Medallic sculptors join U.S. Mint staff

Two medallic sculptors, Phebe Hemphill and Jim Licaretz, have joined the staff of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

Hemphill is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and studied for three years with EvAngelos Frudakis in Philadelphia. In 1987, she joined the sculpture department with the Franklin Mint and for the next 15 years, worked on many projects for the porcelain and medallics departments. Hemphill received the Renaissance Sculpture Award from the Franklin Mint in 2001.

As a free-lance sculptor, Hemphill worked for many companies that produce figurines, medallions, dolls, toys and garden ornaments. For three years, she was a staff sculptor for McFarlane Toys in Bloomingdale, N.J.

She has exhibited her sculpture with the National Sculpture Society, American Medallic Sculpture Association, West Chester University, and the FAN Gallery in Philadelphia.

Hemphill?s honors include the 2000 Alex J. Ettel Grant from the National Sculpture Society.

Licaretz has returned to the Mint as a medallic sculptor, a position he first held in the 1980s.

He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He received the Traveling Scholarship, Edmund Stewardson Prize for Figurative Sculpture and a Philadelphia Board of Education four-year scholarship.

Licaretz was also a sculptor at Franklin Porcelain and the Franklin Mint in Pennsylvania. He was a master sculptor at Mattel, Inc., and managed the sculpting department at Artistic Solutions, both in California. In addition, he served as a faculty member at the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, Otis School of Arts and Design in Los Angeles and the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.

Licaretz?s medallic works can be seen in the British Museum; Royal Coin Cabinet; National Museum of Economy in Stockhom, Sweden; the American Numismatic Society and the Smithsonian Institution.

He is president of the American Medallic Sculpture Association and a member of the National Sculpture Society and the Federation International de le Medaille.