Helene Baker is an artist who operates a studio out of her Mandarin home.
WHAT MEDIUMS DO YOU USE?
“Oils, pastels, prisma-colored pencils and paint, but I generally do mixed media work. I’ve been doing portraits of my grandchildren lately.” She recently completed the drawings for a five-panel stained glass window at her synagogue.
WHY DID YOU BECOME AN ARTIST?
“I can’t remember not wanting to be one. It’s simply something I’m compelled to do. I’m drawn to express myself through a medium that way. I love the materials. As a child I loved coloring, the richness of color. When I was 11, I was put in the hospital for a year. That drew me into doing the art stuff. The long recovery gave me more time to do my art. That set me on a course that I might have missed otherwise.”
WHAT SUBJECTS DO YOU PORTRAY?
“Most of my recent works have been plants. I love flowers. Even the dying ones are beautiful as they’re struggling to survive. Plant forms encompass the unfolding of life; their life cycle reflects a pattern of birth, growth and death. We reflect that whole cycle. I see that through my children and my grandchildren.”
MESSAGE OF HOPE
“Even in dormant stages, there is the possibility of renewal and growth. Rites of passage take place and hybrids can emerge.”
WHAT OTHER SUBJECTS HAVE YOU TOUCHED ON?
“I started doing pastiche [copying a style but with modifications] of the artist Bronzino’s work at the Metropolitan Museum. I’ve done a number of pieces that involved the Holocaust — it’s something I had to get out of my system.”
WHO COLLECTS YOUR WORK?
“My works are in a lot of the major corporations — Prudential, AT&T— the mayor’s office, a lot of doctor’s offices and homes. At this point, I don’t think the major businesses are purchasing art.” Currently, Baker is not represented by a gallery.
WHAT’S REWARDING ABOUT YOUR WORK?
“I can’t deny the recognition is nice. When somebody cares enough about your work to buy it, it’s very moving.”
HAPPY ACCIDENTS
“It’s not all fun. What can be challenging is taking something horrible [that she’s created] and making it into something more interesting. Happy accidents happen. You work with it and maybe something better will happen.”
HOMETOWN
Boston.
EDUCATION
Baker attended the Museum of Fine Art School in Boston to refine her craft but did not finish her studies. “Nothing can replace good training. We even had to do gold leaf paintings.” She returned to school later, earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of North Florida.
ART ON THE SHELF
“I lived in New York for six, seven years, but I dropped art to have children. We moved to Jacksonville and little was happening in art. It was slow but things began to happen.”
MUSIC FOR YOUR EYES
As part of the Symphony Guild’s fundraiser, Music for Your Eyes, Baker painted one of a dozen violins to be auctioned to benefit music education for children. “There was something about that violin that made me realize the beauty of the human spirit. We [people] can craft instruments to make marvelous sounds. It could be music, a story, the sky — we respond to images and sounds that make us want to create.”
FAMILY
Baker has six grandchildren and three children, Melanie, Meryl and Eric. Her husband Harry passed away in December. “My husband was president of the Jacksonville Art Museum when they were raising funds to get established on the Koger property.”
WHO’S YOUR MAIN INFLUENCE?
“You can’t do any better than Rembrandt. He paints and draws so beautifully.”
WHAT OTHER WORK HAVE YOU DONE?
“I was a wife and mother. I worked in the community but didn’t have a ‘job’ job.”
WHO’S YOUR HERO?
“Gandhi, because he was so amazing. Without violence, he did so much.”
WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN?
Tuning into “The West Wing,” watching a foreign film or catching an opera are treats for her. She is also a member of a book club and savors Italian or Chinese food.
— by Monica Chamness