ARTIST'S STUDIO - JILL BAKER

MY PHILOSOPHY:

I am Jill Baker, an artist who has an MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and who has taught Art for 17 years on the college level. My first teaching assignment was to teach drawing at Pratt Institute in 1980, as an young Intern. I have funny stories about those days, in case you would like to hear them sometime.

I would like to tell you about my philosophy of teaching.

My philosophy in teaching art to people who are already artists is to treat you as I would like to be treated. As the teacher, I have, perhaps, years more experience and education that inform me, but, like those I teach, I have personal goals and desires that direct my art-making. The benefit of taking classes from someone else, learning from an experienced teacher, is that the teacher sees the art that I am creating, and  from an objective viewpoint sees the strengths and weaknesses in my creations. The teacher's job is to help you find and emphasize your strengths, wherever they may lie, and help you work on weaknesses you may have, beginning from the point you have reached to date. The teacher also informs the students of areas of art that may not have been introduced before, such as color, value and perspective.

I have always desired to help others learn more and better ways to paint, from the drawing to the finished painting. That desire has made me a teacher. I understand the frustration and the difficulty of trying to perfect one’s art. As a teacher, I learn from my students and from many other sources every day, as making art is not a process that ends, and one that is never perfect.

When artists come to my studio, I provide a one-on-one experience, with a feeling of a relaxed, but working environment and safety rules as needed. Drinks and snacks may be brought to class as desired; there is a kitchen with coffee. There is space for storage of some paintings. There are stools and easels for each artist, a freezer to store paint boxes in, and paint stands, each with a glass palette to utilize while painting. Each brings their paints, canvas, brushes and an idea of what they want to paint. Artists should also bring a pencil and sketch pad.

Jill Baker lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with Lee Pennington and Salvador Doggie, where her life is full of writing, painting and sharing adventures and travels with Lee.

Baker earned her M.F.A. from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1981, having gone to Baylor University in Waco, TX for her B.A. in English and Fine Art. She also did graduate work at Florida State University, Columbia, the Academia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy and at Cal State, L.A.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Jill Baker's paintings are of peaceful landscapes or fantastical imaginary places or things, created in her own style. She travels to New York, France, Italy or Southeast Asia or the Islands, to paint and exhibit her work. She has exhibited her collages and oil paintings throughout the world in major venues in Paris (Palais des Congres), Florence (Palazzo Strozzi), Seoul, South Korea (U.S. Embassy), New York (Goethe Haus, among others) and elsewhere.

She also writes and has always used her writing to support her art financially during sparse times. She has published a novel, My Turn, and a short travel book entitled Elba Journal. She has written feature articles for newspapers and popular magazines, including articles on art, religion, the Olympics, homemaking topics and the military, among other topics. Her book of poetry is called  Poems of Accord . Sat

As an artist, Jill Baker has taught art on the university level for 17 years, and was on the staff of the Art Department at the University of Southern Indiana. She had done numerous illustrations for publishing houses and major magazines and has worked as an artist in Production for newspapers and for Institutional Investor magazine on Madison Avenue, in New York. She has illustrated several books, including a dozen by Lee Pennington. One of the latest book illustrated is Daughters of Leda (click on nalink to go to Amazon page describing it)  by Lee Pennington .