Frank Preston Phillips

This website is inspired by the years of diverse art created by Frank Preston Phillips. Whether he picked up a paint brush, pencil, or scrap piece of wood Frank could create something inspired. I remember seeing my father silk screening, sculpting, painting or whatever was at his disposal. He always aspired to learn more and test and try new techniques. As mom always said, Frank could do anything he put his mind to and often did. In addition to his art he also built furniture, had a fascination with geodesic domes, and built a fiberglass pontoon boat on our front porch! 

My father was left-handed and I recall all the effort he applied to learn how to properly execute a character. Consequently he would literally draw every character backwards from right to left to allow proper character formation, and then photograph the result with Kodalith film and then silk screen it so that the rest of the world could see it! 

Frank Preston Phillips

October 24, 1921 - Sept 16, 2013

Frank was born on October 24, 1921, in Topeka, the son of Beatrice and Frank Thomas Phillips, the brother of Naomi and half-brother of Gerald. He graduated from Westport High School, Kansas City, Missouri, and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, on May 27, 1954.   

Frank served in the Army Air Corps as a Staff Sergeant and Crew Chief during World War II from 1942 to 1945, receiving Victory and Good Conduct medals. He retired from the Santa Fe Railway in 1987 where he was employed for 47 years as a Lead Clerk and Inspector in the Auditor of Freight Accounts Department.  

He married Betty Walton, of Kansas City, Missouri, on June 7, 1956 in Harrisonville, Missouri. They had one son, Lawson L. Phillips, and one grandson, Reston Kemmer Phillips, both of Topeka.