SANDRA HIGGINS ART
BRIAN
BAXTER
Scottish by birth, I returned to work in Scotland after a childhood in Yorkshire, before permanently moving to Somerset to work as an artist. My home is open to the public as Arthaus: Great Elm during the Frome Festival.
Whilst I’ve been painting from an extremely young age, I’ve had an extensive academic career teaching philosophy, including aesthetics. My books on environmental philosophy, latterly a focus of interest, have been published in the UK, the United States and China and include an award-winning monograph.
I graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA (Hons) in PPE, a B.Phil and D.Phil in Philosophy, writing my theses on aesthetics. I’ve thus spent much of my adult life considering and practising art.
There are now more than 700 paintings in private and public collections throughout the UK, Europe, Australia and America. They also form part of the Parliamentary Collections.
Whilst working in many media, I’m known as a watercolourist, increasingly encompassing broad abstraction through collage, using prepared papers. My subject matter has most often concentrated on wildlife and the environment. I delight in animal life, capturing the essence of living things, vibrant with energy through expressive handling of the paint.
That approach is recognisable in my abstract collages, though they may convey elements of landscape, people and place. The colours and forms of birds and animals and may inform what may appear completely abstract works.
For Sandra’s web site, I have concentrated on collages, though I’ve also shown ceramics inspired by Japanese and Korean traditions at The Viewing Room exhibition, curated by Sandra Higgins Art.
I’ve exhibited as resident artist, invited artist, by selection, in solo, two-person and group shows throughout the UK.
A few are mentioned here:
The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour
Wells Art Contemporary The Viewing Room, Bath
The Slade Centre, Dorset Black Swan Arts, Frome
Somerset Arts Week Coleg Harlech, Wales
Kirkcaldy Art Gallery (Commendation) Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen
Bruton Art Society (Commendation) Gallery Q, Dundee
Broughton Gallery The Jerdan Gallery, Crail
Pitlochry Festival Theatre The Byre Theatre, St Andrews
Aberfeldy Gallery Strathearn Gallery, Crieff
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Dundee Art Society (President)