Lou Baker makes public things that are normally private. She is both a maker and a facilitator. Her work provokes a range of conflicting responses; attraction, repulsion, horror and hilarity. Some aspects of her practice investigate the transformation of materials and, increasingly, some focus on social engagement. Making intellectual connections between material, process and concept, her work has a confessional element, as personal memories resonate with universal themes. Stimulating conversations with her audience through performative actions, she facilitates opportunities for the viewer to become an active participant, to find a voice. Her works are provocations – often interactive, collaborative and participatory.
For details of her most recent research and works during her MA Fine Art, 2019-21, visit her MA Fine Art research website.
Much of her work doesn’t fit easily into just one category, but for this website it’s divided into 6 sections:
Knitting
Heart of darkness, 2015 - present, diptych, hand knitted wool, knitting needles
installed here with a meat hook and chain
at Synecdoche's residency, Bodies, September 2016
Stitch
Nobody 1, 2014, leather, imitation leather, used clothing, velvet, hair, zips; print, stitch.
It was as a result of this soft sculpture that Baker was awarded
The Embroiderers' Guild Scholarship for 2015-16
Social engagement
Don't wash your dirty laundry in public, 2016, used clothing, washing lines, pegs,
at Synecdoche's Bodies residency at The Unit,
an empty shop in the centre of Bristol, September 2016
Installation and site responsive works
Multitude, 11 of Baker's soft sculptures, installed at PRILIC, Jacobs Wells Baths, Bristol, December 2017
Performance
September 2021
Other 3, Wearing the unwearable, 2015
Enamel
Internal landscape II, 2014, copper, enamel, rivets
For images and more details about each part of her practice, please click on the appropriate link. For regular updates please follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Enjoy!
January 2018