Gema Phillips is a Lithuanian-American artist based in Boston and Cape Cod primarily working in oil, monotype and occasionally water color. Although she came over from Lithuania at the age of 4 her roots can be seen in much of her work. As a young girl navigating her identity, language and culture, Phillips found a means of expression through painting. Her paintings range from expressionistic landscapes, abstract and portraiture. “I’ve always loved painting city scenes. Since being in the displaced persons camp of war-torn Germany, I remember marveling at the few buildings that were still standing. Those images stayed with me and have continued to influence my work.” She graduated from the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts tv(with a focus in abstract art) although she was also influenced by representational artists like  Alice Neil and Frida Khalo. She has also worked as a teacher at Mass College of Art, the Brookline Arts Center and with private students in her home studio for the past 45 years but is now turning towards her own work. The seascapes of Cape Cod (where she lives part time with her husband John) have been the focus of her recent paintings. She can often be found on long walks at west Dennis beach watching the light change, “I love to capture how the water meets the land. The coast is so inviting and yet there’s a fight the waterline plays to be accepted by the shore.”