About Phyllis
Over the years I have worked in diverse media. My work is a reflection of the places I’ve called home and the natural beauty I find there. For 25 years, I lived in upstate New York as a fiber artist and designer, working in batik, soft sculpture, and art quilting. I exhibited and sold my work at juried craft shows, including the American Craft Council show at Rhinebeck, the Market of American Crafts, and the Lincoln Center Craft Show.
After moving to St. Croix in 1989, I spent twelve years as a volunteer at the Island’s Botanical Garden, where I developed a deep interest in and love of tropical plants. This passion found its way into my art, inspiring the subjects of my later paintings. Once I retired from the Botanical Garden, I began painting my favorite tropical plants, as well as local landscapes. My work was shown at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, and I had two solo exhibitions at galleries in St. Croix. I was a founding member of the Artists Guild of St. Croix and helped organize The Art Show at Canegata, where I exhibited until 2018, when Hurricane Maria prevented the show.
In 2019, I moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where I was seduced by the magic of the toys available to mixed media artists, and abandoned reality to play with collage, stencils, markers, pencils, crayons, gels, pastes and sprays. In recent years, animals have become the focus of my series Like Species, a title inspired by Miss Piggy. These creatures are closely related to their surroundings, and in some cases merge with the background. I choose poses that are assertive, with a gaze directed at the viewer. I hope viewers engage with these animals and find my work both thought-provoking and, at times, amusing. I am currently a member of the Cape Cod Art Center, the Cape Cod Museum of Art, the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, and the Chatham Creative Art Center. I also exhibit my work in juried exhibitions at these institutions.