Inside/Out, an exhibit by artists Carol Phillips and David Schmitt is on display in the DEO gallery through the end of November. The opening reception will occur Thursday, October 12th from 6-8pm. An artist talk for this gallery will occur at 7pm.

Carol Phillips began her education at the University of Idaho where she studied liberal arts.  She began her art education in ceramics at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities, Sun Valley, Idaho.  She later finished her BFA with an emphasis in ceramics at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington where she worked with commercial food photographers as a chef and food stylist for 15 years before moving to Marquette, Michigan.  At Northern Michigan University in Marquette, she earned a certification in art education and now teaches art at Powell Township School in Big Bay, MI, a small school of 45 students, grades K-8.  She is the director of a successful nonprofit organization for the art enrichment of rural children, Liberty Children’s Art Project.

“Concerning color, the saturated hues found in my work are influenced by a love of folk art, outsider art and the use of color in early 21st century functional ceramics such as Fiesta Ware and the ceramic work of Russel Wright. I recall from a young age being very disappointed when my paint-by–number sets had only one brilliant color to be applied to a tiny area amidst masses of brown and gray. In this way, vivid color has always been my preference.”

Also sharing this exhibit is artist David Schmitt. David Schmitt is from Indianapolis, Indiana, spending much of his childhood at Herron School of Art and Design where his mother graduated and taught classes. He attended Ivy Tech Community College and graduated from Herron School of Art and Design in 2012. He worked seasonally at Oxbow School of Art and Artist Residencies in Saugatuck, MI for 6 years while maintaining residence in New York City and then Chicago.

In his time in NYC and Chicago, David worked as an art handler for numerous galleries, museums, art handling companies, and other various organizations and institutions. During his 6 years as Lead Preparator at the Conservation Center in Chicago, David traveled the country making on-site evaluations of art collections damaged in floods, fires, tornados, and other disaster response scenarios.

“My recent work is an exploration of that wider range of observation. From new material and process considerations to describing details of seemingly mundane daily occurrences, I have been spreading my focus as thin as possible. The land I live on provides ample opportunities to absorb a broad range of information. The balance of human and non-human constructs provides windows into understanding more about light, space, and time. And, how to paint light, space, and time. It is as if the land was made for me to see how the light affects it. Working in layers of high potency pigments thinned out with various mediums allow the light in the paintings to come from underneath.”