Ah, the dizziness of anxiety!

Caitlin Heusser, Museum Curator, Town of Windsor; Andrew Dunehoo,
Arts and Heritage Manager, Town of Windsor; and me, Toby Baker, after
successfully transporting all the sculptures to the Arts and Heritage Center.

What a wild and wonderful week!!

This weekend I celebrate not one, but TWO opening receptions in which I have my artwork!  Woo-hoo! 

Tonight is the opening reception for Madison and Main's "Totally Local" show in its charming gallery at 927 16th Street in Greeley.

For this exhibit I have created new fused glass jewelry as well as my Prism Dancers in both the "Land" and "Sky" versions. I am one of 12 guest artists for this show, which runs through Feb. 27, 2015. 

In addition to the invited guest artists this exhibit features work by members of the cooperative, and since I was there a few hours filling out my inventory when the show was hung, I can guarantee that it's a wonderful exhibit and well worth a visit.

Tomorrow night I am not one of many, I am it.  That's a bit nerve-wracking even to write it! "River Remnants--The Artwork of Toby Baker" is exactly as it reads.  My sculptures.  No blending, no "just one of the crowd," no safety in numbers.  Nope.  For better or worse, just my abstract and contemporary sculptures created from driftwood gathered along the Poudre River.

As an artist, I am both delighted and slightly terrified.  It's an incredible honor to have the space to oneself but also an enormous responsibility to make sure the exhibit is a success.  That is pressure in itself that some of my artist friends are willing to avoid.  I completely understand.

We need to transport "River Run" in a Town of Windsor
truck due to its length -- 9 1/2 feet long!

Let me tell you about this gallery housed in the Art & Heritage Center at 116 5th Street in Windsor.  

I first saw this beautiful space while exploring downtown Windsor several months after moving here.  (Remember, I was held hostage by unpacking my moving boxes for a very long time.)

A friend and I wandered in, drawn toward its beautiful historic appeal, and I was immediately smitten.  Here was a grand space with big sunny windows, hardwood floors, white walls--in the north gallery.  In the south gallery was a long ramp into what appeared to be a former garage, complete with concrete floor, painted brick and double doors on the east side.

The Arts & Heritage Center as it looked  in 1916.  It looks much the same today.

I quickly learned that it was built in 1909 (it's still proudly displayed front and center of the building!) and served as the town hall and housed the volunteer fire department and the jail.  

Marks still apparent in the wood floor show various room/space configurations through the years.  

A wonderful resource to
understanding Windsor's history.

I tried to return many times during the following years but, regrettably, it was always locked.  Still, it was a space that called to me and during a creative afternoon in my gazebo studio last summer I got the brilliant idea to call and see if it might be possible to feature sculptures from Poudre River flood sticks as an exhibit there.  Afterall, I reasoned, Windsor and the Poudre River have a long historic relationship. What better way to see a new interpretation of sticks forever floating past the city en-route to eventual spilling into the Gulf of Mexico?

Timing is everything, as they say.  When I called I learned that a new Arts and Heritage Manager would be joining the Town of Windsor the next week, so I waited until Tuesday (let him find his office first, right?) and pitched my idea.  

Andrew Dunehoo, I soon learned, is quick on his feet.  He didn't say "no," and actually seemed intrigued with the idea. The next week he called and we made arrangements for him to come over and see what I was working diligently on preparing for my September exhibit in conjunction with the anniversary of the 2013 flood. Little did I know he had already said "yes" before knocking at my door.

Andrew and Ken gently carry "Tangled" into the gallery.

It was a fascinating confluence of his new staff coming together from other parts of the country along with a new emphasis on supporting the arts in the Town of Windsor.

This exhibit, "River Remnants," is the launch to a year of arts programming in the beautiful Arts & Heritage Center.  And, you can bet that I'm honored to be the first artist of what I hope will be a developing arts mecca for Windsor.  (The Boardwalk Gallery, where my September exhibit was featured, is across the street.)

Caitlin adjusts "Arrow" in the "former garage" south gallery.  "Embrace,"
a large free-standing sculpture, finally has space to be its balanced self.

  

"River Run," at 9 1/2 feet long and 46 inches high is an installation sculpture created for the hallway that connects the north and south galleries.  The armature is woven with willow gathered on a warm day in December.  Note to self:  Willow bends far more easily in mid-summer than on a pleasant winter day, no matter how long it is soaked in water.

"Bobbers Nest," another new work, features a nest of found broken
fishing bobbers safely secure in the curve of a branch
on the lower left side.

Andrew, Ken and I transported all of the sculptures Dec. 19, on one of those perfectly sunny warm winter days often experienced in Colorado.  

We met Caitlin at the gallery and it was the first time I have worked with a curator in setting an art exhibit.  She not only had a plan--she had a map!

When one works with artists (and I'm not suggesting that Caitlin is not an artist in her own right, but she's really organized) it's more of a "let's hang it here and see what we think" kind of approach.  With this exhibit Caitlin checked off each piece as it came in the door and told us exactly which wall to place it in front of on the floor.

Surprisingly, we were done hanging the show in record time--at least for me.  Wow!  And, because there was great thought and planning in which piece went where, the exhibit is stunning in this historic space!  

"Wild Lightning" is another new work created for this exhibit.

Publicity has gone out including a feature article on me and my work in the Jan. 4 edition of "Windsor Now." 

If you'd like to read it, here's the link:  http://www.mywindsornow.com/news/14470661-113/river-baker-windsor-remnants

Last Wednesday I met with the brand new volunteers who will enable the gallery to be open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  They are an amazing group of women (all women at this point in time but I imagine this might change as new volunteers arrive) and it was great fun to discuss my sculptures with them.

Andrew discusses the arts calendar for the year with docents for the Art & Heritage Center in Windsor.

New volunteers at Wednesday's orientation.

Andrew answers a question posed by a new docent.

So, that brings us back to, gulp, the opening of my one-woman show tomorrow evening.  The reception food has been purchased, the location of the food and beverage table determined (remember, this is Caitlin at work) and everyone I know has been invited to come.






It is at this point I am reminded of a quote by Kierkegaard:

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.

I believe that every time we step into something new we enter into new learning.  I just have to muster up the courage to lean into all that I'm learning.