SANDI BAKER ARTIST

ARCHIVES

My work begins with exploration. I often experiment with subject matter, materials, and visual approaches until something resonates deeply enough to deserve further development. Rather than forcing a fixed style, I allow ideas to evolve naturally, then expand the strongest discoveries into more fully realized series.

This process gives my work both freedom and coherence. While the individual series may differ in material or emphasis, they remain connected by a consistent interest in animals, presence, and the emotional and symbolic language of nature. Each body of work becomes a way of refining an idea, deepening the conversation, and following a thread until it reveals its fullest expression.

Over time, these explorations have created a varied archive of work that reflects both artistic curiosity and disciplined development. For me, experimentation is not a detour from the work — it is the way the work grows.

CARPE DIEM

(2016 -2018) A series of 30 large scale paintings exploring minimalism and abstract forms mixed with realism. Most of this series has been sold.

Carpe Diem reflects immediacy, presence, and creative risk. The title — “seize the day” — speaks to both the urgency and the joy of following instinct and allowing the work to unfold with freedom, momentum, and purpose. In this series, I was drawn to the energy of the present moment and to the idea of responding intuitively rather than over-controlling the process.

The koi became a symbol of serenity moving through chaos. Built on large white grounds with energetic black paint and stark color contrasts, the paintings began with chance, then evolved through observation and response. Random shapes suggested movement, water, and atmosphere, and from that dialogue emerged koi, and later other animals, swimming through abstract fields. The tension between refined realism and spontaneous mark-making became central to the series, creating a visual language that feels both deliberate and free.

For me, Carpe Diem was a major creative risk and a deeply rewarding exploration. I followed my heart without concern for outside perception, learning to co-create with the unexpected and to let the work reveal itself. The series explores aliveness, intuition, and the possibility of finding calm within uncertainty — a reminder that art can be both disciplined and spontaneous, transforming the present moment into something lasting.

CREATURES OF COPPER DREAMS

(2009 - 2015) A selection of the series exporing copper patinals and hammered metal painting. All of these paintings have been sold.

Creatures of Copper Dreams began with a clear inner vision: I could see these works in my mind before I knew how I would make them. I wanted them to evoke ancient copper sheet — rustic, weathered, hammered, and reclaimed — with the luminous contrast of amber copper and swirling verdigris in greens, blues, and turquoise.

Because I could not afford copper sheet in the large sizes I wanted, I worked instead with aluminum, developing a process of distressing, chasing, and hammering the metal to create the aged, mysterious surface I imagined. I then built a faux copper patina with verdigris effects and added realistic animals within the surface, highlighting them with copper leaf for flashes of brilliance. The result was a series of sculptural wall works that stood off the surface on handmade frames and had both physical presence and visual depth.

This was a deeply inventive body of work for me — one I had not seen anywhere else — and I loved the challenge of turning a vivid idea into something entirely original. The series included tigers, koi fish, egrets, lions, and other animals, each one created to feel both ancient and alive. The works were widely popular, selling quickly and generating many commissions, and the series became an important early chapter in the development of my practice.

Toward the end of the series, I explored copper sheet and chemical patina, creating works that carried the same visual richness as the earlier faux-patina pieces, but with true surface color developed through the material itself. One koi work from this phase was collected in Iceland, and that exploration led naturally into my later koi series.

SPIRITCATCHERS

(2005 -2009) A series large scale paintings on leather stretched onto wooden frames. All of these paintings have been sold.

Spirit Catchers was my first major sculptural series, created from fallen pine branches with visible beetle galleries, leather, sinew, stone, feathers, fur, and hand-carved animal elements. Each piece was built as a one-of-a-kind object, often standing around four feet tall, and required carving, stretching, finishing, balancing, and assembling by hand using traditional tools and methods.

The series began with a wolf and grew into an exploration of animals, natural materials, and the relationship between form, spirit, and survival. I was drawn as much to the physical process as to the imagery itself — shaping wood, carving slate and soapstone fetishes, adding turquoise, shell beads, painted stone, feathers, and fur, and discovering how weight and balance could become part of the design. No detail was overlooked. These works reflect a deep respect for the natural world and for the long human tradition of working with organic materials in ways that are both functional and symbolic.

While Spirit Catchers may evoke traditional Native American visual references, it is not Native art. Rather, it is a personal exploration shaped by my own reflections on ancestry, identity, and my connection to the natural world. At their core, these works are a meditation on our dependence on the land, the animals, and the materials that sustain us.

The series was sold to collectors across the United States and internationally, including Germany and Australia.

THE SOURCE

(2007 -2009) A series of paintings on panel exploring cave paintings. All of these paintings have been sold.

The Source is a series of realistic animal paintings on panel, rendered in acrylics and layered with ancient cave imagery of the same animals. Some works draw from the imagery of Chauvet Cave, creating a quiet dialogue between contemporary realism and early human mark-making. Painted in a restrained palette of neutrals, the series explores the enduring connection between animals, symbolism, and our most ancient visual memory.

This series became widely collected and has been sold around the world, with images also reproduced as prints and cards.

DREAMSCAPE

(2006 -2008) A series of paintings on panel exploring predators rendered in a dreamy atmospere. All of these paintings have been sold.

The Dreamscape series began with wolves I photographed and spent time with at a sanctuary, and later expanded to include big cats. Painted in acrylics on panel, these works pair realistic animal portraiture with soft, blended backgrounds in pinks, purples, and other atmospheric tones. The result is a dreamlike world that feels tender, inviting, and gently surreal.

Rather than emphasizing distance or danger, the series presents these animals with warmth and familiarity, allowing their personalities to come forward in a space that feels both magical and alive.