Monthly Meeting – Artist Demo
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
6:30 – 8:30 PM
Norman P. Murray Center, Jacaranda Room
24932 Veterans Way
Mission Viejo CA 92692
Echo Baker
“Art critic Brian Sherwin, Editor of The Art Edge http://theartedge.faso.com/blog, commented on Echo’s portrait paintings. Sherwin said, “Artist Echo Baker’s fantastic portrait paintings capture the light and life of her subjects. The portrait paintings I observed offer a charming sense of personality. Her work offers an intriguing visual narrative… viewers are left wanting to know more about these individuals.”
When painting portraits, Echo believes that a great portrait not only reflects the physical likeness of the subject but also captures the essence of that person. In her works, Echo aspires to reveal the beauty and the captivating characteristics of the subject. Her paintings are strong in the form and subtle in the use of color. Her works possess a unique balance between the classical realism and the refreshing impressionistic light and color.
Echo has shown an intense interest in drawing, especially in the human face, since childhood. At age ten, she began her self study of art from books and from a college art teacher to whom her parents sent her on weekends. During this time, Echo learned the fundamentals of European classical art and was introduced to some of the Renaissance art masters including Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and others. This experience further sparked her passion for art.
Echo’s dream of becoming an artist, however, took a destined detour. When she started college in China, she majored in English due to the scarcity of support for aspiring artists like herself. Later, she pursued a Master’s degree in English at Chapman University in Orange, California when she came to the United States in 1987. With the desire to become an artist still burning in her heart, she enrolled as an art major after getting her MA in English and received a BA degree in Fine Art from Chapman University in 1992.
Since her graduation, Echo has worked as a graphic designer, a computer animator, an ESL teacher, and she has also gotten married and become a mother of two boys. In 2004, Echo was happy to be able to pick up her paint brush again after life’s changes, to rekindle her childhood passion, and to finally re-embrace her dream of pursuing art. To Echo, art is her calling, an expression of life and a life-long journey. Echo will be a featured artist in the prestigious Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach this coming summer.