Latest News from Steve Quiller

Renowned Creede artist Stephen Quiller will open a show of paintings from Cornwall on May 24 alongside emerging talent, daughter Allison Quiller. The pair spent three weeks in April capturing the unique area of Great Britain in water media, and their completed body of work will be on display at the Quiller Gallery for the summer months.

Cornwall, England, is known for its rugged coastlines and unique light. While Allison and Stephen had discussed taking a painting trip together, it wasn’t until Allison read a book set in a post-war St. Ives that the pieces fell into place. In the 1940s, many artists fled to Cornwall from London to escape the Blitz, and amidst their discovery of the light and landscape, St. Ives became an artists’ colony. After a visit to nearby St. Agnes, Stephen and Allison began their Cornish adventure to get a feel for the area and its art, there, they experienced the Tate St. Ives, the St. Ives Society of Artists located inside a converted Mariner’s Cathedral and the home and garden of one of Britain’s greatest sculptors, Barbara Hepworth.

Allie Steve in CornwallStephen and Allison then journeyed to a place Stephen had painted before, a working fishing village nestled into a cove called Polperro. For most of its history, Polperro was only accessible by water, which made it an ideal place for smugglers and pirates. While today it can be reached by a small road, there are still no cars in the village proper, and the cobble pathways and sea-worn homes built directly into rock make the place feel like a step back in time. While Allison and Stephen spent their days painting the rocks, boats, flowers, and seagulls, they also discovered a familial connection. Their ancestor, John Quiller, was a prominent Polperro smuggler in the late 1700s. The first local they met was a taxi driver, Darren Stevens, whose son promptly discovered their family also shared Quiller ancestry. Darren later took the Quillers to paint for a day in the nearby village of Lansallos, where many historic Quillers are buried.

After a week of crashing waves and history, Allison and Stephen travelled to a different Cornish treasure: the Isles of Scilly. This archipelago is forty miles off the coast and is just south enough to be considered sub-tropical. Allison and Stephen settled in on Tresco Island, known for its lavish gardens, flowers, and birds. It was a monastic settlement in 946 AD, and an Abbey was built that fell into disrepair in the sixteenth century. In the mid-1800s, a caretaker developed an extraordinary garden in the ruins, where palm trees, outstanding flora, fauna, and rare pheasants thrive today. On the other end of this mile-square island are castle ruins and turbulent waves against the rocky coast, where Puffins are known to thrive. Allison and Stephen spent a week capturing just some of the distinctive aura of this special and little-known place.

The show of paintings by Quiller and Quiller can be seen in the upstairs area of the Quiller Gallery starting Saturday, May 24. Tea, scones, and Cornish Pasties will be available to the public, and the artists will be in the gallery or working on the street to discuss the work.

Quiller Cornwall Gallery Opening 05

Stephen Quiller was selected to serve on the Jury of Awards for the 2025 International Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society. The event took place from April 7- 25, 2025 at the The Salmagundi Club in New York City. His painting, "The Journey," was exhibited at the show.

Stephen Quiller received the Marilyn Hughey Phillis Memorial Award with $2,750 that was presented at the 157th Annual International Exhibition Awards Banquet on Friday, April 26 at the Salmagundi Club in Manhattan. This year's entries included artists from 28 different countries.

This society was founded in 1866 and Winslow Homer was one of the early exhibitors. Quiller’s painting “Living Energy, Fox & Raven”, depicts an aura energy emanating from a live spruce with a raven and a fox, representing sky and earth.

Stephen Quiller presented at the 2024 PACE Plein Air Convention & Expo in Ashville North Carolina.
Learn More  •  2025 Convention

Stephen Quiller's painitng titled 'Fox & Crow' received the Rosie Mahaffey Memorial Award at the 156th Annual American Watercolor Society International Exhibition in New York April 28, 2023!

American Watercolor Society

Other Award Winners

Eric and Elaine from Ampersand Art Supply invaded Stephen's studio and space to film this Ampersand feature video. Enjoy!

  1. Interview for Book "Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air"
  2. Quiller featured in June/July Issue of Plein Air Magazine
  3. Quiller Gallery's 50th Anniversary - Fall & Winter 2020
  4. August 31, 2020 - Quiller Gallery's Golden Anniversary Party
  5. Quiller Gallery's 50th Anniversary
  6. Quiller Awarded Silver Medal of Honor
  7. New DVD: Water Media en Plein Air with Stephen Quiller
  8. Quiller in Artist Daily Exclusive Series
  9. Mission Gallery Exhibition of Recent Paintings Opens September 17, 2016
  10. Quiller Included in 50th Anniversary Show at Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, N.Y.
  11. Quiller Featured as the First in an Artist Daily Exclusive Series
  12. China Paintings Presented at Cabin Fever Daze
  13. Quiller on the March 2015 Cover of "The Artist's Magazine"
  14. Quiller on the August 2014 Cover of "The Watercolor Artist"
  15. Quiller Painting Workshop Opportunity in Creede
  16. Gold Medal Winner - 2014 American Watercolor Society Exhibition
  17. Creede Cabin Fever Daze - a Winter Festival - Feb 14-16th
  18. BEAUTY IN THE BURN
  19. Complete Color Foundation For the Painter - DVD Teaser
  20. Complete Color Foundation For the Painter - DVD Teaser (2)
  21. Story of the New Color DVDs
  22. Arthur Melville Article by Stephen Quiller
  23. An Old Friend
  24. Sculpting With a Brush
  25. The Making of a Mural
  26. A Word From Stephen Quiller