Her whimsical landscapes are capturing the attention of many in the art world and collectors, who consider Phyllis one of the greatest landscape artists of our time. We agree.
Most of Shafer’s landscapes are set in Lake Tahoe and the Arizona desert where she gets her inspiration. The end result is a lively painting that dances in rhythm with Phyllis’s obvious deep connection to nature.
Expressive landscapes are punctuated with characteristic soulful movements and animated clouds. It’s a very refreshing twist to the traditional landscape paintings we often see.
“The more time I spend in any setting, the more I become connected to the cycles of nature,” she says. “I don’t just paint in a realistic style. Instead, it’s a marriage between observation and fantasy coming from a felt response to the landscape.” (American Style Magazine, Dec 2008)
Shafer has been an arts instructor at the Lake Tahoe Community College since 1994. She is also the director of the college’s new Art Gallery.
Currently, several of Shafer’s Tahoe landscapes grace the sides of Lake Tahoe buses raising awareness of the environmental programs that will be funded by Lake Tahoe license plates. And, one of her Yosemite landscapes has been selected as part of the Patagonia art series t-shirts. Look for it spring 2008.
Her paintings can be found at the Stremmel Gallery in Reno, as well as Reno’s McKinley Arts and Cultural Center that features her interpretation of the Nevada landscape on a 3-dimensional fiberglass bighorn sheep she calls Lambscape.
To accentuate nature’s interrelationship, she painted her landscape on the entire body of the sheep integrating the subject into her art. It’s an amazing piece of work.
Like Phyllis.
For more about Phyllis and to see her inspired creations, please visit her website at www.phyllisshafer.com.
Featured Artwork:
- Monitor’s Vigil: Oil on canvas
- Autumn Aspens: Gouache on paper
- Lambscape: 3-D Fiberglass Bighorn sheep