Susan Baker Artist Statement

As an elementary student I was always reluctant to leave the arts and crafts sessions to go back to my desk - something about that hands on approach for me was more comfortable. Although I have used the visual aspect to learn and solve problems through the years, it's always more rewarding for me to be working on something material using my creative nature.

As a child our family had horses and although I learned to train and ride them, I was much more interested in drawing them. I entered some of these drawings in local school art shows. In my senior year of high school I had achieved enough credits to allow me to take two art classes - art history and painting and drawing. I remember carving linoleum blocks and making prints, and painting portraits and landscapes with oils. My teachers let me go outside and draw from my surroundings.

In college I again took drawing and painting classes, but I also tried a ceramics class. I don't remember any drawings or paintings, but I do remember being hooked on trying to center that piece of clay on the potter's wheel. Here was that hands on approach that was always so comfortable. I continued to take pottery classes for ten more years to improve my skills and achieve the ability to make pottery that was functional and that carried my personal design touch.