Carrie Baxter is from Northwest Illinois, and currently lives and works in Central Indiana. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio painting and a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University (NIU). Carrie’s artwork has been exhibited throughout the Midwest in juried and group exhibitions.
Carrie’s artwork references elements of nature by focusing on the rare, overlooked, and often disregarded. She also incorporates texture into her artwork in order to create a psychological struggle within the viewer; although traditionally it is socially unacceptable for viewers to physically touch artworks that are on display, her textured paintings provoke an overwhelming desire for the viewer to reach out and feel the surface of the artwork in order to to qualm their curiosity and feels some of the ridges and grooves of the media. This desire places the viewer at an impasse where they have to decide whether or not to control their tactile impulses by restraining their desire to further experience the artwork on a physical level.
Statement
I enjoy working in encaustic and building layered surfaces that hold traces of earlier marks, much like landscapes hold traces of time. The process is both physical and intuitive. Wax is brushed, fused with heat, carved, and layered repeatedly, allowing fragments of color and texture to emerge through translucent veils. These buried elements echo the way memories surface and recede, altering how we perceive the places that shape us.
Many of my compositions reference landscapes that feel familiar yet slightly altered, spaces where recognition and uncertainty coexist. Through this balance of control and chance, the work invites viewers to slow down and look closely, discovering subtle details that reveal themselves over time.
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