Home / Artists / Brenda Phillips / About

I started doing collages after my first child was born in 1987 because my time for work became fragmented. At first they were simple compiled images, then I started drawing on them with water crayons. I switched to oil pastels, and then it was only logical to add oil paint. My formal training in art was primarily in oil painting. In my most recent works, I have reversed direction and am doing oil paintings with a few added collage elements. With these changes, I continue to challenge my viewers’ sense of reality, hoping you will welcome more flexibility.

I have two motivations in making art. First, I find the process of making beautiful images is a powerful, joyful technique for bringing revelation into my life. This revelation can sometime feel like a message of Universal truth, and at other times it is more a conversation with hidden portions of my own self.I love color. Painting, for me, is the joy of putting one color next to another and watching them dance.

My other basic motivation is that art helps me connect with other people. We are born trying to understand why we are here and what life is about; sometimes art can speak to us on the subject. I am grateful for the opportunity to show you my work, and hope you will share your insights with me.

I grew up in Sarasota, Florida and was inspired by a high school art teacher. I went to Mount Holyoke College and graduated in 1978 with a major in art. After college I back-packed around Europe with my boyfriend and then ended up in a factory making stained glass birds in bamboo hoops for the giftware market in Berkeley California. Then I moved to NYC and worked at Wildenstein’s, the old master art gallery where I learned the important truth that there is no relationship between the making and the selling of art. Finally I ended up in Plainfield, New Hampshire, where I live in a beautiful old farmhouse on the Connecticut River. I have 3 children and am supported by my husband so I can paint whatever I want in the studio he built me.

Education

  • Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley MA, B.A. Cum Laude, Major in Studio Art, 1978

Single Shows

  • Creare,Inc. Hanover NH Jan-Mar 2010
  • The Perfect Pear Bradford VT Jun-Aug 2010
  • Wells River Savings Bank, Wells River VT Sep-Oct 2010
  • “Paintings Inspired by the Poems of William Butler Yeats”, Howe Library, Hanover NH, October 2008
  • Kimball Union Academy, Meriden NH Feb-Mar 2007
  • Norwich Public Library, Norwich, VT September-October 2006
  • Brownell Library, Essex Junction VT, October 2005
  • “Dream House” Show AVA Gallery, Lebanon NH Mar-Apr 2005
  • Benefit to build disease resistant houses in Bolivia – 20 houses funded in 2005!
  • River Valley Club, Lebanon NH 03781 Jan-Feb 2005
  • St. Paul’s Cathedral, Burlington VT, October 2004
  • Norwich Public Library, Norwich VT, May – June 2003
  • Borders Bookstore Cafe, W. Lebanon, NH April 2003
  • Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, April – July 2001
  • Creare, Inc., Hanover NH, June-July 2000
  • Taylor Gallery, Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, NH, March-April 2000
  • The AVA Gallery & Art Center, Lebanon NH, Sep-Oct 1997
  • The Bean Gallery, Lebanon NH, August 1996
  • The Collis Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, April-June 1996
  • Lightgate, Thetford VT, November-December 1995
  • Taylor Gallery at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden NH, Nov. 1994
  • Peter Christian’s, Hanover NH, June 1993
  • Creare, Inc., Hanover NH, February-March 1993
  • Cashie’s, White River Junction VT, December 1992
  • Gerard Gallery at Windsor House, Windsor VT, October-November 1992
  • Peter Christian’s, Hanover NH, June 1992
  • Cashie’s, White River Junction VT, March 1992
  • La Poule a Dents, Norwich VT, June 1991
  • AVA Gallery, Hanover NH, August 1989
  • Creare, Inc., Hanover NH, July 1989
  • EIG Gallery, Lebanon NH, June 1989
  • AVA Gallery, Hanover NH, February – March, 1987
  • Creare, Inc., Hanover NH, November – December 1983

