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Phil was born in Albion, in the southeastern Oklahoma mountains and Vicki was born in Elk City, in the western Oklahoma plains. They have been married since 1980 and have 3 children, 1 girl and 2 boys. Phil served 2 years in the army and was a helicopter crew chief in Viet Nam. The Bishops both worked at 3M Company, Data Storage Products, in Weatherford, OK, where they participated in a motivational seminar that influenced them to venture out on their own to become self employed. They began to make a living utilizing their art backgrounds in 1994. Phil started carving in 1992 inspired by Leanin' Tree Cards (excellent photos of western carvings by Gene Zesch and Chris Hammack). He was also exposed to Steve Prescott, Randy Landen, and Dave Dunham which was icing on the cake. Phil is self taught in drawing and painting and learned to carve from books by Steve Prescott, Cleve Taylor, and Harold Enlow. After winning numerous awards in shows he began to teach woodcarving in 1996. He became a member of the Caricature Carvers of America in 1998 and an Emeritus member in 2006 In 1999 after listening to Phil's routine on the fundamentals of carving, Vicki decided to give it a try, overcoming her fear of cutting herself by actually doing it. She realized she could take it and was hooked from the first moment. Starting slowly, she helped in the painting part of the class and was soon creating her own roughouts. It was only natural for her to start helping with the instruction in the classes. Vicki also has a multitude of carving recognitions under her belt, including beating Phil in competition many times, with the most important one being at International Woodcarvers Congress in 2006, proof of what a good teacher Phil is. The Bishops have created over 100 roughouts and carry a choice of 40 different roughouts for class. Each year they create 5 new ones each and discontinue 10, keeping things new. Their unique style of team teaching has been well accepted in the carving community, a bargain, two teachers for the price of one. Both Phil and Vicki have done articles in all 3 of the major carving magazines, with Phil garnering a cover. As to their interest in caricature, they have studied books by Dick Gautier and cowboy artist Herb Mignery and consider them to be their favorite caricaturists. Phil's primary interest is in western themes, cowboys and Indians, of which there are an abundance in Oklahoma. Vicki's taste runs the gamut from monsters to Santas to pirates to animals. Their caricature objectives are to strive to be the best at what they do even though they sometimes fall short. They are trying to elevate the appreciation of caricature woodcarving to a higher art form. They feel the primary caricature features are a big head, hands, and feet in proportion to each other with the body serving as an armature holding the rest together. They think a funny story, clean cuts, and quality painting round out the carving. Their advice to caricature carvers is "to loosen up, have fun, and try something different." Learn and use what you like from other sources to create a style of your own. Sharp tools and practice, practice, practice are the tools for success. New Dates for 2009 Seminars here in Elk City at the Flying W Ranch. April 17, 18, &19, 2009 and October 26, 27, 28, 29, & 30, 2009. (Click Bishop Seminar Button)
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