HCC exhibit features paintings by Phil Smith

[January 13, 2015]  NORMAL - The Joe McCauley Gallery at Heartland Community College is displaying Phil Smith: Paintings from Monday, January 12 through Friday, March 6. The gallery is located in room 2507 of the Instructional Commons Building on Heartland’s Normal campus, 1500 W. Raab Road.

An artist talk will take place Wednesday, March 4 at 3:00 p.m. in room 2805 of the Instructional Commons Building. A reception will follow from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the gallery.

Phil Smith: Paintings presents the artist's use of direct observation, color and brushwork to capture scenes of homes, bridges and roads in rural and urban McLean County. Often painted in one sitting, the oil paintings reflect how light sculpts natural and man-made forms. He characterizes this body of work as sparing all but the most essential details to retain the freshness of a sketch.

About the artist

Phil Smith is an artist and retired art educator based in Bloomington-Normal. His works have been exhibited widely.

In 2011-12, Smith created the Coffeehouse Portrait Project, which documented employees and patrons of The Coffeehouse in Uptown Normal. Collections of Smith’s paintings are on display in offices of the Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System and at Main Gallery 404.

Smith began his teaching career in 1989 and taught drawing, life drawing, painting, art history and art appreciation courses at colleges and universities, including Heartland, until 2014. He also served as a gallery facilitator while teaching at Richland Community College.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in art education from Eastern Illinois University, a master’s degree in art education from the University of Illinois and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Illinois State University.

About the gallery

Exhibits, events and parking at Heartland’s Joe McCauley Gallery are free. Gallery hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on days the College is open.

For more information about this exhibit, contact Danell Dvorak, gallery coordinator, at [e-mail] and [phone], or call Heartland’s Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department at [phone].

Get updates about Heartland Community College at heartland.edu,

[Becky Gropp, Heartland Community College]