Baker Artist Portfolios

JIM OPASIK's Insect series is based on imaginary or realistic bugs.

Repurposed kitchen utensils are the domestic objects he uses to create his series of whimsical figurative sculpture. The assortment of implements used in every household for preparing meals is transformed so the viewer can experience them in a different way. Food for the eye, one might say. Opasik collects used kitchen and metallic objects from flea markets, thrift stores, sidewalk sales and donations from friends. Welding and riveting the repurposed utensils and metals are the primary means of joining the artwork.

JIM OPASIK's Insects are sculptures based on imaginary and realistic bugs. He researches each insect before he begins construction.

Before beginning the construction of the sculpture, JIM OPASIK researches each animal. His interest in the animal world is reflected in the form and content of his art.

This early work was heavily affected by a year of studying abroad in Rome during my undergraduate years. In that work I created idiosyncratic narratives where autobiographical and art historical elements  merged in a world where more questions were asked then answered. The overriding message in this work is a search for identity in finding a place to exist within the art world.

In all eras humans have longed for Gods and heros, in our time they seem especially lacking. We have looked to our artists who gave us only past glories – Greece, Rome. We love old, crumbled walls.

In Trace Miller we have an artist who erects a wall of paint, and then finds evidence of beauty – a flower, a vase. He presents the modern man, vulnerable and exposed not to spears and arrows, but to the wounds of modern life. All of these paintings are bathed in a silver light which gives us hope. If we have brave artists then we still have heros.

Grace Hartigan

This is a continuing body of work of mixed media paintings and collages of bare winter trees on canvas and paper. They are not landscapes in the traditional sense but rather statements about loss and renewal. My studio practice balances process and experimentation with concept. The content evolves with the process – the work is strongest when the two are inherently intertwined.

In my career and life, I experienced some sudden familiar losses that put me on the path to this work. Enigmatic yet narrative, these paintings and collages of trees in winter appear to be dead but are only lying dormant until spring breathes new life. They allude to the fragility of life and their fragmented quality freezes the moment in time, a futile attempt to prevent it from ever happening in the first place.

For centuries, artists have created images and objects to represent spiritual and/or religious feelings. A rose, known to be nature’s symbol of perfection and beauty, is something I’ve been working with since 1991. Over the years, the rose has become a vehicle whose singularity allows me to experiment with a variety of media. Whether the rose is frozen or isolated, it harnesses’ and focuses energy, like a sacred icon.

Intaglio, lithograph, screenprint and mezzotint- limited edition prints produced at the Towson University Print Studio, Towson, MD and Pyramid Atlantic, Chevy Chase, MD.

Trees control the flow of energy within any forest. Whether soaring high or spreading out to capture available light, for me, they are the most magnificent engines of struggle and adaptability. I do not view my work as traditional landscapes, but rather as representations of raw environments with basic instincts for survival.

These monoprints were produced on a 30 x 40 inch sheet of plexi and printed on Rives BFK, Towson University Print Shop.