Episode 50: The Healing Power of Art with artist Audrey Phillips

Art Ladders: The Creative Climb

Episode 50 is a conversation with artist Audrey Phillips. We learn more about Audrey and her beautiful acrylic paintings and her incredible journey through life that included both dark and light, tragedy and triumph.

Audrey received her Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Florida. Audrey has exhibited in solo and group shows in Florida, where she currently lives, Georgia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Michigan, California, Texas, New Mexico and New York. Her work is can be found in corporate and private collection in the United States and internationally. In 2019, 54 of her paintings were acquired by the University of Tampa for permanent installation in their newly renovated Southard Family Building.

Audrey states, "My art practice started quite by accident—a collision of tragedy and creative healing. In 2000, I started painting faces that were somewhat representational but mostly raw, darkly expressive and strangely abstracted. This work sprang forth from a deep loss. In my search to heal, my newly formed art practice became a visual healing process. After this ten-year journey, I started painting abstractly. This abstract work allowed me to tap into the internal energy I had learned to access through my yoga and meditation practice that also started in the year 2000," in an interview for Arts on Douglas.

Audrey's paintings are expressive, bold and large, with beautiful colors and gestural mark making. Nature is her primary springboard and she often works in diptychs or two panels that symbolize the duality of life, the yin and yang, the light and dark. Her influences of artists are Joan Mitchell, Cecily Brown, and Willem de Kooning.

Audrey teaches week-long workshops throughout the country. Her teaching style includes sharing her lifestyle with students. This includes the practice of meditation combined with full sessions of painting. The students work large in spacious studios in venues that have those types of facilities. This year she is teaching at Beverly Todd's Santa Fe Artist Getaway (you can hear more about this venue in our episode 46 with Beverly) and Paint Space NOLA in New Orleans. She accepts students after doing a portfolio review to make sure it is a good fit for intermediate to advanced painters. Check out the show notes for information on enrolling.

Many thanks to Audrey for sharing her story with us. This episode is a powerful testament to the power of art in regards to healing and uplifting your life.

Here are links with more information on Audrey.

Audrey Phillips Website

Interview with Audrey by Arts on Douglas, a gallery in New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Article in Growing Bolder on Audrey Phillips (page 30)

Audrey's workshop at Santa Fe Getaway Dates: September 25-30.

Audrey's workshop at Paint Space NOLA Dates: November 6-11.