Many of my paintings and monoprints are about the life, death and rebirth of a city neighborhood as I experienced it during four decades as an artist living and working in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia. Throughout this period I painted the fires and the wrecking balls, the dumpers and the downtrodden residents, and then the construction, buildings and new streetscape that eventually emerged. The images constitute a visual diary of drawn out, convulsive change – a neighborhood going to nowhere and back.
At first, in the 1970s, I saw the decline of Northern Liberties as an opportunity: emptying factories, workshops and rowhouses provided cheap living and work space. Other artists saw the same chance and we began moving in. In the 1980s and 90s, fires and demolition eliminated those now abandoned factories, and crack houses proliferated. By the 21st century, the cleared landscape invited new buildings and new residents. Now, most of the artists are gone, replaced by people buying up the new townhouses sprouting everywhere. Throughout this period, as the old buildings and memories disappeared, churches remained stalwarts of the streetscape, serving as visual anchors, even as their parishioners died or moved away. Their presence reminds me of past residents who once came from all over the world to call Northern Liberties home.
My Northern Liberties paintings and monoprints, from the abandoned buildings and fires of the 80s and 90s to the current period of unrestrained development – when the creation of profit has usurped the creation of hats and gloves, and finally, art – are my observations and impressions of what has happened along the way.
Artist Biography
Jennifer Baker is a painter and sculptor working in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia since 1978. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) as well as the Art Students League in New York. Baker has exhibited at Art 101 and Pleiades Galleries in New York and Projects Gallery, Nexus Gallery, F.A.N. Gallery, the Crane Arts Building and The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. She was selected for a Challenge Exhibit at Fleisher Art Memorial in 1997. Baker received a Leeway Foundation Window of Opportunity Grant in 2018, a Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant in 2010, a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship for Works on Paper in 1993, and was a finalist for a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 1997. In 2014, Baker curated an exhibit about the history of Northern Liberties “From World’s Workshop to Hipster Mecca and the People in Between” for the Philadelphia History Museum. She is the visual art consultant for “Supper, People on the Move” a multimedia performance piece by Silvana Cardell funded by the Pew Foundation for Arts & Heritage. Baker created “Portraits of People on the Move” a companion exhibit of stories and photographs of Philadelphia-area immigrants. After opening in Philadelphia, “Supper” and “Portraits” have toured throughout the country as well as in the Dominican Republic. In 2019, Baker had her first solo museum exhibition at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Loretto, PA “Third Street: Paintings and Monoprints by Jennifer Baker.”
Education
1979 Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA BFA
1978 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Four Year Certification
1975 Art Students League, New York, NY Studied drawing with Marshall Glasier, Summer session
1973 - 1974 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
1973 Carnegie-Mellon University School of Fine Arts, Pittsburgh, PA Summer Session
Awards & Honors
2018 Window of Opportunity Grant, Leeway Foundation
2010 Art and Change Grant, Leeway Foundation
1997 Finalist, Works on Paper, Pew Fellowship in the Arts
1994 Finalist, Works on Paper, Mid Atlantic/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship
Pilyna Sitarchuk Memorial Award Cheltenham Center for the Arts Annual, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA Juror: Charlotta Kotik
1992 Visual Arts Fellowship for works on paper, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Finalist, Works on Paper, Mid Atlantic/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship
1989 Barbara Specker Gorson Award Cheltenham Center for the Arts Annual, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA Juror: Lisa Phillips
1988 First Prize, Prints, City of Camden Annual, Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
1986 Best in Show, City of Camden Annual, Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
