Phil Barnes

Born 1972. Married to Julie Barnes (Née Givogue) since 1996.

I have always been artistically inclined; as a child I was a mad doodler, Lego addict, and maker of projectile toys. By the end of highschool in 1991 I had found charcoal and extra soft graphite pencils.

In my first year of university (U. Waterloo, Hons. Physics) I was lucky enough to have Tony Urqhart as my Fine Arts 101 drawing teacher. When physics proved itself not engaging enough, I moved on to study Advertising at Georgian College, and then spent all of my creative energy for the next 20 years on career as a graphic designer. Over that time I had also dabbled in photography, web design, database design, and software development. I have also had side work as fitness instructor, photographer's assistant, and grip/gaffer for a small film studio or two. Over the last 10-15 years I have weaned myself of art-as-a-career to focus on software development for a small text communication company... and I still take the odd video/photography job on the side.

In 2018 -- at the age of 46 (guess what life-stage I was in) -- when I was forbidden from buying a motorcycle, I instead invested in a commercial laser cutter, and rediscovered the artist/maker I had not had the creative energy to express while in a creative industry.

Currently I am largely focused on lamp making from found/salvaged/thrifted and natural materials; using laser-cutting/etching to connect and/or enhance these elements. I take great pleasure in using recovered objects and materials for things for which they were never intended. I love allowing shapes to interact, finding harmony in unrelated elements, and engineering these into something with purpose, something with which we can interact. I love practical things that have an aesthetic that almost pre-empts their practicality.

Oh and I make fancy, custom board games because I'm a big 'ol nerd too.