Form/Space Atelier Program For August 2011

Form/Space Atelier Program For August 2011

Exhibit Title: Dancing With Chaos

Exhibit Duration: August 18- September 10, 2011
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Vernissage: August 18, 6PM

"Dancing With Chaos" are Dia De Los Muertos-themed prints by Alisha Baker. Ms. Baker graduated from the University of Washington School of Art, Drawing and Painting Department, in 2009. Ms. Baker was a gallery assistant at Form/Space Atelier during her study at UW. This is the first exhibit of Ms. Baker's work at Form/Space Atelier.
-Paul Kuniholm Pauper, Curator, Form/Space Atelier


The show will feature 7 block prints (4 with hand-painted frames) and 5 paintings. While this is the first time I'll be showing most of the pieces, the series has been in process for the last two years.

This series began in the fall of 2009, when a fellow artist invited me to his house for an art-making day. It was an unusually warm day in October, and dancing skeletons flew from my brush as we got to know each other. That night was our first kiss, and that man has since become my fiancé.

My experience of falling in love has carried with it a great fear. I have grown up with stories of my good grandfather who died too soon. My grandmother never remarried because she had lost “the love of her life.” Facing my own true love, I have had to confront my desire for control over loss.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a festival in Latin countries to honor the deceased, is a beautiful inspiration to me. They practice accepting death as a continuation of life. Each year they observe rituals of remembrance that invite the spirits that have flown to return for a visit.

I see how my relationship with death and loss affects my relationship to life and love. Trying to control only paralyzes life, so there is nothing left to do but let go and invite it to dance.

This show is a collection of vibrant, folk inspired paintings with acrylic on wood as well as linocut (linoleum block prints) on paper. Block-printing was used in Mexico during the Revolution, and is a powerful means to proliferate a narrative graphically. The technique appeals to me in its potential for variety, re-iteration and collaboration with each design. It has provided a means for me to open up my art process to my partner, sharing our ideas and working together to print them.


Alisha Baker was born in Northern California and grew up in Washington, currently residing in North Seattle. She has been showing and selling her work locally for the last nine years. She holds a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration from Seattle Central Community College (2000) and a BFA degree in drawing and painting from the University of Washington, where she graduated Cum Laude in 2009. She has taken additional courses at the Kirkland Arts Center and Gage Academy of Fine Arts. -Alisha Baker