1983 Charles Knox Smith Founders Prize, Woodmere Annual, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1980 Fred and Naomi Gibson Hazel Prize, Woodmere Annual, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Best of Show, Katonah Gallery, Katonah, NY Juror: Jack Beal
Bibliography
Partial list 2019 "Third Street: Paintings and Monoprints by Jennifer Baker," Exhibition catalog, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art With essays by V. Scott Diamond, Vanessa Houser, and Stephan Salisbury
2014 Heidenry, Rachel, “Review: Gentification Tales,” The Architect’s Newspaper, May 9, 2014
Gates, Kellie Patrick, “From Industry to Abandonment, Artist's Mecca to Hipster Haven, New Exhibit Tells Tale of Northern Liberties,” PlanPhilly.com, February 24, 2014
Jamison, Mikala, “Painting the Town: Artists' views on Northern Liberties' Changes,” Philadelphia City Paper, February 20, 2014 citypaper.net
Pulcini, Max, “Northern Liberties: From World’s Workshop to Hipster Mecca and the People in Between,” Spirit Newspapers, February 19, 2014
Crimmins, Peter, “Northern Liberties' Pre-Piazza Roots on Display at Philadelphia History Museum” Newsworks.org, February 19, 2014
Finn, Chelsea, “Northern Liberties’ Transformation Through the Ages,” The Temple News, February 17, 2014
Blumgart, Jake, “Jawnts: The Evolution of N. Liberties,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 16, 2014
Zweifler, Seth, “Museum Exhibit Looks at Northern Liberties' Transformation,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 16, 2014
“Atwater Kent To Take A Look At History Of No Libs, From Industrial Neighborhood To Where You Go For A Craft Beer” Philebrity.com, February 10, 2014
Wilson, Jillian, “The Philadelphia History Museum Presents Northern Liberties: From World’s Workshop To Hipster Mecca And The People In Between, Opening On February 20,” uwishunu.com, January 31, 2014
2013 Fisher, Christine, “From World's Workshop to Hipster Mecca: Northern Liberties Artist Curates Community History Exhibit,” PlanPhilly.com, November 18, 2013
Jamison, Mikala, “What’s Your NoLibs Story?” Northeast Times, November 5, 2013 bsmphilly.com
Miller, Nancy Bea, “Jennifer,” Women in the Act of Painting Blog, January 11, 2013
2012 Jackson, Merilyn, “Grace and improvisation at Falls Bridge Dance Festival,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 17, 2012
2011 Donohoe, Victoria, “Northern Liberties, down and up,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 10, 2011
Foran, Clare, “Northern Liberties: A Transformation,” Philadelphia City Paper, June 14, 2011
Nicole Finkbiner, “NoLibs in a Nutshell: Artists Tackle a Neighborhood’s Transformation,” Philadelphia Weekly, June 8, 2011
2007 “Tree of Liberty Mosaic Takes Shape,” Delaware County Daily Times, May 29, 2007
1998 New American Paintings, Number 15, April 1998, The Open Studios Press
1997 Sozanski, Edward J., “Fleisher Art Memorial,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 28, 1997
1996 Sozanski, Edward J., “F.A.N. Gallery,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 21, 1996
Nugent, Jeanne, “Industrial Sights,” Philadelphia Weekly, June 19, 1996
1995 Dickinson, James, “Entropic Zones: Buildings and Structures of the Contemporary City,” Rider University Gallery, 1995
Raynor, Vivien, “Relentless March of Industrial Decay,” The New York Times, March 5, 1995
Hudson, Alexia, “A City in Ruins,” Welcomat, March 1, 1995
1993 Sozanski, Edward J., “A Fluid Technique Imparting a Feeling of Immediacy,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1993
Rice, Robin, “The Many Faces of Realism,” Philadelphia City Paper, May 21, 1993
1990 Crohn, Jennifer, “Installations of Sound and Action,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 23, 1990
Moran, Kate, “Four/Sites,” New Art Examiner, Summer 1990
1988 Donohoe, Victoria, “Painted Bride,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 7, 1988
1987 “At a Manhattan Loft, Art and Law Coexist,” The New York Times, February 15, 1987
Collection
Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Altoona, PA
Bryn Mawr College, William and Uytendale Scott Memorial Study Collection
CuetoKEARNEYdesign, Swarthmore, PA
Robert Linn Architects, Media, PA
Private Collections in New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Quebec
Public Art Projects
2008 Semi-Finalist SEPTA Art in Transit project, 46th and Market Streets El Station. I created a design called West Philly Dances, 20-by-50-foot frieze of dancing figures to be cut out of plate aluminum, painted, and mounted on a tubular steel grid. Done in collaboration with CuetoKearney Design.
