Ian Phillips

Aberystwyth based artist Ian Phillips is an internationally renowned printmaker known best for his stunning linocut prints of the Welsh landscape which he has been hand printing for over twenty years.  Ian Phillips had an early fascination with all things Japanese which introduced him to the beauty and craftsmanship of Japanese prints. He specialises in consecutive series of prints taken from drawings done while walking long distance footpaths or exploring particular areas of scenic beauty. His reduction lino and woodcuts, by their very nature, are low in edition, as each phase can only be printed at one time only, making way for the next ‘layer’.

Ian Phillips is also a member of the North Devon print collaboration, Pine Feroda and in 2010 he was made a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy.

“My printing process starts today, as it’s always done, by going walking with my sketchbook. I follow lonely trails over empty hills, down twisting forest tracks, or along sea cliffs looking for colour, pattern and texture to draw. Then it’s back to the studio to cut, mix colours and print.
In 2001 I moved to Mid Wales to study the landscape and improve my printmaking. Since then I have been creating sequential series of large scale landscape and seascape linocuts. Utilising all the inspiring mark making, patterns and techniques I have absorbed over the intervening years from a wide variety of sources. Including artists from the Torres Strait Islands at Djumbunji Print workshop in Cairns, studying with Professor Wang Chou in Hangzhou, China and working with the Pine Feroda collaboration.
I now specialise in prints based on drawing long distance walks and exploring landscapes of iconic interest and lonely beauty.”