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Artist Profile: Phyllis Jenkins

Phyllis Jenkins

LENEXA, KS

 

Bio:

Phyllis Anne Jenkins (phyllis anne, p'anne or p’anne ally), psychotherapist, speaker, and educator, is a full-time artist with a studio (201B) in ZhouB Art Center, KC, MO. She studied art and drama in Kansas and Colorado universities then shifted focus to Counseling Psychology earning a MA at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA. She later followed up by studying with notable artists in the West and Southwest USA and in Peru (Staff; Art University). She ran her own therapy clinic leading to national and international speaking engagements as well as teaching positions on 4 continents, 9 countries and 26 cities. She seized the opportunity to visit museums, galleries and art studios worldwide. Co-Founder and was President of the International Redecision Therapy Association, she was President of Northern California Group Psychotherapy Association, served on American Group Psychotherapy Association and other non-profit boards for over 20 years. During clinical practice, she reclaimed her artist identity and gained notice with two studios in San Jose, CA. She was selected to exhibit locally, state and nationwide in various gallery and museum venues. Phyllis created an wall installation of 12x12” works by resident artists at Alameda Artworks shortly before moving her studio to Missouri in 2024. In Fall 2024, she completed a Fellowship with Artist, Inc, in Kansas City, a team cohort focused on building meaningful business practices to sustain and grow fine art offerings to the community. In her artwork, a mark inspires imagination, drives curiosity and sparks an emotional response. Her abstractions evoke strong feelings, suggesting story in the viewer. She moves rapidly between pure abstraction and more graphic depictions, still abstract, of figure and ground. There is an evocative, emotional ‘gestalt’ to her work. She surprises the viewer with shifts between seemingly different styles from which cohesion emerges, presenting the emotional struggle revealed in the vulnerability and resilience of human nature. Inspired by literature, theater and poetry, her work reflects the old giving way to the new. She notes, while the past reflects memories, longing, and states of mind, the present offers understanding through an appreciation of the worn. . . old handmade quilts, cracked tea cups, frayed walls, worn floors...a story of our evolution. To honor each object, a ‘wabi sabi’ way of being.