Meet Phil Drill: Award Winning Sculptor & Chairman of Drill Construction

As chairman of the board of Drill Construction, 80 Main Street, West Orange, Philip S. Drill, a civil engineer, heads a major construction firm with brand name clients such as Carnegie Hall, the Port of Newark, Beth Israel Medical Center, General Motors, Westinghouse Electric, United Airlines and Johnson and Johnson. Founded in 1924 by his late father Max — three years before Drill's birth — it's a family held business with a third generation working with Phil in leadership positions.

As an acclaimed sculptor, Phil is a widely exhibited and collected artist who has been recognized in important shows nationwide. Among his many awards are Best in Sculpture for "Playa" at the current 12th annual JCC Metrowest Gaelen Juried Art Show.  

Both "Playa" and Drill's "Halic" also won the admiration of the crowd and fellow artists at the exhibit's opening reception earlier this spring.

Most buildings are solid and largely rectilinear. Drill's sculptural forms are drawn from nature, often explore interior spaces and are mostly curvilinear. His works are highly tactile and sensual. More about Drill's sculptures in a moment.

I have known Phil through his long time support of the arts in West Orange. We recently enjoyed a couple of conversations about his growing up in the Weequahic section of Newark, his beginnings in art, his inspirations and his working methods.

Q. Phil, what can you say about your two worlds?

A. I love construction and meeting its many challenges. I work full time in a demanding, fast moving environment. Then I devote at least one day a week to a completely different environment; sculpting requires patience and a different kind of imagination.

Q. What is the inspiration for your works?

A. I have the gift of seeing something that is often very small, maybe overlooked, and seeing that it has a wonderful shape that deserves to be magnified. Take "Halic" and "Playa" in the JCC show. "Playa" is based on a piece of a shell, a shard. "Halic" is a single popcorn kernel blown up to 10" by 14" by 20" in cast glass.

Q. Can you tell us a little about your working methods?

A. I sculpt many of my works in Plasticine — modeling clay — the kind used in nursery school, or plaster. I often have to build an armature, a spine to support the piece or hold it together while in progress. Artist Harold Sclar showed me how to make an armature. Sclar sent me to Ranieri Sculpture Casting in Long Island City, New York. The final piece is cast in metal or glass or a form of acrylic; I decide which material or materials are appropriate to the piece.

Q. It seems to me there is a  connection between your two worlds;  you are solving problems in each. For example, some of your shapes appear very challenging to create. What can you say about that?

A. Yes, for example, my popcorn inspired, "Halic" was very difficult to figure out how to do, to develop the technique to make it work. The popcorn is laser enlarged, and you can see the laser lines on the cast piece; the topography became part of the piece.

Q. You graduated Weequahic High School in 1945 and entered the family business after college. Were you always interested in art?

A. In high school, I studied how to blow glass; my older brother and I also took classes on Saturdays at the Newark Museum. Then I didn't make art for a long time. In the mid 1970s, I was visiting my folks in Boca Raton and picked up a piece of a seashell and thought, "This would make a great piece." It became "Boca I."

I saw an ad in the "Village Voice" placed by a sculptor who was teaching how to weld, and I took some lessons from him. I started out making welded metal pieces, but as I became more intrigued by organic forms, I began creating the models for my pieces in clay or plaster.

Q. What would you like to say about your work?

A. I don't think of messages; I think of shapes — what would look great when developed. A piece of sculpture has to look good from every angle. I lot of people love to feel my works; when they can’t keep their hands off, I think, "That's a good piece."

You can see an on line gallery of Phil Drill’s works at http://psdrill.com/catalog.html  Two of his works are on exhibit at the Gaelen Juried Art Show and Sale through June 26 in the Lautenberg Center at 901 Route 10 East, Whippany, NJ, (973) 426-9300. The exhibition is free and on view Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. and Sunday, call for hours.