CHRISTIE BAKER

As a self-taught artist with a diverse professional background, how have your past experiences in figure skating, advertising, and music management influenced your artistic voice in your artworks?

I have always been a creative person. I believe it is that sense of creativity that connects each phase of my life, and serves as the through-line on the long and winding path that led me to where I am today. As an ice dancer, I was drawn to the artistic side of figure-skating; advertising is innately creative; and my work in music management was highly focussed on the branding and PR side of the industry. My artistic voice comes from me being authentically me, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today if not for all of the things that came before. 

How do you ensure the emotional depth of each piece is conveyed to the viewer?

Creating a sense of emotional depth is a moving target. What connects emotionally for one person will not necessarily connect for another. My litmus test when I am nearing the end of a piece, the question I ask myself that is the only guide I can rely on, is  “Does it speak to me? Do I feel something when I look at it?”. If I can honestly answer, “Yes”, then I am satisfied. 

How has your studio mentorship impacted the works you've created for "PONDER"?

The studio mentorship I completed was a few years ago, before my first art show. I was thrilled to be selected, having no experience in the art world at the time. My mentor was a well-known landscape artist from the west coast who had a beautiful way of capturing small moments with such simplicity, I couldn’t help but be inspired. I have tried to find my own way of doing that, of distilling moments and places and memories into simple gestural marks and brush strokes. When the mentorship began I was new to painting, still very insecure and feeling my way through mediums and techniques. I didn’t even know how oil paints work! I cried a lot during that mentorship, but I also celebrated some major triumphs. That was the beginning for me. It gave me the confidence to press forward and lead to the type of work I create today, including the pieces in PONDER. 

What techniques help you maintain a consistent artistic voice?

Like many artists, I struggle to maintain a consistent artistic voice, while still allowing myself to explore and push beyond the work I am currently creating. When I really need to produce something consistent, I focus on three things: my mark-making, my colour palette and my subject matter. If I can keep at least two of these three things consistent, the work will be cohesive.

What inspired your latest series of pieces?

My landscape work is inspired by memories, and the pieces I am showing in PONDER are no exception. When I start a painting I have no vision in my mind. I don’t typically paint from images. However, as I lay down colours and move paint around, I begin to see shapes, shadow and light. By about half-way through a painting I know that I am painting something from my past, a distant memory of something meaningful, impactful, and important to me. It is like each painting lives somewhere in my subconscious, and then reveals itself to me in its own time. I don’t strive for realistic re-creation, but let the haziness of the past, as seen through the veil of emotions, take centre stage.

Three paintings in Christie’s From a Distance collection featured in ArtAscent Magazine, April 2023, issue #58. View here: ArtAscent 04/2023 Tear Sheets

Kate Taylor interviews Christie Baker for the Riverdale ArtWalk, 2022: WATCH