Jill R Baker

We Live As Artists and Performers in the Backyard. What may seem like ordinary play now feels like survival. Make a structure that you can sit in. This is a protection. Climb through something without touching the ground. The tree branches are the stairs. Make a landscape for an ant. It doesn't have to be much. Choose a place to dig a hole. It is better if it is hidden and can also be a trap. You may even find treasure or artifacts in the hole. What is here, what has been here, is new in new times. Small apples are falling from the apple tree. Smash them with rocks and then smash smaller rocks with the rocks. This is how we make paste out of rocks. There is also mud to make. There are so many ways and kinds, like making a track out of objects by lining them up end to end in the grass that is still green.


 

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A gatherer, gleaner, collaborator, educator and parent, Jill R Baker is a visual artist based in Corvallis, Oregon whose work employs painting, performance, and video to document improvised interactions with the natural world. She holds an MFA in Intermedia from the University of Iowa. Her work has been exhibited in galleries, project spaces, and screenings throughout the US. She is an artist member of Eugene Contemporary Art, and a co-curator of Architecture of Dreams. Jill’s participation in Architecture of Dreams is funded by a Career Opportunity Grant through the Oregon Arts Commission.