Philip Simmons

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = Philip Simmons
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1912|6|9
birth_place = Charleston, South Carolina
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Artisan

Philip Simmons, b. June 9, 1912 is an artisan of
Charleston, South Carolina who has specialized in ornamental
iron since 1938. After an apprenticeship with Peter Simmons, a blacksmith on Calhoun Street, he has had a long career, fashioning more than five hundred decorative pieces of ornamental
wrought iron: gates, fences, balconies, and window grills. Many of the works are on historical properties. He has apprenticed many younger artisans and the Philip Simmons Artist-Blacksmith Guild of South Carolina is named in his honor.

Awards

*1982, the National Endowment for the Arts, National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor that the United States can bestow on a traditional artist.

*1982, Lifetime Achievement Award, South Carolina state legislature for "lifetime achievement" and commissions for public sculptures by the South Carolina State Museum and the city of Charleston

*1994, South Carolina Hall of Fame, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

*1998, Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian award given in South Carolina, by Governor David Beasley

*2001, Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award for "Lifetime Achievement in the Arts."

Works

*Much of the ironwork in the Historic District of Charleston

*National Museum of American History

*Smithsonian Institution

*Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico

*Richland County Public Library, Columbia, South Carolina

*Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Georgia

*Daniel Island Company, Daniel Island, South Carolina