2007 The SRS Tree of Liberty, Artist in Residence/Public Art Project: Wallingford-Swarthmore School District Dimensions in Art Program
2001 Snake Bench, Project coordinator and artist assistant to James “Big Man” Maxton, Swarthmore-Rutledge School
1979 Stations of the Cross: 14 bas relief wood carvings in collaboration with sculptor Eiko Fan, St. Francis Church, Philadelphia, PA
1980 Three bas relief panels for facade and interior, Greenbriar Inn, Cherry Hill, NJ
Professional Experience
2019 - 2020 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Teacher, handprinted monotype workshops
2019 St. Francis University, Loretto, PA Teacher, handprinted monotype workshops
2013 Burlington County College, Pemberton, NJ NEA funded project to design and create a sculpture for the Pemberton Campus sculpture garden, with BCC students and students from two area high schools,
Georgian Court University, Lakewood, NJ Guest Artist, collaboration with choreographer Silvana Cardell to create a multidisciplinary performance piece with students from the School of Dance and the School of Visual Arts
2012 University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Guest Artist, collaboration with choreographer Silvana Cardell to work on multidisciplinary performance piece with students from the School of Dance and the School of Visual Arts
2007 Swarthmore-Rutledge School, Swarthmore, PA Artist in Residence
1986 - 1988 Greene Street Friends School, Philadelphia, PA Art Instructor
1986 Main Line Center for the Arts, Haverford, PA Sculpture and Casting Instructor
1982 - 1983 Main Line School Night Association, Radnor, PA Sculpture and Casting Instructor
1981 Hussian School of Art, Philadelphia, PA Guest Instructor in Sculpture
1980 University City Arts League, Philadelphia, PA Drawing Instructor
Other
2008, 2009 POST Philadelphia Open Studio Tours
Performance and Readings
2019 Northern Liberties StorySlam Organized event and presented slideshow of Northern Liberties paintings
Visual artist for Supper, People on the Move created by Silvana Cardell See "Selected Exhibitions" for complete information of venues
2012 Now!, Falls Bridge: New Movement, Improvisation and Performance Festival at Philly PARD, Philadelphia, PA Performance collaboration with choreographer Silvana Cardell, with five dancers and live drawings by Jennifer Baker.
2011 "Readings," Northern Liberties: A Transformation, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2009 "Northern Liberties Project," First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
“Northern Liberties Project,” First Person Arts Salon, Laurie Beechman Cabaret at the Arts Bank, Philadelphia, PA
Exhibitions
Solo
2019 Third Street: Paintings and Monoprints by Jennifer Baker, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA
2017 - 2019 Portraits of People on the Move Drexel University URBN Center Black Box Theater (2019) The Dance Complex, Cambridge, MA (2018) Ferst Center for the Arts, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, GA (2018) Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center, Asheville, NC (2017) Tour funded by New England Foundation for the Arts
2018 Portraits of People on the Move, EDANCO Festival Internacional De Danza Contemporánea, Palacio De Bellas Artes, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Companion exhibit to the performance of Supper, People on the Move Tour funded by USArtists International
2017 Jennifer Baker: Northern Liberties, InLiquid @ the Crane Hall, Philadelphia, PA
Work in Progress, Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, Philadelphia, PA
Portraits of People on the Move, The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Portraits of People on the Move, La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, New York, NY Accompanying the performance of Supper, People on the Move for the La MaMa Moves Dance Festival
2015 Portraits of People on the Move, Grey Space, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, PA Accompanying the performance of Supper, People on the Move funded by a Project Grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
2013 The Developing Form of Sculpture, Burlington County College Art Gallery, Mt Holly, NJ
2003 Cape Cod Paintings, F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1997 Challenge Exhibition, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
1996 American Street, F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1993 Heavenly City, Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Camden County College Gallery, Camden, NJ
1985 and 1987 Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY
1983 The More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1979 Race Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1978 The Theatre Place, Pleasantville, NY
Two-person
2017 Jennifer Baker and Fara’h Salehi, Art 101, Brooklyn, NY
2015 Jennifer Baker and Michael Crawford, Atwater Gallery, Rhinebeck, NY
2011 Jennifer Baker and Fara’h Salehi, Art 101, Brooklyn, NY
Three-person
1987 Summertime, 56 Thomas Street, New York, NY
1978 Suzanne Gross Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Group
2020 Women in Art: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA
2019 Fellowship of PAFA Annual Exhibit, HOTBED Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Tradition and Innovation: Recent Work by Alumni and Faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA
2017 A Starling in Shadow, Cerulean Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Curator: Bill Scott
