Teresa Baker: Shift in the Clouds

Teresa Baker constructs abstract, mixed media paintings that evoke the vast landscapes of the Northern Plains where she grew up. Acknowledging that the natural environment registers cultural, historical, spiritual, political and social conditions, she generates a conversation between explicit reference and experimentation. With flat planes of color and linear embellishments, the works map suggestive terrains while remaining open-ended.

Shift in the Clouds refers to the moving patterns of light and shadow that the sun casts on the ground. As Baker has explained, “it is less about looking up and more about looking down or around.” Baker’s landscapes likewise generate a grounded perspective, emphasizing the connection between human beings and the earth.

The choice of materials in Baker’s paintings indicates a wide scope of reference, as well as a variety of image-making strategies. Astroturf, which she often uses as the primary support, solves formal problems of shape, color and adaptability, while referring to an artificial, commercial culture. Natural elements like buckskin, willow, buffalo hide, and parfleche, or dried and stretched hide, harken to the traditions of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, of which she is a member. These deeply inflected materials, which have ceremonial and storytelling functions in Native American culture, become evocative drawing implements in Baker’s hands.

Catalogues from the exhibition with an essay by Scott Manning Stevens can be purchased in the online shop.