Suki Baker is an Ashland-based mixed media artist who uses mostly reclaimed materials to create art inspired by bold colors, portraiture, the natural world, and the souls & stories of found materials. 

I use mostly reclaimed materials to make textile collage, mixed media and found object art in my home studio in Southern Oregon. I also mindfully reproduce my designs as prints on archival paper and wood panels. I’ve been known to throw some other creative expressions from my crafting roots into the marketplace: stuff like flag garlands made from my fabric scrap waste, and small batches of appliquéd pillows. My current obsession is creating biological portraits of local flora, rendered in foraged fabrics.

I forage through thrift stores and other second-hand resources, collecting raw materials for my vibrant, playful, and occasionally creepy, art works that celebrate beauty found in cast-off and overlooked materials. Whether it’s a vintage skirt, a well-worn album cover, or a porcelain doll torso, the material reality of the object constrains how it will be used. I’m constantly inspired by the element of chance inherent in working with reclaimed materials. 

I‘m a California native, and spent most of my adult life in Oakland, loving the energy of city life and finding inspiration and beauty in the cityscapes, as well as in pockets of nature only discoverable on foot or by bike. Then, after five years of kicking around various locales along the California coast, my husband and I re-planted ourselves in gorgeous Southern Oregon in 2023.  I love exploring my new environs, absorbing all the new plants, mountains, rivers, and mystery of this rich bioregion.