Healing Through Art

Alexandra Baker’s art exhibit, “Healing Through Color,” opens August 18th at New Day Healing and Wellness. Which is appropriate …

“The pieces in this show are more focused on calming and relaxation,” says Baker, 32. “They have a ‘Relaxation Room,’ so the painting in there is ‘When Doves Cry.’ Very subdued colors.” She adds, “The other pieces in the show are all based around healing. All my work is based around healing.”

Since Baker and New Day have the same goal of healing, the owners thought her abstract paintings “would be great in the therapy rooms.”

Describing “Earth Shake,”  as a “fun, funky” painting to honor Earth, Baker says, “Since Memphis is on the fault-line for an earthquake, I believe if you honor the weather, maybe it won’t come. So, that’s my intention in that piece.”

The show features eight works, including prints as well as originals. “Some of them I painted when I was sad. When I paint when I’m sad, it’s a very soothing result. What I need to see in that moment,” Baker says.

Born in Boston, Baker moved to Memphis with her family when she was four. “As a child, I loved art class. I was blessed to study with a woman named Kay Spruill. She was so wonderful. And she taught me so much about art and the magic of creation.”

Baker painted a lot of still lifes and animals in Spruill’s class. “I did a portrait of a dog once. I’ve always loved animals. It was a just a picture of a dog out of a magazine. It was a small dog with brown spots and brown ears. And it actually won a contest at my school.  They put it on some stationery for my school, St. Mary’s Episcopal School for Girls.”

But Baker says she never explored “what’s in your soul” in Spruill’s class, as she does now.

Baker says she always dreamed of being an artist, but her parents steered her away from that dream. They thought she’d be better off being a doctor or a lawyer, “to be more lucrative or be more successful, or what have you.” Her parents are supportive of her now, but, Baker says it was “a journey.”

After high school, Baker attended the University of Vermont. “I double majored in English and studio art for a while,” she says, “and then I ended up dropping the studio art at the behest of my parents. (They) preferred that I just study English and psychology at that point in time. I don’t know. I think they were just looking out for my best interests. And maybe believing art might not be able to sustain me.”

Ironically, Baker says her parents helped further her love of art when she was growing up. “They were always taking me to art galleries.”

They also took her to art museums when they traveled. “They were always teaching me about the greats. Rembrandt and Monet,” she says. “We even went to Versailles and saw the gardens. So, my parents valued art highly. I think they were just surprised to find their daughter was an artist.” 

Baker never took a painting class in college. “I took some of the foundation classes, like two-dimensional work and just some basic creating classes. The last class I was going to take was painting. Then I chose to drop the major and didn’t get to take that painting class.”

Baker became a paralegal after graduating with a degree in English literature. “My parents are attorneys, so I grew up in the law firm, learning how it works.”

Her mother and father are “wonderful, wonderful parents,” and, at the time, Baker thought it was best to go along with what they wanted her to do. “I wanted to please them and I knew art wasn’t the way to do that. So, I tried to take other avenues. But God really had plans for me. I started feeling a pressure on me to paint. Like I’d better paint or else.

“Just that feeling, that inner knowledge, of knowing that I needed to paint. I need to paint to process trauma. To heal my grief. I lost some friends along the way in life. And family members. But losing friends hurt more because they’re so young. And I felt life was kind of softened by them. I had a lot of grief I needed to process. And God gave me painting in order to help me heal myself and, hopefully, heal the world by sharing through my art. I really did try to suppress my need to create, but it didn’t last for long.”

Baker began painting five years ago. “It was kind of a culmination of the universe speaking to me. I had a knowing I had to paint, but I didn’t know what that meant. I had never painted what was in my heart. Never painted my emotions. Never painted my soul before.”

Then, she says, “The universe lined up. An art store near my home had a big sale on canvases.” Baker thought, “Okay, this must be the time.”

She bought canvases and paint and went to work. “My first painting was just variations of white and yellow. It was a big 48-by-48 (inch) painting. I was so proud of it. Just the fact that I had painted was maybe the bravest thing I had ever done. I felt in my heart I had taken a step toward my destiny.

“I loved it. Other people weren’t too impressed, but I was just proud I had put paint to canvas.”

Baker kept painting, and painting helped with whatever she was going through at the time. It was “the medicine I needed at that moment. Abstract art gave me a language of color and texture to really express my soul in a way that landscapes just didn’t.”

She didn’t show her work to her parents until about a year after she began painting. Her father, in particular, was “moved by the work to the point where he became incredibly supportive of me painting. My parents could tell painting was healing me. They knew it was the right thing whether I ever sold a painting or not. This was something that was healing their child and they were supportive of that.”

Baker exhibited her work in group shows after she moved to San Diego, nine years ago. “I have many paintings that are dedicated to the water — the spirit of the water, the ocean. I have a painting called ‘MAMA’ that is dedicated to the great mother, the ocean.”

She was asked to exhibit “MAMA” in British Vogue. “I spoke with them on the phone to see if their values were in line with mine. I agreed to go ahead with it. I’m gay. I’m not as familiar with high fashion values. I wanted to make sure they’re trans friendly. Gay friendly. Pro Black. Things like that. I wanted to make sure our values lined up before I agreed to be published in their magazine.”

Since then, Baker’s art has appeared in two more issues of British Vogue and three issues of Vanity Fair London.

Baker moved back to Memphis seven years later. “Several people reached out to me though social media: ‘We saw your work. We love it.’ And wanted to learn more about me and as an artist.”

She held her first solo show at Stock & Belle. She also showed at The Gallery on Main, which still has some of her art on view. She’s also exhibited in New York, San Diego, and Dallas.

In June, she held a show at the Medicine Factory in Memphis. “I put it all together myself. I rented the venue. I picked the food. I picked the wines. I picked the mock-tail. I dedicated the drink to one of my friends who passed away. I picked the pieces myself. It was all me. And the energy there was so wonderful. Everyone was so loving. So receptive to the work.”

As for managing her art career, Baker says, “I’ve been doing it all by myself. My mom is very supportive. And she gives me business advice often. She studied business in school. But it’s all me. I don’t have an agent.”

Baker also teaches yoga, but, she says, “Currently, my art career is sustaining me. In between times, shows and stuff, I’ll still pick up a bit of legal work from my parents to help them out.”

She continues to paint abstract works, but, she adds, “My process has changed a bit. I like incorporating fabric in my work sometimes now. That’s a new development. My work can be a little looser now. I feel a little bit more free of self-judgments now that I’ve been painting for quite a while. It’s a wonderful feeling. It gives me freedom to express what’s in my heart.”

Painting is a panacea for Baker. “It heals my heart. It heals my life. And my hope is to make my own personal dent in helping to heal the world. I know the world really needs it.”

Baker also is utilizing that English literature degree. “I started my book. It’s based on my life experiences, but I’m going to publish it as fiction because it’s a bit whimsical.”

“Healing Through Color” is on view through October 12th at New Day Healing and Wellness, 5040 Sanderlin Avenue, Suite 111.