With a longstanding interest in the arts, Phyllis Shipley embarked on a career as a painter while employed as a purchaser at the Eastman Chemical Company. Alongside a friend, she opened the Friends Gallery in 1989, which they ran together until they decided to go their separate ways. Continuing to pursue her passion for art, she began attending workshops and art retreats and realized that she wanted to make art her only career. In 1992, Ms. Shipley took early retirement from Eastman Chemical and launched her career as an independent artist with her own private gallery and studio, the Phyllis Shipley Fine Art Gallery, though which she has produced a number of art shows and taken her art all around the world.
Moving to Florida after her husband’s passing, Ms. Shipley has continued to excel as an artist, specializing in acrylics on canvas, figurative painting and abstract painting. In addition to original paintings her repertoire includes embellished giclée prints, which are specialized prints of original painted works that have been uniquely embellished through painting over the printed copy. Her duties also include a variety of paperwork and recordkeeping in regard to her ongoing shows and exhibits and all the behind the scenes work that running a business requires. Currently, Ms. Shipley also serves as an artist for the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, the Saphira & Ventura Gallery, the Artblend Gallery, and more. She is also a member of the Brevard Cultural Alliance, the Vero Beach Art Club and the Brevard Watercolor Society.
Attributing much of her success to her drive and the support of the people she has partnered with over the years, Ms. Shipley considers the most gratifying part of her work to be getting to witness people being touched by her art. She prides herself on the reaction that her art can elicit from others and notably strives to tell a story with each piece she creates. For her excellence, she has been the recipient of countless honors and accolades, including art show awards from around the globe, and is particularly proud of the awards her art received during a show in France. Furthermore, Ms. Shipley is being featured in the upcoming book, “On the Road to Inner Vision,” by Gilbert S. Melanson.