DAWN WATERS BAKER
ARTIST BIO
Dawn was born and raised an expatriate on the islands of the Philippines. She grew up under the shadow of an active volcano and learned to look for the beauty in lives much harder than her own. In 1994 she moved to Dallas for college where she received her BA in Fine Arts from DBU, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1998. In her free time, she likes to hike, travel to beautiful landscapes, and teaches art in Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center once a week for incarcerated youth.
Her art is collected by many businesses as well as private owners. Her piece, “Release” is on permanent display in the New York Times Building. She finished five original drawings for the book, “Why, O God?” published by Crossway books. She is a Signature member of Artists of Texas. Dawn is affiliated with Mary Tomas Gallery in Dallas Design District, Waterfall Mansion in New York, NY, and Joseph Gierek Fine Art in Tulsa, OK. She was also selected as the 2015 Artist in Residence for Big Bend National Park. She had a solo exhibit in 2016 based on her time and inspiration at the Park. She was also selected as Artist in Residence at Gettysburg National Military Park in 2018 with a solo show of her work in March of 2019. Her work has been in national shows including The National Weather Biennale, Jubilee Museum of Sacred Art Biennale, CIVA Contemporary Images of Mary and Ex Nihilo at Roberts Wesleyan College. She recently had an exhibition of her works at The Nave Museum in September of 2018.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Dawn Waters Baker, an American artist from Texas, strives to capture emotional landscapes and feelings through her work. She uses nature as a window into the spiritual and seeks to understand tangible metaphors that can be found in elements of nature. Believing that human beings connect to the landscape through their senses, she is more interested in what is felt than what is literal. Baker finds herself entering into something deeper, richer, and fuller through the images presented by nature.
“As an artist, I know all that I come into the studio with is me: all the things that make me - the broken person that I am. Yet it has been in the moments of grace over that brokenness that I have felt most known and loved. Philip Yancey once wrote, “Yes, grace falls to the lowest place, and sometimes in doing so it inspires a few to rise to a much higher place.” That is one of the lessons of Babette’s Feast. Grace compels us, frees us, and helps us see with true eyes. May these artworks give us those glimpses.”
“The metaphors of life held in branches, cloud wisps, and water.”
-Dawn Waters Baker