Phil Schuster is a sculptor with over 25 years experience in creating bas-relief sculptures and public art environments. In recent years, working with the Chicago Public Art Group and others, he has made innovative works involving communities in the design and construction process of large scale, site-specific artworks.

Balancing the technical necessities of making work for a harsh climate and the variety of skills needed to work in community settings, Schuster has made dozens of unique art installations, creating whimsical concrete gardens in urban spaces. Schuster has explored new techniques in working with concrete--such as combining cast forms with direct sculpting or reverse casting. Many of his artworks take the form of usable objects in public space, including seating forms, planters, birdbaths, and stepping stones.

To see a Schuster project being made is to see a form of public performance as people gather to witness humble materials being transformed into magical things such as a Storytelling Throne or a concrete stream with floating ceramic leaves. He frequently works as a residency artist in schools, engaging children and teens in changing the anonymous spaces surrounding their schools into welcoming, amusing, and educational environments.

Schuster has served as an artist in residence in many places, including the Kohler Company “Arts in Industry Fellowship,” Art Park in Lewistown, New York, and at the Jam Factory Craft and Design Center in Adelaide, Australia. Schuster work is discussed in many books and articles, such as Contemporary American Craft, Ceramics Monthly Magazine, and the Chicago Reader.

Phil Schuster Artist Statement

I am concrete and grounded. It is difficult to put into words the depths of my attachment to nature. As a child I raised pigeons in my garage, tended a small terrarium of ferns by the trashcans, and assisted my grandmother in making in “the best garden in town.” I see the roots of my work in these early memories and experiences. I can’t explain why these particular experiences shaped me so deeply or why I now re-create changeable natural shapes in a permanent stone-like medium.

I am attracted to relief sculpture because it allows me to create a picture plane with layers of depth. These low reliefs often become the surface treatment of sculptural forms that are usable objects in public space—things such as benches, planters, birdbaths, or paving stones. I find low relief sculpture to be more compatible with public places, making its presence felt in a non-invasive way.

I have been a sculptor for over 25 years, beginning as a ceramicist and evolving into the use of concrete as my primary medium. I have explored and developed many new techniques for working in concrete (using a fiber-reinforced acrylic modified stucco mix)—combining cast forms with direct sculpting or reverse casting. I am constantly inventing new ways of working for the harsh Chicago climate that still allow me to achieve detail heretofore not thought possible in concrete.

I have always been interested in placing my bas reliefs in public places. I am interested in demonstrating the power that art can have on the urban environment when encountered in unexpected spaces. In earlier years, I would often search for spots around my neighborhood. Where I am living, I create landscape art gardens around my house and studio spaces. Flocks of concrete pigeons and sparrows proliferate throughout my neighborhood. I constantly add to my library of latex molds—ferns, ivy, rhododendrons, and prairie grass. I use these to enhance my many private and public garden projects.

Some of my projects are now developed with such groups as Chicago Public Art Group, Openlands, and Gallery 37. I have modified my techniques to work with kids and community adults in the creation of collaborative art installations, community art gardens. I stimulate kids’ imaginations, involving them in creating such things as storytelling thrones or a concrete stream path with floating ceramic leaves.

My work is a public performance. I like it when people watch and comment on how the objects being made change the feeling of a place. Working with these groups has allowed me access to public spaces outside my immediate surrounds. When working in new places, I always linger, exploring the place and elaborating the processes. I take a small project and make it big—expanding the scale and complexity of the work.

I am always excited about the prospects and potential of future work. I constantly think about new imagery, new techniques, and new ideas for creating spaces. I want to increasingly develop mastery of my material and playfulness in creating new forms.

Coqui, 2003, sculpted and cast concrete, by Phil Schuster


The Griot’s Throne, 2002, cast concrete and sculpted concrete veneer, by Phil Schuster and Nina Smoot-Cain


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