Pat Phillips grew up in Kingsbury, North West London, the eldest of 6 siblings. “At the age of 17 I became pregnant, and that resulted in huge issues with my father and I left home at 17 as a consequence.” Her son went to live with her boyfriend’s parents.

Some years later, after meeting her first husband, Pat lived in a squat in a vicarage in Charlton, South East London, “It was with the approval of the church because we did community things in the area in exchange for living there.”. From there they moved to Market Drayton but it didn’t live up to their expectations, “I felt it was a bit isolating really, so we ended up moving to Newcastle-under-Lyme”. After sharing a house with friends from Keele they bought a house, but shortly after Pat spilt from her first husband. Both stayed in the area to raise their two boys on a shared basis.

In 1980 Pat met her current husband, the painter Frederick Phillips through a mutual friend, “I didn’t know what attracted me the most. Whether it was the man or whether it was his artwork.” Frederick was working at Royal Doulton, as an overglaze painter- decorating the old balloon ladies.

They moved from Stoke down to Shepherd’s Bush, London in 1981. Whilst Frederick carried on painting Pat studied Philosophy and Psychology at Middlesex Polytechnic, and in 1985 they got married. That same year a man called Bill Hopkins began to act as Frederick’s agent to sell his artwork. This led to Frederick being represented by a Chicago based gallery, so they moved to Chicago in 1990. It was a successful period for Frederick’s work but it took it’s toll “I felt that the price that Fred and myself were paying for getting a big fat cheque was not worth it. He was working 18-hour days, sometimes without sleep.”. The stress of working overtime and a deteriorating gallery relationship led the couple to move back to the UK in 2007, settling back in Stoke-on-Trent for its affordability and to be closer to family.

In 2016 Frederick and Patricia were the second tenants at the ACAVA Artist studios at Spode Works, an iconic former pottery factory that’s now part museum, cafe, hotel and artist studios. “I like Stoke; I like it’s sense of community.” Pat says, “I think there’s more of a sense of community than I would find in London now because the house I grew up in was sold in the 1970’s when my parents divorced so is no longer my family home, and the community I grew up in has changed so much” “When we returned to Stoke after all those years in the USA many people said to us, “Why? Why come back to Stoke after living in Chicago for the past 17 years?” My answer now - Stoke is my home!”