Photograph by Tim Sayer

Eleanor Phillips grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where she practiced drawing and painting from an early age. Always fascinated by living creatures, her first drawings were copies of horses from the covers of Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books. Phillips’ interest in both art and living creatures grew throughout her youth and college years. She graduated in 1992 with a BA in Studio Art and a minor in Biology from Sweet Briar College, where anatomy and morphology classes complimented figure-drawing classes. She studied painting and printmaking under Professors Lauren Oliver and Laura Pharis, and she also took sculpture classes with Professor Joe Monk. Taking many classes in Equine studies, she was able to deepen her understanding and love of horses. Horses continue to make the occasional appearance in her art today.

After graduating from Sweet Briar College, Phillips studied with Mark Rhodes at the University of Richmond, creating bronze sculpture. She then moved to Southern Pines, North Carolina, to concentrate on horse competitions and a career with horses. Since moving to North Carolina she has also continued her focus on making art, taking classes from local artists such Paris Alexander of Raleigh, North Carolina, under whom she took stone carving and figure drawing. At her farm in North Carolina, Phillips rides and cares for horses while also creating art.