Al (AL, not AI) Philips was born in Compton., CA.  When he was seven, his aunt took him to see the Watts Towers.  At 13 he went to a showing in Pasadena by Marcel Duchamp..  When in High School in Seattle, his step-father had a number Northwest Artists over for dinner and discussions, including Bill Holm and several Native American Carvers.  While still in High School he also visited a local lamp-glass teaching studio that was within walking distance.  The Vietnam War intervened, and he began working in stained glass as an off-time hobby.  Upon discharge on 1993 he met and began working with Dale Chihuly doing research to develop stability of suspended glass art.  The rest is history.

​