Lee John Phillips describes himself as an illustrator drawing his way through a shed. Which is sort of what he is. “The Shed Project started in 2013, when I set myself the task to fill a sketchbook with one drawing a day, using my late grandfather’s shed as resource for inspiration,” explained Phillips in an interview with The Crafty Gentleman.
According to Jones, ever since his grandfather passed away in 1994, his grandmother has treated his toolshed as a mausoleum; and it has remained relatively untouched when Phillips took on the task to document its contents.
“I began drawing items from the shed in 2014 and realised that the items in jars and tins were actually more interesting than the tools themselves,” he further explains. “It also became clear that the format of my sketchbook was unsustainable for the project – I wanted to draw more than just one ‘thing’ per day. That initial sketchbook developed into pages of random objects and I began to enjoy the pattern and repetition that emerged.”
Ever since, Phillips is in the continuous process of creating an illustrated inventory of the entire contents (every nail and screw included). And according to his website, to date Phillips has illustrated well over 6,500 items and estimates the total over 100,000. “At first, I didn’t intend to draw every single item – I thought this was a little unnecessary and a bit excessive,” he admits. “However, my job as an art teacher truly helped sculpt the project into what it is today.”
Having graduated with a BA in General Illustration, an MA in Visual Communication and PGCE in secondary Art & Design, Phillips has been teaching for the past eleven years in Pembrokeshire and also works as a GCSE principal moderator for WJEC and EDUCAS. “I was frustrated by the demise in work ethic I’ve noticed in recent years,” he explains. “People (and pupils) have less patience. They want things instantly. Very few people realise the time that needs to be spent on creating something of value. I thought, foolishly, ‘I’ll show them!‘. So I made the decision to catalogue everything, even multiples, and have not regretted it since.”
Take a look at some of his incredible documentation in the gallery below.
