Embodied by Nature- Heather Baker

Artist Statement:

Furry fountain grass, feathery locust leaves, and luminescent quartz. These are a few of my favorite art materials. I arrange various plants and minerals into mandalas, animals, and skeletons.

Milkweed silks can become ferret fur and they can also be a representation of light filled radiant energy. Always though, the milkweed silks remain their beautiful silky selves. A pleasure to look at and play with in their own right. Part of the fun of my work is you can at first glance see a bird, but closer inspection reveals leaves. I try to keep the integrity of the natural materials I use, as Nature has already made them the most beautiful things. I just like to be playful with them.

The subjects and themes of my work often come from observations, meditations, and feelings during my outdoor adventures. Although some of my work is more focused on the aesthetics of the colors and textures of the seeds, leaves, grasses, and stones that I use, an overarching theme of my art is about bodies, and the energies and emotions that reside there. I like to think about how our spirits animate our bodies and our energies radiate out and mingle with the outside - the other energies and spirits around us. I contemplate what it means to be human, or a living creature, and our relationships to other beings and our place in the world.

Mandalas are multidimensional in meaning to me. I’m drawn to the symbolism of mandalas as representations of completeness and interconnectedness of the universe. My mandalas are often physical depictions of the mindfulness, peace, and beauty I’ve found in particular natural areas, incorporating plants and stones from those places. Lately, my mandalas have become individual beings. Like they are the pure emotion and energy without the bodies.

I believe that everything in the world is connected in a physical and unexplainable (to me) energetic way. We are all made of the same kinds of stuff in various configurations.The atoms and energies of our lives are constantly mixing and influencing, being recycled and renewed, and creating the world we live in. Using natural materials in a variety of physical and spiritual representations is my way of expressing this.