Baker Artist Portfolios

I learned woodcarving from my father and relatives  as a boy growing up in the Amazon basin rainforest in Suriname, on the north coast of South America.  I am a Saamacca Maroon- my  ancestors, former enslaved Africans,  escaped  from plantations on the coast beginning in the late 1600s, established villages and created languages, social structures, cultural expressions, and livilihoods from their diverse African cultures of origin.   I came to the United States in 1968 to get an American education. After the war in Suriname in the 1980s, when I realized I would live mostly in the US, I decided to make a business integrating my traditional craft and modern furniture. My goal is to incorporate the Saamacca Maroon style of woodcarving into the contemporary western style of furniture making. I try to make unique objects that my clients will consider heirlooms to hand down to their children. When they speak of my work, they can tell about how each object was crafted, because when I am commissioned to create a piece, I collaborate closely with the client. We work together to create the design, select the wood, and consider the form and function of each object. Only the finest woods, such as mahogany, walnut and tropical cedar are used because of their strength and beauty. Each object becomes unique to the desires of the individual.  In the culture I grew up in, art is part of everyday life and creativity is valued.  You can be inspired by others' work, but you are not supposed to copy it, you make your own designs. We believe in making the “ordinary” things we use every day beautiful, whether door facings, kitchenware, tools, clothes or canoes.  I try to apply that in my work today- everyone deserves to have beauty and craftsmanship in their surroundings. For the future, my greatest wish is to be commissioned to make some works that will hang in public places- wall art, door insets and similar.