SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Tahoe Art League is delighted to feature guest speaker Phyllis Shafer at this coming Thursday’s Community Mingle at the TAL Gallery. Phyllis is a highly regarded plein air artist who is truly hitting her professional artistic mark right now. My phone conversation with her yesterday was a delight. She has a way with words that evokes her passion and spirit– I was scribbling so fast, I did not want to miss a beat!  Now, as I read over my five scrawling pages, her true personality emerges, and I think I might just be lucky to call her my friend!

I reminded her how we first met, about 12 years ago, because my son Joey was 8. I was organizing field trips to Lake Tahoe Community College when they would host their big annual Student Art Show. On more than one occasion, Phyllis would avail herself to speak to my groups of littles, explaining what an art show and gallery were, as she met with us in the lovely Haldan Gallery.  She spoke to us art novices (kids and chaperones alike) in a welcoming and approachable way. I knew she was the head of the art department, so we were all duly impressed that she spent time with us in her busy day.

Cut to this…I attend her show opening and book signing (her SECOND book, by the way) at the Stremmel Gallery in Reno a couple years ago. Of course, as usual, every one of her artworks had already been purchased before the show even opened. I bought her beautiful book, The Nature of Time, she signs it, I bring it home, randomly open it to the the middle of the book, show Joey the gorgeous painting of Headland Cove, Point Lobos in Monterey County, remind him of how he met her when he was little….he exclaimed, Mom, I was JUST there last week! I sent you a photo of that exact spot! We compared his photo to her mesmerizing and moving image, so beautiful, both of them, real and imagined. 

Phyllis explained her style and process to me. I must admit, once again, the artistic terms are quite lofty and over my head. Here’s what I recall best from our conversation…she was a little girl growing up in rural upstate New York.  She was drawn to fantasy, comic books, and old Disney cartoons. She liked the landscapes depicted in the cartoons because she loved nature. Her grandparents were small farmers; she put it so succinctly when she said, “My DNA is close to the dirt!”  Her parents didn’t take her to museums; that is quite ironic now that one of her pieces is in the Crocker’s permanent collection in Sacramento!

So her life goes from Manhattan to Berkeley to tiny seaside town of  Bolinas to finally Lake Tahoe. After she came to California to pursue her Master’s, she was exposed to the Sonoma Four, a group of plein air painters. She had not gotten that excited about painting ever before. But plein air painting was frowned upon by her snobby teachers and high brow institutions. She didn’t care. She had now been wowed by the American West. Her style is a marriage of surrealism, using real morning or afternoon light, with supplemental photographs to document her outdoor adventures. She calls it “Magical Realism.” Her goal is to find the sweet spot between reality and invention. She wants you to recognize or feel like her paintings are fantasy. And as she so passionately concluded, “There is something so soothing and satisfying about doing something creative.”

Come meet Phyllis this Thursday, January 15, at the Tahoe Art League Gallery located at 3062 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe. Her presentation starts at 5:30 p.m. Snacks and refreshments will be served. Public is welcome, Mingles are always a free event! 

-Michelle Gomez, Tahoe Art League