About Us
Phyla Artisans is a collective founded by Wayne Hall and Susan Camp. Longtime friends, the two create unique handcrafted items to enhance interior spaces. Their work reflects a deep appreciation of the Maine landscape and local flora. They focus on using sustainably grown and harvested materials.
Wayne brings his extensive experience creating furniture from locally sourced wood, carefully selecting and carving individual pieces. Susan cultivates and gathers plant material for the basis of her imagery. She uses non-toxic printmaking techniques to etch images into copper.
While both artists have successful individual practices, they have found in their collaboration a collective spark and delight, creating poetic work that celebrates the beauty of natural forms.
Wayne and Susan live and work in rural mid-coast Maine.
The state of Maine has a history of inspiring artists and craftspeople with an abundance of natural resources and exquisitely beautiful scenery. There is also a long tradition of self-sufficiency, ingenuity and original thinking that is supported by (actually, required by) the remoteness of many areas. We see ourselves as part of this proud tradition. Embracing this ethos, we work with traditional tools and materials creating objects to be treasured and lived with.
Maine Made
Sustainability
At Phyla Artisans we focus on minimizing our environmental footprint as we craft our pieces. The wood we use is local, mostly hand cut from our own properties. Sprouted and coppiced stumps, crowded saplings, stands of invasive red maple and interesting salvaged wood provide much of our material. The gourds used in our work are grown in Susan’s organic garden. The copper roofing plates are etched utilizing non-toxic printmaking techniques.
Wayne Hall
Wayne Hall moved to Maine in 2000 from North Carolina, where he had been making rustic furniture since 1992. Wayne earned BFA and MFA degrees from the University of Georgia and has taught sculpture and rustic furniture at a number of programs, including the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, The University of Maine, NC State, and Duke University.
He is a professional member of the Maine Crafts Association, Piedmont Craftsmen, and Carolina Designer Craftsmen, and was Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Maine, Orono for 21 years.
Wayne Hall received an NEA/SECCA grant for sculpture in 1977 and his sculpture, rustic furniture, sculptural spoons and drawings have been included in both national and regional exhibitions.
Susan Camp
Susan Camp has exhibited her work in many venues over the past 30 years including on Governors Island, New York, NY; at The Myhren Gallery, Denver, CO; Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Nola Gallery, New York, N.Y; The Crane Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.; Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, Belfast, ME.; among others.
Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times, Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Westword and other publications.
She has written and lectured about her work, her community practice, and design education related to accessibility studies in the United States and Brazil. She has written numerous publications, including a chapter on design in Assistive Technologies in Occupational Therapy: An Integrated Approach.
Camp has been recipient of grants from the Maine Arts Commission, Harry Faust public sculpture fund and McGillicuddy Humanities Foundation. She has been a resident artist at Mass MoCA, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, on Governors Island, and a guest artist at the University of Rio Grande, OH.
Susan served as an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maine in Orono for twenty-five years.
