Phil Schirmer

Phil Schirmer was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1952. After graduating from college with a degree in English Literature in 1974, he worked at various odd jobs including the position of art director of a magazine. During this period he worked evenings and weekends mastering the painstaking technique of egg tempera painting. In the spring of 2000, he quit his art director job to concentrate on painting full-time.

He enjoys the whole process of tempera – from the traditional gessoing to the slow, careful application of layers of paint. After more than twenty years, his excitement in seeing a painting gradually come into focus remains undiminished. A recurrent theme in his work is juxtaposition of organic matter. For example, trees contrasted with rocks. He finds the textural effects and muted colors of tempera are perfectly suited to his subject material.

Phil has exhibited extensively in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. He has shown in Symphony Hall in Boston and in 2002 had a painting selected to be included in a traveling show featuring egg tempera painters from around the world. His paintings are in private collections from New York to California. He currently lives on the coast of Maine and teaches egg tempera at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine.