My sculpture explores issues of gender in romance and in art and issues of craft and decoration.

The Turkish Bath (Le bain turc) was Jean-Auguste – Dominique Ingres foremost portrayal of the “harem” theme. This popular theme attracted painters in nineteenth century Europe for the opportunity it provided to depict female nudes in situations of captivity. Ingres’ painting is the inspiration for this body of work.

The mixed media objects I present here are hybrids of symbolic male and female representation: perforated and projecting, hard and soft, inside and outside. They are loaded to evoke all manner of “female” allusions by their small size and by the mult-layered use of such materials as flocking, feathers and fabric. The use of female imagery as form and content, and the use of the medium of clay, continue to be devalued by the art establishment, if not by the culture in broader terms. One of my intentions is to challenge the lingering modernist assumption that decoration and ornament, as feminine, are enemies of “high art”.

From statement by Phyllis Green for exhibition “The Turkish Bath” at Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, 1994”

Amelia and the Spinning Heads” continues my exploration of the feminine, the erotic and the domestic through objects that represent three adolescent preoccupations: hairdos, clothing, and cartoons, or animated film.

The exhibition revolves around the saga of pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart who is represented by her famous tousled hairstyle. Instead of yielding a glimpse of her face, a walk around the portrait reveals only more hair. Other “all around hairdo forms” represent heroines of my youth: comic book character Little Lulu, and the notorious Christine Keeler who, at the center of the Profumo scandal, was front-page news in Canada in the 1960's. These forms, which I have produced in various media since 2000, suggest the mysterious and elusive nature of individual identityEarhart’s disappearance on July 2, 1937 is the subject of my first animated film. By modeling a digital facsimile of the real Amelia "hairdo form", set amidst an animated tropical island, I recreate my vision of the crash, utilizing Amelia's mysterious fate as a plane to project visions of femininity and immortality.

From statement by Phyllis Green for exhibition “Amelia and the Spinning Heads: Objects Real and Animated” at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, 1994