Phoenix Savage

Phoenix Savage

Black University - Creator

Phoenix Savage was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship-2011. Savage spent nearly a year in Nigeria conducting research that is continually unfolding in her works such as Eiyepe: Veni, vidi, vici: (The birds are all here: I came, I saw, I conquered); and Awo: (Mystery) or Joy’s Ogede: (Joy’s Banana) Savage’s research in Nigeria dealt with both the Yoruba philosophical concept of Ori, (head) and investigations of metal casting in the city of Ile-Ife. Savage also taught at Obafemi Awolowo University during her time in Nigeria.  

Savage is the 2022 recipient of the REVOLOUTION Artist in Residency with the Santa Fe Art Institute. 

In 2019 Savage was awarded Teacher of the Year by the Mississippi Humanities Council. Savage teaches at Tougaloo College, a historically Black college, where she directs the Visual Art and Social Practice program in the Mass Communications Department.  

Savage maintains a strong record of national exhibits beginning in 2011 with her inclusion in the bi-annual exhibition of Mover and Shakers of Georgia's Art Scene at the Museum of Contemporary Arts of Georgia (MOCA GA). In 2019 Savage’s works appeared in two national group exhibitions: the Mississippi Invitational at the Mississippi Museum of Art and Viewers of the Made exhibited during the National Council of Ceramic Educators Conference in Minneapolis, MN. Savage’s voice activated porcelain installation Mo Gbo (I hear) premiered at the National Ceramics Exhibition in 2018 at Southern Mississippi State University.   

Savage received a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Georgia State University in 2011. Phoenix holds two additional graduate level degrees, the first in Medical Anthropology from the University of Mississippi, 2001, and the second, in Studio Arts from Northwestern State University, 2008. Savage is a graduate of Mississippi Valley State University, 1998, as well as having graduated with a degree in Advertising Design from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, 1984. 

Phoenix Savage has lived and traveled extensively in the United States and abroad. Savage’s travels as well as her professional experience as an Anthropologist and educator serve as the foundation for her art. Works of Phoenix Savage are largely held in the private collections. 

Phoenix Savage is widely known for her cultural writings that appear in the Encyclopedia of Slavery and Resistance, the Encyclopedia of the Blues, the Encyclopedia of Mississippi, and the Encyclopedia of Voodoo. Savage has published two books of illustrated histories using vintage black and white images: African Americans of Jackson, 2009 and African Americans of New Orleans, 2010. 

Savage is a member of Black Artists + Designers Guild; Mid-South Sculpture Alliance and Artaxis.org.