Kim Baker is looking forward to showing her work at her first solo art show at the Ambo Gallery in The Station on Johnston Street. Photo: Chris Roe.
Wagga artist Kim Baker has been busy hanging paintings for her upcoming exhibition launch at Eastern Riverina Arts’ Ambo Gallery on Johnston Street today (31 May).
“It’s my first ever solo art exhibition and I’ve gone with the theme of ‘Life on the Farm’,” Kim explained.
“We’ve been at our farm in Wagga for two years now and it’s a bit of a celebration of all the memories we’ve had and the things that inspire me as an artist.”
Originally from a farm in the Bega Valley, Kim and her young family lived in Newcastle before moving to Wagga seven years ago to get back to a country lifestyle.
“We’re really not city people and we liked that Wagga has everything that you need, but it’s such a beautiful rural community as well,” she explained.
“We had been looking for property for a long time and two years ago, this property came up with the option to buy in with some friends and the deal was that we would live on the farm and manage it.”
Kim’s body of work includes watercolours and acrylics and explores pastoral scenes and the flora and fauna of the region.
“Every day I get to walk outside and just be in nature, which is my number one inspiration,” she said.
“I love to be out there and able to see creation and see the beauty and so my goal is trying to capture that somehow in artistic form.”
Kim Baker’s Life on the Farm will be both an exhibition and a market at the Ambo Gallery. Photo: Supplied.
Kim has become known in the Riverina for her regular school holiday art programs and was able to develop her own practice while recovering from an accident.
“I actually sustained a back injury so it was a good use of my time while I was injured to set myself up and just paint and develop my skills and see what came of it,” she said.
“I also enrolled in an international course for surface pattern design, which is pretty much creating digital art in repeating patterns that you can put on things that we wear or on stationery and things like that.
“I’ve been putting them on my own products like fabrics and bags and things with my patterns on them. And I will take them to local markets or sell them online.”
As well as showcasing her skills with a paintbrush, Kim will be selling some of her unique printed creations.
“All of the artwork is for sale, so I really hope people make a strong connection and want to take home some of the art for themselves. That’s always the goal,” she said.
“Then on the Saturdays, while I’m at The Station, I’ll bring my tea towels and bags and cards and some of the things that I have done so that people who may not be able to afford a piece of art can still get something original.”
Life on the Farm opens on Friday afternoon from 5:30 pm and Kim will be in the Ambo Gallery for the next three Saturdays (1, 8 and 15 June) between 10 am and 2 pm.
“It’s a little bit nerve-wracking preparing for a solo show, but after going into the gallery, setting it up and seeing it all on the walls it was pretty special!”
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