ART ON VIEW
Where to Land: Bonnie Baird
at Northern Daughters in Vergennes
May 3-June 10, 2018
“Where to Land” is a solo exhibit of oil paintings by Bonnie Baird. Baird is known for her authentic, personal paintings of the Vermont landscape. Her work possess a subtle drama, depth and detail that pays homage to her relationship with the land, one that has developed throughout her life as a farmer. Baird says “My work gives the environment a breath, a body through which viewers acknowledge the breadth of emotions evoked by our surroundings.”
Raised on a 730-acre dairy farm in Vermont, she and her husband Robert are the third generation to own and work their dairy/maple farm. This outdoor experience has given her a deep connection with the land. Working in the natural environment every day in every kind of weather allows her to truly feel the horizon; warm or cold, dark or light, intimate or expansive.
Baird’s work brings the viewer directly to that experience, that intimate relationship with the land. Baird’s work is filled with an emerging fullness of heart. In her paintings, light infuses life into atmosphere, becoming the magic that conjures a personal memory. Her work simultaneously evokes a simple lament and heartfelt joy. The pieces featured in this exhibit are the largest the artist has painted to date. Her minimalist approach is spare but warm and creates a perceptual experience – a vivid place. The larger format fits Baird’s work, which often features expansive horizons and the low lying flood plains of her home county.
“My paintings are a reaction to what I see and my palette is my color response to what I am experiencing. Building with layers of color that I add to–and subtract from–I compose large and simple shapes to suggest and reveal an enlivened reality.”
Bonnie Baird was selected one of the Artists to Watch 2018 and is featured in Vermont Art Guide #7. GET A COPY OF THE ISSUE.
Her painting, Line Dance, was part of the exhibition “Artists to Watch, Part I” at the Vermont Arts Council Spotlight Gallery, March 9-April 29, 2018.
(text adapted from the venue’s press materials)
INFORMATION
Northern Daughters
221 Main Street
Vergennes, Vermont 05491
(802) 877-2173
Hours:
Thursday-Sunday, 10AM-5PM
and by appointment
Image
Origins Are Everything
by Bonnie Baird
36″x36″
oil on linen
2018
Courtesy of the artist and Northern Daughters, Vergennes