Patrick Phillips – The Silent Artist
Patrick was born on Sunday 10th March 1963 at the Hughenden Hospital in North West Qld. He was induced early because anti-bodies were becoming dangerously high. As early as a few weeks of age, his parents (John and Patricia) were convinced their new born son was deaf. They lived at the local Fire Station and the siren was activated every 2nd Wednesday night to call the volunteer firemen to practice. Patricks one year old sister cried and trembled at the scary pitch of the siren but Patrick never blinked. So began Patrick’s and his families journey into the world of the deaf.
Patrick was 17 months old before John and Pat were able to convince the local GP and others that professional assistance was required to confirm is was deaf and to what degree. Eventually Patrick’s deafness was confirmed by the National Acoustic Laboratory (NAL) in Brisbane and as a result was introduced to the frustrating world of hearing-aids, communication difficulties and assisted education.
Traveling to Brisbane once a year to attend a government pre-school for the deaf at Yeronga for two weeks proved unsuccessful with Patrick not having a single word in his vocabulary by the age of four. However, it was during these long train journeys to Brisbane that John and Pat first identified that Patrick could express his silent world via pictures as he would happily draw representations of the passing scenery on paper.
Whilst attending the Yeronga Pre-School, the family learnt of St. Gabriel’s School for Deaf Boys at Castle Hill in Sydney. A caring mother with a son already placed in the school in Sydney explained about the schools objectives and processes and after phone calls to Br Regan and Br McGrath the very difficult decision was made to send four year old Patrick to St. Gabriel’s as a boarder with this family over 2500 kilometres away. A heartbreaking decision for any loving parents.
And so it was, in January 1968 the epic journey to Sydney from Hughenden was made. They travelled as an extended family including uncles and grandparents and it required two cars and a caravan to make the journey possible. The family stayed a week in the Castle Hill Caravan Park learning about St. Gabriel’s and meeting the teachers, and Brothers. Everyone loved the school and its surroundings and felt confident they were leaving Patrick in good and loving hands. The journey home and the next three months were agonizing for both Patrick and his family until they met again at the South Brisbane Railway Station. The Brothers brought the Qld boys from Sydney to Brisbane by train where the parents would collect their children and also drop off again at the end of the holidays. Whilst Patrick and the family adopted to the routine, the distress of departures never abated.
In 1969 Dr Orin Cornett visited from America and lectured on the subject of cued speech. St. Gabriel’s is an oral School and Patrick’s mother Patricia learnt to cue and found it a great aid to reliable communication and means to produce correct pronunciation of speech sounds.
During his years at St. Gabriel’s Patrick spent weekends with families close to the School. St Gabriel’s really made life as normal as possible for the boarders; living with foster families meant Patrick could join a local Hockey team as he enjoyed playing sport, even winning the Best and Fairest Player one year. In 1973 St Gabriel’s became co-educational and deaf girls were admitted. The older deaf children were integrated into hearing schools for the afternoon periods from 1975. Patrick went to theMaristBrothersCollegeat Westmead. He would have loved to stay at St Gabriel’s to finish Grade 10 but boarding facilities at St Gabriel’s ceased in 1976 and Patrick returned home to Hughenden to complete his education at hearing schools for the next 3 years. From the little mute 4 year old deaf boy he came home at 14 well on the road of education and an advanced ability to communicate both in word and cue. Thank you St. Gabriels!!!!
In 1975 Patrick attended the Hughenden State High School. His teacher, Robyn Seery, immediately learnt cued speech and his two best hearing friends were in his class which made integration much easier. However, in 1976 his father John had a stroke and so, due to Johns health and the girls going to Boarding School in Charters Towers, the family decided to move to Maryborough. Patrick only had 1 term in Hughenden of that year and then attended St. Mary’sCatholicHigh Schoolin Maryborough for the next couple of years.
His first oil painting came about during his years at St. Mary’s. After needing to avoid sport for a few days to recover from being hit by a motorbike, Patrick spent the day with a friend who was learning to paint. She gave Patrick a piece of masonite, brushes and oil paints – he produced his first oil painting – a gum tree at aged 15.
At the end of 1979 the School organized a week of Work Experience for the students, Patrick was assigned to a Graphic Designer at the local SEQ Television which resulted in placement with a Signwriting business, Dau Signs. The Queensland Golf Championships were to be held in Maryborough at that time and Patrick painted the banners around the golf links and was offered an apprenticeship and he began his apprenticeship in 1980.
Patrick worked at Dau Signs for 12 years. He married and had 2 children. When Dau Signs closed in 1992, Patrick and his deaf mate started their own Business – Patrick Phillips Graphic Signs.
The Business closed in 1997 and Patrick went to NSW for some years working as a Signwriter. During the years Patrick had been doing paintings in his spare time, but never felt they were of any value to anyone other than himself. His sisters tried to convince him he had a natural gift for art without success. While in Tamworth he went to the TAFE College and learnt lead lighting and produced some lovely pieces.
He came back to Marybrough in 2003 and started work at Write on Signs at HerveyBay.
In May 2010 we pushed him into attending a 4 day Master Class at the Gatakers Art Space in Maryborough. Garry Duncan a great Australian artist from Adelaide had an Exhibition at the Art Space and while here gave the 4 day Master Class using acrylics for a limited number of students. At the end of the 4 days, the 11 students had to choose which student had produced the best results. They all chose Patrick’s work. This was the first indication to Patrick himself that he may have a natural God given talent to paint and art in general. From this point and at the age of 46, he commenced to paint with a growing passion. His choice of subject and medium varied widely but he was most comfortable with oils, acrylics, charcoal or pencil, and themes of religious, still life, action, portraits, seascapes, landscapes, or abstract being his favourite subjects.
In January 2011 he attended the McGregor Summer School at the USQ Toowoomba campus joining Mignon Parker’s Class “Make Your Colours Pop” exploring other mediums and drawing live models. His work water colour work in particular was impressive and his family approached Gatakers Art Space to have an Exhibition in September 2011 named “Visions of Silence”. The exhibition was a resounding success. He exhibited 35 paintings and 2 Leadlight pieces. Eleven paintings and 1 Leadlight were purchased.
Patrick applied to RADF for funding to attend the McGregor Summer School USQ Toowoomba in January 2012. He received funding for tuition to join “New Horizons in Watercolour” with David Taylor who has taught extensively throughout the world. Again he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and is producing great results.
He applied for entry to the Mitchell School of Arts Winter School at Bathurst in July 2012. He entered a competition and was awarded the Chroma Award for Excellence which covered tuition at the Winter School.
It is important to recognize that when attending all these classes, Patrick can’t hear the teacher, nor did he have an interpreter. He has had to use his ability to read lips and follow other students yet still produces amazing results in such short periods of time.
Patrick has entered a limited number of art competitions in recent times. He won Grand Champion at the Fraser Coast Show in May 2011 plus a Highly Commended.
Patrick hopes you enjoy his works and he thanks you sincerely in helping him achieve is dream and prayers of being a full time artist.
He is available for commissions using any media and any subject.