years ago, bringing many years of broad experience in art but with a special affinity for pottery. “I studied engineering which eventually led to a degree in architecture from Lawrence University,” he says. “When I decided that I wanted to teach art, I got both a masters in art history and a MFA from the University of Iowa. But I suppose it was luck that dictated that my first teacher and most enduring influence was perhaps the world’s best potter.” This was Toshiko Takaezu, who would inspire Homes’ to identify as a potter. At first, he would combine both fields and teach both art history and pottery at a small Midwestern college. But over time, pottery gained more and more of his attention. “By the ‘80’s, I had more or less stopped teaching art history.”
After shifting his emphasis to the production of his own work, Homes exhibited widely in New England and the upper Midwest. “Over time, my work has changed considerably. At first I really focused on functional pieces with my designs rising from utilitarian forms. Then I explored more expressive sculptural forms with more complex surface decoration. But over time, my pieces have become simpler and subtler, with designs that emphasize the processes from which they’re made - keeping some of the marks of forming, decorating, and firing.” This elegant simplicity is what attracted Greeneville gallery director James-Ben Stockton to Homes’ pottery. “He’s a ‘potter’s potter’,” says Stockton. “Other potters represented in the gallery will often come in and want to see the new pieces Phil has brought in.” Stockton believes that Homes’ pieces are appealing because of his mastery of the Japanese influence of his first teacher, Toshiko Takaezu. “The elements that Phil does so well - the subtle glazes, the conscious retention of firing marks, the basic raised to the level of elegance - these are examples of the Japanese aesthetic. They are attractive to both both experienced and beginning collectors.” Other elements point to the Japanese perspective in Homes’ creativity. He particularly enjoys the production of raku, in which pieces fired to 1800 degrees are brought together with combustible materials, which ignite to bring both beautiful and unpredictable elements in glazing. “This offers almost unlimited, if not always controllable, variation of surface and pattern,” says Homes. “Phil has a wonderful selection of colors, including a gorgeous iron-red,” says gallery director Stockton. “His raku is glorious - it’s subtle and soft, not flashy. The pieces are of genuine museum quality - they generate an immediate sense of significance and quality.”
Another distinctly Eastern aspect of Homes’ production are his wonderful teapots. “I used to make very expensive ones until I realized that they were probably being put on shelves as ornaments. So now I make smaller ones and sell them for less on the premise that somebody might actually use them to make tea.” Although he usually favors simpler thrown forms in pottery, Homes makes a point of continuing to produce the more time-consuming teapots. “You throw the pot, then you throw the spout, then you throw the lid, then you have to fit them all together. So you can’t possibly make any money making teapots. But I like to make teapots.” Here again can be seen Homes’ early emphasis on functional, utilitarian pieces recurring in his more recent creations. “Nothing is ever lost,” says Homes. “Instead it is assimilated as part of a larger concept. The vessal tradition, utilitarian function, and subtle form and surface are not mutually exclusive. Eash expands and enhances the other.”
Even after many years at his craft, Homes still gets a sense of immediate gratification from working with clay. “You do something to it and it reacts instantly. You touch it and you leave your fingerprint. You squeeze it and it changes form. I’ve done some painting and a lot of sculpture and certainly you interact with the material, but never so much as with clay.” Like most artists, Homes has creative ambitions that are as yet unrealized, but plans to keep future experiments within his chosen realm of pottery. “There’s so much else to try,” says Homes. “You have some input with clay, but you don’t have ultimate control.”
Phil Homes pottery, in raku and stoneware, in functional yet sculptural forms, and, yes, including teapots, is locally carried and proudly exhibited by James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.