Phebe Hemphill (born April 25, 1960) is an American sculptor who works for the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bull ...

. She has been called "one of the preeminent coin artists, sculptors, and engravers of our time."

Early life and education

Hemphill was born April 25, 1960, in

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...

to Dallett Hemphill and Ann Cornwell Hemphill. A number of Phebe Hemphill's family members, including her father and grandfather, were interested in coin and medal collecting. She was directly inspired by her grandfather, Gibbons Gray Cornwell Jr., who did

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, who in turn was influenced by her great-great aunt, Martha Jackson Cornwell, who worked with

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculpture, sculptor of the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin to an Iris ...

. Hemphill attended Agnes Irwin School for girls in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, graduating in 1978. Hemphill trained at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

, graduating in 1987. She also studied with Evangelos Frudakis. Hemphill includes

Jules-Clément Chaplain Jules-Clément Chaplain (12 July 1839 – 13 July 1909) was a French sculptor and one of its finest medallists. With Louis Oscar Roty (1846–1911) he helped found the Art Nouveau movement. Chaplain was born in Mortagne-au-Perche, Orne, and i ...

, Jean-Baptiste Daniel-Dupuis,

Oscar Roty Louis-Oscar Roty usually known as Oscar Roty (11 June 1846 – 23 March 1911) was one of the most celebrated medallists of the Art Nouveau period. Biography Louis-Oscar Roty was born on 11 June 1846 in Paris. He first studied painting and scul ...

, and Adolph A. Weinman among her artistic influences.

Sculpture

In 1987, Hemphill joined the

Franklin Mint The Franklin Mint is a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The building is in Middletown Township. The brand name was previously owned by Sequential Brands Group headquartered in New York City. It is currently ...

in the sculpture department. She remained there until 2002, working on

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

and medallic art. From 2002 until 2005 she worked as a staff sculptor at

McFarlane Toys McFarlane Toys is an American company founded by comic book creator Todd McFarlane which makes highly detailed model action figures of characters from films, comics, popular music, video games and various sporting genres. The company, a subsidia ...

, in

Bloomingdale, New Jersey Bloomingdale is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,777, an increase of 121 (+1.6%) from the 2010 Uni ...

. In 2006, she joined the

in Philadelphia. She has sculpted many coins and medals for the U.S. Mint, including the 2013 Presidential $1 Coin obverse for

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

; the 2011

September 11 Events Pre-1600 * 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hu ...

National Medal World Trade center obverse; the

Monuments men The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA) was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of about 400 service members and civilians worked ...

bronze medal; and coin series of Five-Star Generals, First Spouses and

Code talkers A code talker was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is most often used for United States service members during the World Wars who used their knowledge ...

. United States Mint state quarters including Gettysburg, the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

Mount Hood Mount Hood, also known as Wy'east, is an active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range and is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast and rests in the Pacific N ...

, and

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is a national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service ...

are also Hemphill's work. Hemphill lives in Philadelphia. She frequently visits sites which will be featured in her work, including

Shenandoah National Park Shenandoah National Park (often ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its ...

and the

September 11 attack The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

locations. She uses both digital and traditional methods in her work, working with 3-D imaging software as well as creating coin designs on clay blanks the size of dinner plates.

Exhibitions

Hemphill's work has been shown by the

National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding member ...

, the American Medallic Sculpture Association, the F.A.N. Gallery in Philadelphia, and

West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university located in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the ...

Awards

* 2014, Winner of Congressional Medal Design Contest for the September 11 attacks * 2000, Alex J. Ettel Grant, National Sculpture Society * 2001, Renaissance Sculpture Award, the Franklin Mint

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemphill, Phebe 1960 births Artists from Philadelphia People from West Chester, Pennsylvania 20th-century American sculptors 21st-century American sculptors Living people Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni 21st-century American women sculptors Sculptors from Pennsylvania Agnes Irwin School alumni 20th-century American women sculptors