The Riverwards are a haven for creative people to live and express themselves through whichever medium suits them best. Some artists use photography, painting and music as a way to exhibit their expression. Others create functional pieces of public art that can be found anywhere around the neighborhood. It can that the form of a railing, a door or any handmade work that enhances the look and feel of the community.

This type of art goes largely unnoticed or is taken for granted as we walk down the street or pass by on a busy trolley. Even though we don’t always notice art like this, it remains as a permanent reminder of the blood, sweat and occasional tears that go into making functional and public art.

Robert Phillips was an artist who used the urban landscape as his canvas with metal as his paint. He fastened his steel and wrought iron work to concrete and his art became a permanent fixture to the Fishtown area.

Phillips passed away suddenly and tragically at his shop in 2012. Since then, his widow Cheryl Levin has kept the shop’s doors open and allows the space and Phillips’ tools to be rented for use. The shop, currently known as Metal, Inc., is keeping Phillips’ legacy of functional and public art alive as a new generation of creators use the same tools he did to make their own imagination come to life.

Spirit News sat down with Levin so that she could shed some light on the man behind so many metallic sculptures and functional pieces that are part of the landscape of this part of town and beyond.

Though a large portion of Robert Phillips works can be found in the Riverwards, he grew up in West Philly in the 1970s. According to Levin, growing up in a racially diverse section of Philadelphia helped shape Phillips as an artist.

“At the time, West Philly was pretty racially drawn,” Levin said. “He grew up in a very eclectic atmosphere and that’s what his artwork was. He had a lot of influences from where he grew up.”

Though Phillips would go on to be known for his metallic creations, he actually wanted to take wood shop in high school. But when all the seats in the class filled up, Phillips enrolled in a plumbing class. It was there that he learned how to weld.

Blacksmithing soon became Phillips’ passion. “He was a very extreme person and metal is very extreme: It’s really hot, and then it’s really cold. It was kind of like his personality,” Levin said.

He studied the work of Samuel Yellin, a pioneer in modern blacksmithing. According to Levin, Phillips also had great artistic admiration for Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso.

In late 80s and early 90s, artists like Levin and Phillips were moving to Old City and Northern Liberties and forging new neighborhoods where artists could flourish. “It was the beginning before everyone really started to move there,” Levin said.

Phillips first moved to a studio on N. American Street, but eventually opened his studio — Phillips Metal — on Arizona Street. He also became a founding member of the High Wire Gallery (currently located at 2040 Frankford Ave). It was there that he met Levin. “It was a whirlwind, we did so much together,” she said. Levin, who is a painter herself, often helped with Phillips work. “I enjoyed being part of his artwork,” she added. “We were a team.”  

According to Levin, Phillips was a natural artist who saw creative potential in just about anything he found.

“He could make something out of anything,” Levin said. “Everything he touched turned into art.”

He also had an appreciation for nature — many of his works feature fish and insects. “Fire, water, earth — you need all these things to work with metal,” Levin said. “Bob was a very spiritual person in his own way. He loved that he was working with nature.”

Phillips, like many artists honing their craft, also had a day job. He worked as a house painter for years. He also began creating railings, gates and staircases for residential and commercial buildings across Philadelphia. “If someone asked him to make a table, it would come out amazing,” Levin said. “It always turned out to be a piece that could be in a museum.”

Phillips would hand draw plans for whatever he was working on, whether it was art, work or a mix of both. “He made a lot of drawings for all his commissions,” Levin said. “He would work during the day and at night, while he was watching TV with the kids, he would be doing drawings for his commissions.”

There are plenty of examples of Phillips work in Fishtown and many of them feature detailed sculptures of fish. One can be found on Day Street just off Girard Avenue, toward Thompson Street. It’s easy to miss, but if you walk a quarter of the way down Day Street and look up, you will see a giant metal fish attached to the side of a house.  

A dentist’s office on the 200 block of E. Girard Avenue features a railing by Phillips characterized by an ornate fish swimming through plant life.

If you cross Girard Ave and walk halfway down Shackamaxon Street, you will find a gated courtyard. Phillips created the very detailed entrance gates to “Shackamaxon Court,” which he spells out on the gate using shaped metal.

You may have locked your bike up to his red “Bicycle Art Rack,” which is a permanent fixture outside Johnny Brenda’s on Frankford Avenue, except when the occasional errant vehicle crashes into it.  

Levin was also quick to bring up the gates that Phillips created for what is now Steep and Grind Coffee Shop at Frankford and Columbia Avenues. Each gate features rays of sun shining on a butterfly surrounded by fish and angels.

“Those gates were a trade for my wedding ring,” Levin said.

Phillips also created a metal security door for the jeweler next door.

In 2006, Phillips completed his largest commissioned work titled “Metamorphosis.” This project, located at Girard Avenue and 31st Street, contains a series of fabricated steel sculptures and glass mosaics. It was also Mural Arts’ first major sculpture installation. The work features fabricated metal butterflies and dragonflies fastened to posts to give the impression that they are in flight.  While Phillips was fabricating the metal insects, Levin teamed up with Mural Corps Youth to install mosaic tiles on a 95-year-old concrete bridge along West Girard Avenue leading up to “Metamorphosis.” The bridge and the fabricated steel sculptures mark the entrance to that section of Fairmount Park.

Robert Phillips passed away on September 8, 2012 at the age of 50. Levin believes that Phillips would be happy knowing that his shop and tools are still being used to create functional art and sculptures. “I feel honored that people want to be in his space, and carry on his legacy…keeping blacksmithing alive,” Levin said. “I think he would be floored that there’s people in there working in his space. That makes me feel good that he’s still being used in a way.”