ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Phil Epp

from Cowboy Lifestyle Magazine | Autumn 2023

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Phil Epp was born in York, Nebraska, in 1946 and raised in rural Nebraska on a crop and cattle farm. Phil says he is strongly imprinted into the open spaces of the Great Plains where he was born and has spent most of his life. His paintings reflect this celebration of open sky and landscape, with a hint of human occupation, and he strives to incorporate timeless universal icons into the landscape.

Phil was awarded the Kansas Governor’s Artist Award in 1985. His paintings have been shown at galleries in New Mexico, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York. Numerous monumental public works have been awarded honors, including 8 Wonders of Kansas Art in 2009 and Water Tower of the Year in 2010. In 2009, Phil was selected as a U.S. cultural ambassador to Kazakhstan with the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program. His work has been displayed in American Embassies in Latvia, Africa, and Fiji. In 2010 he received the Best of Show award at the Panhandle Plains Invitational in Canyon, Texas.

In 2013 he completed three large paintings for Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Then in 2016, he was inducted into the Cowboy Artists of America, which marked a monumental moment in his career.

In recent years, Phil has been featured in the “Western Art Collector” magazine, “Cowboys and Indians” magazine, “The Cattleman” magazine, and the “Wild West Magazine”. He was also featured in the Great American West exhibit at Settlers West Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. In 2019, he was awarded the Gold Award for Water Media at the Cowboy Artists of America Exhibit in addition to the Architect and Designers Award at the Palm Springs Art Fair with Modern West and a Permanent collection at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

The wide-open spaces and the horses, cowboys, Native Americans, and prairie creatures that inhabit this empty landscape have been a lifelong passion. Epp’s studio is based in Kansas and he continues to travel, photograph and paint wide-open western vistas.