Baker Artist Portfolios

My approach to ceramic art is greatly influenced by the sensibilities I have gained from studying and working in the field of architecture. Every project is affected by a design consciousness that is rooted in respect for site and process.

I made the pieces in this project right after moving to Baltimore, a change in scenery that affected my work as I sought to capture some elements of the industrial port city. I was particularly interested in the Domino Sugar factory, possibly because it survives along the waterfront, the last hold-out of Baltimore’s manufacturing era. One can sit on the pier in Fells Point and look across the harbor to see cranes unloading tons of sweet cargo off of giant tanker ships. The iconic sign, factory, and ships entered many of my sketches and later influenced forms and surfaces.

I consider teaching to be invaluable to continual personal development as an artist. It is also an opportunity to stay involved in the clay community. It is often easy for an artist to become cut-off from the world around them as they focus on work in the studio. Sharing that focus and creativity in the classroom allows me to take a step back and look at my own work or ideas from different perspective. Often, students have the most constructive observations and I am always inspired by the variation of creativity that I see in their work.

Prior to Large Coil Vessels, I worked mostly on the potter’s wheel, creating functional pottery. When I began to coil-build, I was forced to slow down and this gave me time to focus on the sculptural qualities of the pieces. As I built the vessels up inch-by-inch, I began to consider them as containers of space. These pieces mark the beginning of my work in sculptural ceramics.

I used grouping to create a sense of place in the Bottlescapes project. The bottles are wheel-thrown and altered variations of the same form. Slight changes in shape and color work together to depict an abstract landscape.
On the domed forms, I etched fine lines into the surface to illustrate timelessness, like the many layers of strata within a hill. The cylindrical bottles have thicker, raised lines that look more like divided landscapes from above, such as pastures and farmlands viewed from an airplane.

Process:

This installation project consisted of work that I created using the same methods highlighted in the Design/Build project. I sought to transform the room into a drafted evolution of form, revealing my process and end results as a continuum. The installation included sketches, drawings, and diagrams, as well as ceramic vessels.

This project was the topic of a class I taught, which explained in full detail my working methods for slab-built pieces such as the ones featured in the Drafted Vessels installation. The objective is that design and construction occur simultaneously and inform each other throughout the creative process. I emphasize sketching and small test models as a way to integrate design. I also re-visit and redraw those initial design sketches when building the finished piece.

My goal for this piece is to create a sense of place through form alone. The pair of vessels, a dissected elipse, work together in a spatial relationship where vantage point becomes a part of the experience. Like a Serra Sculpture, moving around the piece changes the viewer’s perception.

After working with string as texture for slab-built pieces, I pushed the idea further by pressing slabs onto suspended string formwork. As a result, the finished skin of the vessel directly related to the shape. The process allowed me to press the slab through openings in the string design revealing voids, linear supports, and intersections. I could also reveal the stress upon the clay by highlighting cracks and fractures formed during the stretching process.