Kelly and Kyle Phelps’ work encompasses the creation of traditional ceramic, sculpture, and mixed media art. Much of their work is about the blue collar working-class, race relations, and the everyday struggles of the common man and woman. They grew up in a blue-collar/factory environment in Indiana where they were inspired by family members and friends who worked in various manufacturing plants, steel mills, and foundries.
The Phelps have produced work that combines hand-crafted figurative works (clay/resin casts) with found objects from actual factory sites. Kyle and Kelly have combined gears, corrugated metal, and scrap-machined parts along with these modeled ceramic/resin cast figures to create visual narrative compositions about the blue-collar experience.
Kelly and Kyle Phelps share numerous grants; regional, national, and international exhibitions; museum permanent collections; and commissions. Notable private collectors of the twins’ work are film director Michael Moore and actor Morgan Freeman. Their work has also received major reviews in notable publications such as Sculpture Magazine, American Craft Magazine, and USA TODAY. The Phelps were featured in the February 2020 issue of Ceramics Monthly.
Kelly is a Professor and Chair of the Art Department at Xavier University (Cincinnati) where he oversees the sculpture department. Kyle is a Professor at University of Dayton (Dayton) where he is the head of the ceramic/sculpture department. They work collaboratively to create their artwork and share a studio in Centerville (OH).
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