Baker Artist Portfolios

    As a young student at the Maryland Institute, I pushed myself to draw as accurately as possible. I wanted to use line and shadow to depict what I saw as realistically as I was able. I arrived at the realization that this path would lead to photo realism. It was at this point that I chose a different path and began to draw with my eyes closed. I wanted to capture what I saw in my mind's eye.  
   The controlled line that I was comfortable with gave way to an explosion of scribble and mark making that soon revealed the world of the subconscious. In the scribbled marks I could find recognizable shapes and forms woven into the threads of a visual reality with hints of something from another reality beginning to peek through.
    I soon began to experiment with the color field technique and found that could provide a foundation upon which to place the scribble drawings. I also had a fascination with found objects and an inkling that sculpture had a place in my process. Although I identified myself as a painter, I felt that I could use a string to substitute for a line and a piece of fabric could become the color field. I had a need to find inspiration somewhere beyond what I could see, to go deeper exploring the world just beyond my peripheral vision.
     Over time I became intrigued by the patterns found in daily life, my work reflected the similarity of Persian rugs and weavings. This brought me to recognize concepts like simultaneity and synchronicity and how they are related to the subconscious.  These ideas were part of our lives and I wanted to illustrate these fleeting abstract moments.   
    My work now centers around ideas about time, space, spirituality and the unknown. These are the ideas and concepts that act as the departure points to the constructions I have been making for the last several years. These ideas inspire my current exploration of how our lives are interwoven, like a cosmic invisible tapestry illustrating captured unseen moments and interactions or conjunctions. Each new construction becomes the next piece of this puzzle I am creating to better understand the world I am experiencing.