About us...
While growing up in Decatur (IL), Phil Smith studied art privately for eight years with a number of artists and teachers at Millikin University. After moving to the Chicago area in 1969, he resumed work as a watercolorist and began to photograph subjects to paint in his spare time. Smith joined several area art leagues and began exhibiting original framed photographic images. In 1983, he merged the disciplines of painting and photography, constructing three-dimensional mixed-media collage pieces that combine photographic images with airbrush and traditional painting techniques and found objects.
During the past thirty years, Phil Smith's work has been seen in numerous shows and galleries in Illinois including the Gold Coast Art Fair, 57th Street Art Fair, Old Orchard Art Fair, Arts and Riverwoods, Fountain Square Arts Festival and the One-Of-A-Kind Show and Sale at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Phil Smith was awarded the honor of being designated as an “Invitational Artist” to Art On The Square (Madison, WI), and received an Award of Merit at the Gasparilla Fine Arts Festival in Tampa (FL). His work has also been seen at IMAGES in New Smyrna Beach and festivals in Mount Dora, Ponte Vedra Beach and Vero Beach, Florida, as well as in Northampton (MA) as part of the Paradise City Art Festival. He has received First Prize Ribbons and Purchase Awards in the Broadway/New Town Street Fair (Chicago), Lake County (IL) Festival of Arts, Libertyville (IL) Festival of Art, Apollo Beach (FL), Open Spectrum (IL), Deer Path Art League Spring and Fall Shows (IL), Barrington (IL) Area Arts Council Winter Show, The Glen Art Festival (IL), Hendersonville (NC) Sidewalk Fair, Wilmette (IL) Arts Guild Fine Arts Festival (“Best of Show” 2001), and Fourth Place 2-D at the Historic Shaw Neighborhood Art Fair (St. Louis, MO). In June, 2005, the city of Salina, Kansas purchased one of Smith’s mixed-media photo collage pieces for inclusion in the city’s permanent public art collection.