Baker Artist Portfolios

My art negotiates the fluidity, urgency and rhythmic beauty of jazz and blues music and the cultural and social dimensions of the global African diaspora. My love for art and music is inseparable, and I can't remember a time when I haven't sketched or painted. As an artist, I have never been locked into a single style of painting; instead, I have incorporated the flexibility of each medium and the versatility of the musicians who inspire and influence me as the vehicles through which the work emerges.

As an "army brat", I traveled with my military parents around the United States, and to Germany and France, but claim Chicago as my hometown. Based in the Baltimore area since 1960, I studied Fine Art at Morgan State University, and Applied Art & Design at Catonsville Community College and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

In addition to a long career as a fine artist, I worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for 38 years at the Social Security Administration. During that time, I also did free-lance graphics work and illustrations for newspaper articles, journals and other publications. I have been privileged to serve as curator, juror and project director for multiple exhibits; and to deliver lectures ad presentations about my work to private groups, schools and organizations.

My work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, public buildings and other venues around the country, including
* Rye Arts Center, Rye NY
*Martha's Vineyard Film Center, Vineyard Haven, MA
*Smith/Mason Gallery and Museum, Washington, DC
*Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum, Baltimore, MD
*Banneker Douglass Museum, Annapolis, MD
*Harlem Fine Arts Show, Washington, DC
*Black Rock Center for the Arts, Germantown, MD
*Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
*JVC Jazz Exhibition, New York, NY
*Duke University

My work is included in the collections of the University of Maryland David C. Driskell Center, College Park, MD, Keystone Korner Jazz Club, Baltimore, MD, Paul Pierce, 2008 MVP NBA World Champion, Boston Celtics and North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.

I have numerous commissions to my credit, the most significant by the firm of Joseph A. Wetzel Associates, Inc. of Boston, MS to create and design an 18-foot Italian tile floor mural honoring legendary tenor saxophonist, Lester "Prez" Young for the Jazz Plaza at the Jazz Museum in Kansas City, MO.

As a young man, I did a tour of duty in the United States Army; and played semi-pro football for the Baltimore Eagles and the Carroll County Chargers. My wife and I are the proud parents of three daughters, grandparents of seven and soon-to-be great-grandparents.