Virtually explore the MMA galleries with local and regional artists in a one-of-a-kind experience, as they share their observations on select pieces on view and their own art practice. For this Artist Look Tour, Phoenix Savage, sculptor and associate professor of art at Tougaloo College, gives her perspective of work within Betye Saar: Call and Response.  

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About Phoenix Savage (b. 1961, Philadelphia, PA)
Savage’s research-based art practice is an intersection of auto ethnography and the principles of formalism. Savage is both a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship via the U.S. State Department and the Being Humans Fellowship, awarded by the Institute of Arts and Humanities at Penn State University. In recent years, Savage has served as Scholar in Residence at New York University, 2018, 2019, and 2021 conducting research for an upcoming publication on Euphemia Toussaint.

Savage’s works have been recognized through regional and national exhibitions including Invitation, at Millsaps College; Mississippi Ceramic Artists at Southern Mississippi University; the bi-annual Mover and Shakers of Georgia’s Art Scene, hosted by Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCAGA); Ain’t I A Woman organized by  the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporian Arts, of Brooklyn, NY (MOCADA); Mississippi Invitational 2019 and 1999 organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art; and Secular Sacred at the University of Florida.

Savage received an MFA in sculpture from Georgia State University and holds two additional graduate level degrees: an MA in medical anthropology from the University of Mississippi, and an MA in studio arts from Northwestern State University.

Works by Phoenix Savage are largely held in private collections. Currently, Savage is Associate Professor of Art at Tougaloo College and visiting professor at Brown University, where she teaches an experimental sculpture class using only paper.