Lou Baker
Bristol, UK
Email:
Website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Awards
- 2024-25 New Platform Art Professional Development Programme
- 2023-24Dreamtime Fellowship, bursary, mentoring and a year’s residency, at Spike Island, Bristol, sponsored by Luke Jerram
- 2023 Arts Council Project funding for Social Scaffolding exhibition tour with Alyson Minkley and Juliet Duckworth
- 2023 Arts Council Project funding for A Visible THREAD exhibition tour with seam collective
- New Contemporaries 2022
- Emerge Graduate residency scheme at Bath Spa University, 2022-23
- The Holburne Open, 2022, a month's research residency with seam collective
- The Harbutt Fund, Bath Spa University, with The Art Cohort for Social Knitwork, 2021
- Real Space residency at Michael Pennie Gallery, Bath Spa University, with Tim Heath and Sarah Kniveton 1 Mar -1 Apr
- Embroiderers’ Guild Scholarship (over 30), 2015-2016
Membership of Societies, Guilds and Collectives
- Royal Society of Sculptors
- seam Collective
- Social Scaffolding
- Collective member at Emerge, Bath Spa University's graduate residency scheme
- The Embroiderers’ Guild
- The Textile Society
- Society for Embroidered Work (S.E.W.)
- Synecdoche (2014-2019)
Art Education and Qualifications
2019 - 2021 Bath Spa University
- MA Fine Art (part time) - Distinction
2011 - 2015 University of the West of England, Bristol
- Drawing and Applied Arts BA - First Class Honours
2009 - 2011 Bristol School of Art, Filton College, Bristol
- ABC Foundation Diploma in Art, Design and Media (Level 4) - Distinction
Exhibitions, events and residencies
Exhibitions, residencies and events below with an asterisk have some participatory elements
Current and forthcoming exhibitions, residencies and events
Warped and Wasted
A collaborative project researching sustainability in textile art with seam collective
March - August 2025
Culminating in an exhibition at ACEArts, Somerton, 23 Aug – 10 Oct
Select past exhibitions, residencies and events
| Date | Exhibition, residency or event |
|---|---|
| 2025 | makeshift, a collaboration with Helen Acklam in Studio G6 at BV Studios, Bristol for Open Studios 4-6 April |
| *2025 | Merge residency with 12 other Bath Spa University graduates at Black Swan Arts, Frome, curated by Lucy Gundry, 7 Jan – 23 Feb. |
| 2024 | Vessel: an art trail in remote rural churches, featuring Life/Blood at Dore Abbey, with Art & Christianity and Friends of Friendless Churches, curated by Jacquiline Creswell, 21 Aug -31 Oct. |
| *2024 | Baker & Bliss, Glowing and Growing, a commissioned immersive and interactive glow-in-the-dark installation for ENLIGHTEN, Accrington; a collaboration with Oly Bliss, 23 – 26 Oct |
| *2023-24 | Dreamtime Fellowship, sponsored by Luke Jerram, at Spike Island, Bristol, till Sept 2024 |
| 2024 | seam collective, A Visible THREAD, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, 20 July to 31 August |
| 2024 | Instructions Not Included, Kit Form Gallery, Bristol, a participatory project about women and ageing facilitated by Amanda Hall, 24-26 May |
| *2024 | Spike Island Open Studios, Studio 26, featuring Shapeshifters, 3-5 May |
| *2024 | seam collective, A Visible THREAD, Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran - 2024, 17 Feb-4 May |
| *2024 | Baker & Bliss, Glowing and Growing, a collaboration with Oly Bliss, an immersive, interactive and site-responsive installation for Light Night, Worcester, commissioned by Severn Arts, 9-15 Feb |
| *2023 | Emerge End of Year Showcase, Bath Spa University, Sion Hill Campus, 18 -30 Oct. |
| *2023 | Social Scaffolding, Swindon, 10 - 26 Nov |
| 2023 | seam collective x The Loom Shed, Meet the Makers, online, with Lou Baker, Joy Merron and Nina Gronw Lewis, 30 Oct, 7-8pm BST |
| *2023 | seam collective, A Visible THREAD, Black Swan Arts, Frome, 16 Sept - 29 Oct |
| *2023 | Social Scaffolding, Trowbridge, 2-3 Silver Street, BA14 8AE |
| 2023 | Wells Art Contemporary, Life/Blood, installation of red knitting, 5 Aug -2 Sept. |
| *2023 | Social Scaffolding, Bristol 15 - 30 July |
| *2023 | Social Scaffolding, Gloucester, 17 June - 2 July 2023 |
| *2023 | Emerge Summer Showcase, Newark Works, Bath, 14 - 21 June |
| *2023 | A Visible THREAD with seam collective, Fine Foundation, Swanage, 16 May – 7 June |
