BIOGRAPHY

Toni Lyons Phillips holds a B.F.A. from Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, Louisiana and an M.F.A. from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. After ten years of teaching in the private and public sector, including the Gifted and Talented Art Program for Ouachita Parish public school system, Toni returned to her abstract painting practice.

 

Influenced by southern hinterland, Phillips traveled broadly throughout the United States discovering and drawing inspiration from her travels as well as her yearly residency experiences in diverse environments. Toni has held group and solo exhibitions in the United States and sold privately and by commission. Her work is part of many private collections, both national and international.

 

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a contemporary abstract painter, my work is guided by a deeply instinctive and emotional connection to the landscape. Growing up in the lush entangled backdrop of Louisiana, I spent most of my time outdoors, catching crawfish, fishing, and floating down the bayou. Memories of the intense blues of the sky and vibrant greens of the vines against the muddy waters find there way into my work.

 

Visual investigations and energies find voice on the canvas through my lyrical expressions, energetic movements, and rich layering of paint and textures. My paintings usually begin in a landscape surrounded by water and are a physical expression of the conscious and contemplative practice of being immersed in the sights, sounds and the smells of my surroundings. Somewhere between reality and my intuitive subconscious an emotional reaction guides my marks.

 

My paintings allow me to give emotional responses and symbolic descriptions to the indescribable in a distinct vocabulary that is unique to me. Compositions emerge and transcend my usual ways of understanding myself and the world in which I live.