Born in Rhode Island and growing up in Connecticut, Phil is a 14th generation Yankee. Since the age of thirteen he's had a knife in his pocket and would whittle or carve at any chance.

 

After college, while working for the National Park Service in California, Phil specialized in realistic bird sculptures. Returning to his New England roots, he and his wife Lynn settled in Athens, VT in 1980 to build their cabin and raise a family.

 

While his full bodied, life sized carvings were popular, the blocks of time required for creating them were hard to find once his kids arrived. He started searching for a different way in which he could satisfy his urge to carve birds. In 2001 he began producing his "Feathered Friends Backscratchers." These backscratchers have become a local folk art, as they are both useful and pleasing to the eye.

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Having reached retirement age, Phil is enjoying more time for his craft and hopes to return to creating full bodied sculptures along with his backscratchers. 

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Phil can be reached at jelpmorgan@yahoo.com.