Lesley Baker

American, b. 1963

Buttercup
2004

Porcelain
6 x 11.25 x 11.25 in.
Gift of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation
2005.6

Lesley Baker is a ceramic artist and sculptor who explores the resilience and power of nature, considering the possibility that nature is actually manipulating humans, instead of humans having power over nature. Baker’s Buttercup is from one of her New Naturals series—unusual adaptations of the environment, in this case floral objects derived from animal forms. Buttercup is slip-cast porcelain assembled from multiple castings of the mold of a bird. She also uses floral imagery drawn from old wallpaper patterns depicting idealized versions of nature. Her current practice combines screen printing and ceramics.

Lesley Baker earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental design/architecture from Texas A&M University, and an MFA degree in studio ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She taught at UC Berkeley and California College of the Arts (CCA) for ten years, prior to being an associate professor of ceramics at Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, Indiana. Since 2018 Baker has been associate professor and department head of ceramics at RISD, in Providence. She has completed many residencies, including in China at the Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen; in Australia, Denmark, and many in the United States, such as the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Her work has been exhibited internationally.

Billie Sessions, PhD

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This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Ceramic Case 11: Women, White, and Porcelain (Left and Right Sides) , 8/21/2012 - 5/8/2014
• ReImagine|ARTsySTEM: Expanding Ideas of Artistic Response to Environment , 6/9/2015 - 7/23/2015
• Ceramic Niches - Mold Making , 9/15/2018 - 5/4/2019
• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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