Butch Phillips

Butch Phillips' Photographs

Butch visited Stonefield sheep farm in the winter of 2005 to photograph scenes on the farm and surrounding area. A few of the images have been scanned into Stonefield Gallery from 5x7 proof prints. Some of Butch's better known images have also been scanned and are shown in the Butch Phillips' Gallery.

Butch operates a studio and gallery in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico. He processes his photographs archivally on exhibition quality bromide paper and tones them with selenium or sepia. Most of his prints are medium format although he uses some 35mm and 4 by 5 format film. He mounts them on and overmats them with, acid–free museum board and hand-buffs each one with archival wax that protects them from environmental gases and makes them look three-dimensional.

Butch Phillips has been creating black and white photographic images for more than thirty years. His landscapes, mostly in the Southwest, reveal his awe of nature. Water surging down a sheer wall of rocks, clouds billowing over a monolithic mountain, an abandoned church or weathered adobe walls; or an ancient windmill standing silently beneath a brooding late afternoon sky clearly show that his vision is unique and his artistic talent is mature and experienced. His still lifes of windows, doors, wood grain knots and cemetery crosses and monuments demonstrate his understanding that although the works of man, if not man himself, are captives of nature, man’s spirit and vision are boundless. His philosophy of photography and art is best summarized in his own words:

Photography: Painting With Light

Light is like a liquid in many ways. It “drenches” a landscape when the sun appears suddenly from behind a cloud or above the horizon. It will “leak” into a darkened room through even the tiniest hole. The very words we use to describe it’s effects, “drench”, “leak”, “flood”, “seep”, to name a few, are indeed the same ones we apply to the actions of liquids.

For me, light is further like a liquid in that it “quenches” an inner thirst, a deep craving I have to capture its effects on film; to show in a photographic image the sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic interplay of light and object; in short, to “paint with light”. My “palette”, called the gray scale, can project, not reality, but rather my vision of reality and can convey my emotional responses to my subjects and their interactions with light. If my images cause you to respond emotionally, or in any way to sense the drama that I felt when making them, then I have succeeded. Butch Phillips, June 1992

 

 

 

 

Butch is Permanent Artist at Southwest Images Photographic Gallery Tlaquepaqeh Village, Sedona, Arizona. His credits include

 

* The Southwest Culture Arts Festival in 1987, 1988 and 1989 in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

* The New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair in 1987, 1990, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2005.

* An Honorable Mention in Calumet Photo graphic’s Shootout “88”.

* The Wildflower Festival in Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1989 and 1995.

* A showing at Jack Beech Gallery of Photography, New Orleans, Louisiana, January through April 1989.* Southwest Arts Festival, Albuquerque, New Mexico; 1991, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002. Purchase Award in 1999.

* Riverfest, Little Rock, Arkansas; 1990-2004. First Place 2D 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2003. Second Place 2D 2002, 2004. Best of Show 1999.

* Lubbock Arts Festival, Lubbock, Texas 1991 – 2005. Merit Award 1998.

* Utah Arts Festival, Salt Lake City, Utah; 1997, 1999, 2002.

* Cherry Creek Arts Festival; 1995

* New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival; 1998

* FestForAll, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; 1997, 1998, 2005. Second Place 1997, Merit Award 1998.

* Red River Revel, Shreveport, Louisiana; 1995 – 2005. Best of Media 1995, 1996, 1997. Merit Award 1998. Juror’s Award 1999, 2001, 2004.

* La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, California; 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2005.