2016 Art of the State, Pennsylvania 2016, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Fellowship Annual 2016, PAFA Alumni Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Looking Back, ART 101, Brooklyn, NY
Williamsburg Galleries Keep It Local, Brooklyn Oenology Winery, Brooklyn, NY
2011 4 Heads Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY
Fellowship of PAFA Annual, Artists House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Miniatures, ART 101, Brooklyn, NY
Impressions: Exploring Printmaking in the 21st Century, William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, PA
2009 Fellowship of PAFA Annual, Artists House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Summer in the City, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Art for Obama, ART 101, Brooklyn, NY
Dear Fleisher, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Gallery Saint Asaph, Bala Cynwyd, PA
2006 Group Show from Art 101, Wall Art Gallery, Fernandina Beach, FL Group show from Art 101
2004 Christmas Show, ART 101, Brooklyn, NY
Dear Fleisher, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Friends, ART 101, Brooklyn, NY
2000 Art Works/Water Works, Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA
1999 F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Gritty City, Borowsky Gallery, Gershman Y, Philadelphia, PA
1998 20 X 12: A Generation of Challenge, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Works on Paper 1998, Beaver College, Glenside, PA Juror: Mark Rosenthal
Annual Exhibition, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1997 The Unbroken Line, 1897-1997, Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Nexus is 21, Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, PA
1996 F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Views, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
City Lights, Borowsky Gallery, Gershman Y, Philadelphia, PA
1995 I.D., Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, PA
Entropic Zones: Buildings and Structures of the Contemporary City, Rider University Gallery, Lawrenceville, NJ
1994 Landscape Works by Women Artists: Selections from the Scott Memorial Study Collection, Bryn Mawr College Gallery, Bryn Mawr, PA
Nexus at Viridian, Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy Annual Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Cheltenham Center for the Arts Annual, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA Juror: Charlotta Kotik
1993 - 1994 Hard Choices III Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art Traveling Exhibition, Johnstown Art Museum Blair Art Museum, Hollidaysburg Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg
1993 Alternatives, Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, PA
Small Works, Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, PA
1992 7 Sculptors: International Sculpture Conference Invitational, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
Art of the State: Pennsylvania ‘92, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Art at the Armory: Philadelphia Artists, 103d Engineers Armory, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Art at the Armory: Philadelphia Artists, 103d Engineers Armory, Philadelphia, PA
Art at the Armory Selects, Community Education Center, Philadelphia, PA
Four/Sites, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
1989 Cheltenham Center for the Arts Annual, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA Juror: Lisa Phillips
City of Camden Annual, Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
1988 Annual Exhibition, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA Juror: Monique Beaudert
Cheltenham Center for the Arts Annual, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA Juror: Monique Beaudert
BackGrounds: Autobiographical Statements, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
City of Camden Annual, Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
1987 Art Fighting AIDS, Port of History Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1986 Annual Exhibition, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA Juror: Patterson Simms
City of Camden Annual, Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
Pleiades Exchange Show, Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, PA
Cheltenham Center for the Arts Annual, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA Juror: Dore Ashton
Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy Annual, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY
1985 and 1986 Sculpture Show, Rodger LaPelle Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1985 Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY
Sculpture Show, Rodger LaPelle Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 1985 and 1986
1983 Woodmere Annual, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1980 Cheltenham Art Center Annual, Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia, PA
Greater Harrisburg Arts Festival, William Penn Memorial Museum, Harrisburg, PA
The Figure, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Woodmere Annual, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Exhibitions Curated
2014 Northern Liberties: From Worlds Workshop to Hipster Mecca and the People in Between, Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, Community History Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Northern Liberties: A Transformation, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia
