Voices of Experience - Phil Starke

Aspens in Winter 30 x 30” Oil

Phil Starke maintains his home and studio in Tucson, Arizona when he is not on the road painting or leading workshops. In addition, he offers a teaching website and blog. He credits his first artistic influence to a great uncle named Terry Brooks, a commercial artist in St.Louis. Brooks had taken life drawing from Oscar Berninghaus (well known not only for his paintings but for co-founding the Taos Society of Artists in 1915). He was full of information about the Taos and other American artists.

Starke knew he would be an artist at about age 13. Because his father was in the army, the family moved to Germany for several years when he was growing up. He was exposed to the great museums of Italy and Germany. Their works inspired him and piqued his interest in drawing and sculpture. On returning to the United States, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he studied u…