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Born and raised in Indiana, Phyllis has an appreciation for hard work and community and has always created things with her hands. After graduating from college with a B.S. degree in Secondary Art Education and teaching H.S. Art, she and her husband moved to Nairobi Kenya as missionaries, where they raised their family and lived for nearly two decades. This experience changed her life and outlook on the world. She learned to love a culture without clocks, and a community that had deep personal relationships and diverse nationalities.
Returning to the United States and settling in Orlando in 1997 brought another adjustment of living again in her country of birth—a very fast-paced society filled up with things and activities. Her artwork often reflects the feel of Africa with the use of hand-stitched and torn paper and subtle layering techniques which bring out the rawness, earthiness and humbleness of soil and growing things in contrast to the cement and contained lines and lives of the city. Her most recent pieces explore renderings of thought-provoking contemporary visual translations of scripture often presented as hangings with multiple pieces sewn together. She also stretches watercolor paper over frames and seals the watercolor painting with acrylic matte medium, thus excluding framing under glass.
Phyllis also enjoys speaking to small groups about her artwork and writes essays about her work. She lives in S.E. Orlando with her husband Carl, her greatest supporter. She has two grown children also residing in Orlando.
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