Loch Gallery is very happy to announce the Grand Opening of its new location in Calgary at 314 – 12th Avenue SW. In conjunction with the Grand Opening we are pleased to present an Exhibition & Sale of work by Walter J. Phillips (1884-1963) featuring a selection of his watercolours, color woodcut prints and wood engravings.

Several extraordinary watercolours will be on exhibition including Phillips' tender portrayal of The Family at Keewatin, a stunning West coast themed work, Indians in a Dugout at Jarvis Inlet and Mamalilicoola and Soft Maple both of which Phillips also executed as colour woodcuts.

Born in Lincolnshire, England in 1884, Phillips trained at the Birmingham School of Art and was a successful watercolour artist in England before he and his wife, Gladys, emigrated to Winnipeg in 1913. Although watercolour remained his primary medium, the wood block print was an enduring interest which brought his work to a wider audience. Among his best-known and loved images in watercolour and woodblock print are those which depict family holidays on Lake of the Woods from the teens through the 1920's.

In 1940, Phillips was asked to be artist in residence at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the first of twenty summers there as an instructor. Phillips and his family moved to Calgary in 1941 where he was invited to teach at the provincial Institute of Technology and Art. In 1948 Phillips built and moved to a home in Banff surrounded by the inspiration of the majestic Rocky Mountains.

With deteriorating eyesight, Phillips retired to Victoria in 1960 where he passed away in 1963 leaving a legacy of uniquely Canadian art. His ashes were spread in the Rocky Mountains. Walter J. Phillips is recognised today as a master of the watercolour and the woodblock print medium and his work is eagerly collected.

His works are housed in galleries across Canada, including The National Gallery of Canada, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Pavilion Gallery, the Glenbow Museum and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies as well as collections abroad in London, Washington D.C., New Jersey, Japan, and private collections the world over.