Group Shows

  • Show with Angie Hall at Claremont Opera House, May 2009
  • ‘The Mermaid’ at “New Hampshire Paintings in the 20th Century” (Juror Tom Driscoll) Kimball-Jenkins School of Art, Concord NH, May-June 2006
  • Long River Studios, Lyme, NH Celebrating the Connecticut River, August 2005
  • The Phoenix Gallery, Burlington VT w/ Terry Walker & William Whalen Jul-Aug 2004
  • AVA Gallery, Summer Juried Show, Jul-Aug 2004
  • Artspace, Greenfield, MA “The Great River Exhibition – Valley Memories” May 2003
  • Ferngully & Moss, Enfield, NH “Kindred” with Thom Rock, Sept-Oct 2002
  • Library Arts Center, Newport, NH-Contemporary Visions: New Work, Jul-Aug 2002
  • Library Arts Center Juried Regional Show, Newport NH Aug-Sep 2001 Winner: Selected Artist
  • Facets of Portraiture, Library Arts Center, Newport NH Feb-Mar 2001
  • Library Arts Center Juried Regional Show, Newport NH Aug-Sep 2000 Winner: Selected Artist
  • Recycled Reinventions, Library Arts Center, Newport NH Mar-Apr 1999
  • The Studio at Saturday Cove, Northport ME, June 1998
  • Biennial 1995, Manchester Institute of Arts & Sciences, Manchester NH, September-November 1995 Juror: Dr. R. Toyakazu Troxell
    Third Juror’s Prize for Narcissus Angel
  • AVA’s Ark, AVA Gallery & Art Center, Lebanon NH, Aug.-Sept. 1995
  • Regional Selections, Library Arts Center, Newport NH, Feb.- Mar 1995
  • Art Forms of the Spirit, Memphis TN, December 1994 & April 1995
  • Regional Exhibition, Library Arts Center, Newport NH, Sep – Nov 1994
  • Summer Juried Show, AVA Gallery, Lebanon NH, July 1994. Juror: Richard Rand, Curator, Hood Museum of Art.
  • Mt. Ascutney Hospital Benefit Exhibition, Merry Wives of Windsor Gallery, Windsor VT, June-July 1994
  • Spring Juried Exhibition, Brenda Taylor Gallery, Newbury Street Boston, April 1994
  • The Goddess Walks, Art Forms of the Spirit Gallery, Memphis TN, April – May 1993
  • Summer Juried Exhibition, AVA Gallery, Lebanon NH, June 1993. Juror: Colleen Randall, June 1993
  • Greater Fall River Art Association, Regional Art Exhibition, June 1986. Juror: David Smith, Swain School of Design
  • 4th New Hampshire Biennial, Manchester Institute of Arts & Sciences, Mar – Apr 1985.
  • North Oakland Four & Guests, Studio Show, Oakland CA, May 1980

Publications

  • Here in Hanover Magazine: Spring 2002- 2 illustrations for article “Women
    Connecting with Women”
  • Here in Hanover Magazine: Fall 2002 – Cover “Autumn By the River”
    In the Garden reproduced in the Summer 1998 Daniel Smith Art Catalog
    “Art with a Heart”, 2 cards reproduced in collection to benefit
    HEADREST, Lebanon NH, September 1993
  • In the Garden reproduced in the Summer 1998 Daniel Smith Art Catalog
  • “Art with a Heart”, 2 cards reproduced in collection to benefit HEADREST, Lebanon NH, September 1993
  • New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Needham Heights MA, March 1993, pp. 70-71 (8 color reproductions & biography)
  • Upper Valley Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 2, March/April 1993, Painting Busch Gardens reproduced in color on cover.
  • Upper Valley Magazine, Painting Before There Were Nursing Homes reproduced in color 1989 Appointment Calendar

Other

  • Part-time Art Teacher at Kimball Union Academy, (Meriden, NH) 2003-2005
  • Member of the Board of Trustees, AVA Gallery (Lebanon NH), 1986-1992; Consultant Grantwriter, 1992-
  • Wildenstein Art Gallery, NY, Research Assistant in Library 1980-81
  • Research Assistant in Preparation of Charles Demuth Catalogue Raisonne, 1981