| *2023 | Social Scaffolding, Weston Super Mare, 20 May – 4 June 2023 |
| *2023 | Social Scaffolding, Create@#8, 8 Town Street, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 5BG, 21 April - 6 May |
| 2022 - 2023 | New Contemporaries 2022, South London Gallery, London, 9 Dec 2022 - 12 Mar 2023 |
| *2022 | A Visible THREAD, with seam Collective, at ACEarts, Somerton, 26 Nov - 24 Dec |
| *2022 | permission to play, a participatory collaboration with Oliver Bliss, as Baker and Bliss, at Strode College, Somerset, 14 Nov. |
| *2022 | EMERGE 9-month Graduate residency at Bath Spa University, from Nov 22 |
| *2022 | Social Scaffolding, EMERGE, Bath Spa University, Sion Hill campus, 13 - 23 Oct |
| 2022 | New Contemporaries 2022, Humber Street Gallery and Ferens Gallery, Hull, 23 Sept- 27 Nov |
| *2022 | Social Scaffolding, with Somerset Art Weeks, Venue 99: Unit 2, Orchard Shopping Centre, Taunton, TA1 3TP, 24 Sept - 9 Oct |
| 2022 | Black Swan Open, Frome, 17 July - 11 Sept. |
| *2022 | permission to play, a participatory collaboration with Oliver Bliss, as Baker and Bliss, at Museum at Night: Grayson’s Art Club, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, 26 May |
| *2022 | A Visible THREAD, seam Collective research residency, The Holburne Open, University of Bath, with The Holburne Museum, Bath, 25 Mar – 23 Apr |
| *2022 | permission to play, a participatory collaboration with Oliver Bliss, part of The Holburne Open, University of Bath, 25 Mar – 23 Apr |
| 2021 | MA Degree Show, Locksbrook Campus, Bath Spa University, 25 – 30 Sept |
| 2021 | Regeneration, Stone Lane Sculpture Gardens, Devon, 1 Jun – 31 Oct |
| 2021 | UNLOCKED at 44AD, Bath, 6 - 11 July |
| 2021 | Mixing it up residency at The Garage, Bristol 1 -19 June |
| *2021 | Social Knitwork, The Art Cohort, with Kat Dawe Schmeisser, 1 May - 7 Jun |
| 2021 | Real Space, a month-long residency at Michael Pennie Gallery, Bath Spa University, with Tim Heath and Sarah Kniveton 1 Mar -1 Apr |
| 2020 | MA Interim Degree Show, Bath Spa University, Locksbrook, 18 - 22 Sept |
| *2020 | Wishing trees, 4 public spaces, Bristol 24 Mar – 1 Nov |
| 2020 | Incendiary at Pound Arts, Corsham, July - Aug |
| 2019 | International Contemporary Stitched Art exhibition with The Society for Embroidered Work, Clerkenwell Gallery, London, 12 - 17 Nov |
| *2019 | B-Wing, Shepton Mallet Prison, Somerset, part of Somerset Art Works, 21 Sept – 6 Oct |
| 2019 | RWA Sculpture Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 16 Mar – 2 Jun |
| *2019 | Incendiary at Stroud Valleys Artspace, Stroud, curated by Patricia Brien, 6 - 10 Feb. |
| *2018 | disquiet at Walcot Chapel, Bath with Clare Thatcher,18 - 23 Sept |
| *2018 | Living Sculptures, at Make Space, alongside the Woman's Hour Craft Prize, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery,18 July |
| *2018 | Subversive surfaces; taboo and fragility at Trowbridge Town Hall Arts, with Gina Baum, curated by Katie Ackrill, Jun 9 - Jul 14 |
| 2017 | PRILIC with Impermanence Dance Theatre at Jacobs Wells Baths, Bristol, Dec 8 - 16 |
| *2017 | Synecdoche, [dis]place residency, The Vestibules, College Green, Bristol, Sept 4 to Oct 2 |
| *2017 | Refuge: in search of safety, Fringe Arts Bath, May 26 to June 11 |
| 2016 | The Memory of Space - Space of memory, Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, Nov 24 - 30, curated by Jan-Phillip Fruehsorge, director of Fruehsorge Contemporary Drawing Gallery and The Drawing Hub, Berlin. |
| 2016 | Unravelling: an exhibition of knitting and crochet art, Bow Arts' Ice House Studios, London, Oct 6 -16 |
| *2016 | Bodies: a group residency by Synecdoche, The Unit, Bristol, Sep 1-29 |
| 2016 | Privy at The Edwardian Cloakroom, Bristol, Jun 22 - 29 |
| 2016 | The Cartesian Cut?, Fringe Arts Bath, 27 May - 12 Jun |
| 2015 | The Embroiderers' Guild Graduate Showcase, Knitting and Stitching Show, Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate, November & Alexandra Palace, London, October |
| 2015 | The Degree Show, University of the West of England, Bower Ashton campus, Bristol, Jun |
| 2014 | Synecdoche at The Christmas Steps, Christmas Steps Gallery, Bristol, 2 - 24 Dec |
| 2014 | Synecdoche, Embassy Tea Gallery, London, Jul |