Deborah Baker
Artist Statement
For the past several years, I have been working on a body of hand embroidery dealing with word play, word association, double (triple) entendre, puns, encoded messages and symbols. I think of them as visual poems; as modern samplers. They involve pattern, decoration, embellishment, calligraphy, silhouette and x-ray, symmetry and balance. I create narrative images about very personal topics of love, romance and relationships and emotional states. I pre-mark or draw very little working directly with the fabric using the simplest materials: needle and thread. Always beginning with a word or title and creating from there. My work was exclusively black on linen until 2020 when I started experimenting with color.
Artist Bio
My grandfather was a tailor and taught me to hand sew before I could write my name. Originally from Detroit, I attended Cranbrook School, the University of Michigan, and The Center for Creative Studies receiving a BFA in textiles and ceramics and a MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating, I promptly wed, created a family and withdrew from Art Making for 25 years! During that time I worked as a ballet teacher for 20 years and a musical theater choreographer for a not-for-profit Special Gifts Theater. Finally, after becoming an empty nester I returned to textiles. Without a studio, I was able to embroider anywhere and carry my work with me. Only recently, after moving to Seattle, I have rediscovered my interest in ceramics as well.