Biography

Emma Louise Phillips

Emma Louise Phillips is a multimedia artist from Appleton, Wisconsin. She received her BSS in Studio Art and Education from Cornell College in 2021, an MA in Studio Art in 2022 from Eastern Illinois University, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from Ohio University in 2025. She now works at Hampton Roads Academy as the Department Chair for the visual art program.

Artist Statement

My work draws inspiration from the powerful, often enigmatic feelings and memories that define us as individuals. In my mind and on the canvas I revisit the places where I feel the strongest emotional resonance: misty low country marshes, quiet woodlands, wide-open Midwest grasslands, the rolling Appalachian mountains, or the peaceful edges of still waters. These aren’t just landscapes to me. They’re the backroads of my memory.
I often include animals I’ve encountered or felt drawn to in these scenes. There’s something powerful about the way they belong to a place, and they help me feel even more connected to it.Using rich color and gestural, expressive brushstrokes, I don’t try to paint these places exactly as they look. Instead, I paint how they feel: the way memory softens them, the way nostalgia colors them. The surfaces shift between clear and hazy, between presence and recollection.For me, painting is deeply personal. I am not simply recording what I see, but what I feel returning to it. Each painting becomes a kind of visual diary, an ongoing attempt to understand attachment, memory, and the quiet emotional gravity of place.

Portfolio

Memories of a Place

Portfolio

Animals & Commissions

Portfolio

To Be Seen

Thesis Work: contact for pricing

Contact Information

Get in Touch!

Thank you for visiting my website and exploring my art. Whether you have questions, comments, or are interested in purchasing a piece, I'd love to hear from you!