Today we’re excited to be connecting with Hilary Baker again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.

Hilary, thanks for joining us again. Just to level set a bit for folks who may have missed our last interview together, can you briefly introduce yourself?
As a visual artist, and primarily a painter, moving my home and studio from Los Angeles to rural Ojai completely changed my approach to landscape. For the past ten years I have been working on a series of paintings of the wildlife that hide among us in our urban, suburban and rural environments. I’m excited that this series of paintings, Predators, has been exhibited in California in Los Angeles, Ventura and at the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature. The Predators are currently on view at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon through April 7th.

Alright, so our main goal today is to give our audience an update on what you have been up to since our last conversation. We’d love to hear how things are going and what you are most looking forward to or excited about these days.
I’ve been steadily working on a series of wood slice portraits of the wildlife and landscape of Ventura, California. I’m quite excited about another project: traveling my baseball series of paintings in gouache (opaque watercolor) that I began in 1986, and have now revisited as an older and wiser artist. The latest baseball paintings are on the wood slices I’ve been working with for the past three years. I hope to travel the exhibition across the country to museums and exhibition spaces in colleges with NCAA programs.

We also want to give folks a chance to get to know you a bit better so we’ve prepared a fun lightning round of questions. Ready?

Favorite Movie: Only one? The Bad Seed

Favorite Book: Ooh – that’s hard. Well, I recently finished – and laughed aloud at – The Long Island Compromise

Favorite TV Show: Anything on the European channel MHZ

Favorite Band or Artist: John Coltrane

Sweet or Savory: Savory

Mountains or Beach: I live up against the Topatopa mountains.

Favorite Sport (to watch): Baseball

Favorite Sport (to play): I used to be a competative runner. Is tap dancing a sport?

Did you play sports growing up (if so which ones): No.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: An artist or a jockey

French Fries or Onion Rings: Fries

Chuck Rhodes or Bobby Axelrod: Who?

Favorite Cartoon growing up: Gerald McBoingBoing

Favorite Childhood movie: Too many to recall

Favorite Breakfast Food: Croissant and a capuccino

What are you most excited about in the coming year?
My second solo exhibition at the High Desert Museum later this year. I’m also quite curious to see the response to my baseball prospectus. It would be enormously rewarding to exhibit the work widely. Baseball has a special place in our psyches, and in these trying times, we could use some comfort.

Website: https://www.hilarybaker.com

Instagram: hilarybakerstudio

Facebook: Hilary Baker

Image Credits
Maia Landau
Dustin Cockerham

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