Meet Phillip Conner | Landscape Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Phillip Conner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Phillip, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Much of my life I have either felt out of place, awkward or just disconnected from everyone. So, for me, art from a very early age, was a place of security. When i am painting, sketching, or doing anything creative, I felt comfortable, no longer lonely or isolated but open and included. So, searching out an outlet for my artistic and creative side and pursuing an artistic career was a natural thing. I am the happiest when I am painting and I enjoy sharing my art with others.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Art was always important to me, but it did take a back seat to everything else in my life for many years. It wasn’t until 2016 when my wife and I had decided to make a very drastic and important change in our life did my art once again take a more relevant place in my life. We had for some 25 years lived on the eastern slope of Colorado near Fort Collins and we had come to the decision that we were needing to move back to our hometown of Cortez Colorado on the Western slope to help care for her aged parents and her grandmother. When we moved and I again began creating art, I would reflect upon the intense and bright colors of graffiti art I had seen on train boxcars and on highway overpasses all those years earlier while going about my daily commute in life, and it was because of my appreciation for all the amazing graffiti art I had witnessed that I began to experiment with aerosol spray paints and acrylics on a stretched canvas. I wanted to create landscape, city and townscape art but with the bold, bright and intense colors provided by aerosol paints. I wanted to reimagine landscape in not the typical muted colors we see in nature but with more explosive colors that I could only dream that our landscape could be. It was through all of this I learned some very valuable lessons, the spark of creativity can come from the most unusual of places as well as the most unexpected of circumstances, but it is us as individuals who have to imagine the possibilities and bring it to fruition.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
When I was much younger I never truly appreciated the unique beauty that exist here in the four corners area of Colorado. But as an older man I can now see it more clearly. When ever we have friends and family come visit, it goes without saying we are going to spend at least a few days on one of the many spectacular lakes in the area. McPhee reservoir is a place we like to take ones to go paddle boarding, boating, fishing and swimming. It is always fun to go into the Mountains, hike on or around Lone Cone Peak, explore the many old mining towns in the area like Rico, Opher, Telluride, Ouray and Silverton. Dolores River Brewery is always a necessity, and to go when Kelly’s Kitchen food truck is there, an added bonus. I would make sure we find time to go visit EsoTerra Ciderworks in Dolores, along with other favorites like WildEdge Brewery in Cortez and Fenceline Cider in Mancos Colorado. It would not be complete if we didn’t visit Zugallery in Cortez and enjoy the visual arts from the creative side of our community.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would say the greatest support came from my loving wife Jeana, who was always encouraging me to keep creating and made me feel comfortable in putting myself and my art out in the public. My children, Joel and Halle, as well as their spouses Madison and Daniel who were so positive and gave me confidence to do more then I felt comfortable to. I also have to recognize my “adopted” children, Quin and Qwencie, who, with every event I was featured in or promoting, would religiously show up and had the biggest smiles and hugs. Thank you all.

Website: Zugallery.com

Instagram: @pcgallerynstudio

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