This is the continuation of a series of articles profiling some of the artists participating in this year’s Austin ArtWorks Festival. The series will continue until the festival itself.

Internationally renowned artist Phyllis Yes will be exhibiting at this year’s Austin ArtWorks Festival at the historic downtown power plant.

A 1959 graduate of Austin High School, Phyllis has an extensive education receiving a BA from Luther College, an MA from the University of Minnesota, and a PhD from the University of Oregon.

She is currently a full professor of art at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore.

According to her bio on the Luther College website, upon receiving her doctorate she decided to change her name from Richardson to “something short, not a burden.”

At the suggestion of a friend she became Dr. Yes. Although her name is simple, her art is not.

The media she uses to create her work is quite eclectic, including painted canvas, video tape, furniture, clothing, jewelry and even a lace-covered 1967 Porsche.

This car helped her achieve national notoriety in 1984 when she drove it across the country for her show at Bernice Steinbaum Gallery in New York City. Her work has been featured on PBS, ASAHI National Network in Japan, ABC’s Faces and Places, KGW-TV’s “PM Magazine,” and numerous national and international publications including The Wall street Journal, Glamour magazine, L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, International Art Review, and others.

Phyllis has received numerous awards, and has won many national competitions. She has had more than 125 exhibitions including the Nishiazabu Asacloth, Tokyo, Japan, Brooklyn Museum, First Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, Bellevue Art Museum in Seattle, and others.

Phyllis will be in Austin for the ArtWorks Festival. After leaving the Festival, she will be traveling down to Decorah, Iowa for an exhibition of her work at Luther College. To find out more about all the visual artists exhibiting at this year’s Festival visit austinartworksfestival.org.