ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Playing with Form
Whilst my practice and methods may change to respond to new visual possibilities, it is the simplification of form, a fascination with line and volume, and the spirit of play which are its key features.
My practice ranges from abstract sculpture to painting – sometimes exploring the interface between them. I work mainly in metal, wood, ceramics, and mixed media, often at large scale. Industrial and found elements interest me – things that have had a former life and which bring their own identities into play
Rustic Formalism
Found wood, minimal means and the application of paint to exploit the qualities of the wood substrate result in table-top sculptures. The subject matter sometimes concerns the remains of ancient architecture, their monumentality and time-altered form.
Underlying these works is the fascination with the potential of the Bauhaus building blocks designed by Alma Siedhoff-Buscher.
Drawing in Air, Towers to Fly From, Clouds to Look Down On
The Icarus legend, the human aspiration to fly – and its kinship with the creative impetus – are the stimulus for architectural structures acting as unstable points of departure for flight.
Maritime
The journey and demise of a burnt boat, her story being that of Everyman, and thus acting as both a requiem and celebration, is a result of my first degree in Anglo Saxon and Old Norse literature informing the themes of my art studies. The early English poems, The Seafarer, and The Wayfarer, continue to resonate with me. My own writing is a companion activity to my fine arts practice, looping back into painting and sculpture design. There is a synergy which operates between these two modes of expression.
Collage
My work with found or painted papers and other materials results in a number of formats. A painted plastic segment from a bag, or a discarded envelope may be pressed into service. Newsprint may act as the ground for a monoprint. Original collages may be photoshopped into a series.
Ceramics
Hand-built and rugged, using stoneware clay, my works are experimental and exploratory, but give a large nod to Japanese makers.
EDUCATION
BA (Hons) first class in Fine Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, the University of Dundee
HNC in Art, Dundee College
MA (Hons) English Language and Literature, The University of Edinburgh.
First year studies in English at The University of Warwick, before transfer to Edinburgh
Ruskin College, Oxford
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Lynn shows regularly as an invited artist, in solo and two-person shows and mixed and group shows, in commercial galleries and public museums.
Her works are shown in her own gallery and sculpture court, open to the public annually as Arthaus Great Elm, in which she hosts and shows the works of fellow invited artists.
Arthaus Great Elm, 2022, 2023, 2024
The Slade Centre Open, Gillingham, North Dorset, 2024
Bristol Botanic Gardens Sculpture Show with SWSculptors, 2024
Creating Spaces, Miserden, with the Cotswold Sculptors Association, 2023, 2024
Freshford Gallery, 2 person show with Brian Baxter, 2022, 2024
The Solid and the Fragile, 44AD Artspace, Bath, with Cotswold Sculptors Association, 2024
Yeo Valley Organic Gardens, Sculpture Show with SWSculptors, 2024
Black Swan Arts, ceramics with Frome College, 2024
Bruton Church, artworks to accompany The Echoing Air choral group, 2024
Bruton Art Society, (sculpture prize winner), 2023
Elemental Forces of Nature, with 12 women artists, Bath, 2023
Forms to Inspire, The Bishop’s Palace, Wells with SWSculptors, 2023
Top 50, Evolver Magazine front cover design exhibition, Yeovil Art Space, 2023
SMart Open, Shepton Mallet, 2023
The Viewing Room, Bath 2023
Gallery Q, Dundee, 2022
Resident artist, The Wolverton Gallery, Bath, 2022
Resident artist, The Frome Gallery, 2022
Powderham Castle ceramics with SWSculptors, 2021
Scottish Society of Artists, 2009
Highland Council’s touring exhibition to Inverness, Thurso and Wick Museums and Art Galleries in new graduates show, 2009
Scottish Arts Council Travelling Gallery to Highlands and Islands, sketchbook, 2009
The Stables and town of Cromarty, Artist in Residency installations and exhibition, 2009
Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop, 2009
Generator, Dundee, 2008
Lynn has frequently shown at the following locations whilst working full-time in the arts:
The Parrot, Dundee, solo show
Frames Gallery, Perth, two person show
Broughton Gallery, two person show
Pitlochry Festival Theatre
The University of Dundee
Dundee Art Society
Aberfeldy Gallery
Braemar Gallery
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Eduardo Alessandro Gallery, Dundee
Perth Festival of the Arts
The Byre Theatre
Strathearn Gallery, Crieff
CAREER
Prior to becoming a full-time artist, Lynn was an arts manager for a professional theatre company and national dance company; principal arts officer; public art commissioner; book editor.
She devised, commissioned and managed projects in many artforms, including art, sculpture, music, choreography, dance, touring theatre, playwriting, crafts, environmental art, public art, disability arts, arts in prison, art in hospitals.
She also produced arts marketing reports and strategies for professional theatres, the arts in healthcare, and arts funding applications. She devised and led training projects in creativity in the workplace and has given talks on the arts and for BBC Radio 4.
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Yorkshire Sculpture Park International Student Award Residency
Cromarty Artist Residency from the Cromarty Arts Trust
COMMISSIONS
A Cabinet of Curiosities for Perth’s Eight Trades, bas relief for Volvo, Scotland
AWARDS
Bruton Art Society Sculpture Prize, 2023
Short Story 3rd Prize, Wells Literature Festival, 2023
The Alastair Smart Memorial Prize for Sculpture, 2009
The Pat Holmes Prize as top student, arts foundation year, 2005
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
The Bath Magazine, artist profile, April 2024.
Evolver Magazine, centre page spread included as one of the 50 top entries for Front Cover Design Prize 2023, July/August 2023.
By the Artist:
A Cromarty Sketchbook. artworks, poems and haiku by Lynn Baxter, translated into the Gaelic by Anne C. Frater, published by the Cromarty Arts Trust as part of an artist residency, 2009.
REPRESENTATION
Sandra Higgins Art, Bath and London www.sandrahigginsart.co.uk
CURRENT MEMBERSHIP
Cotswold Sculptors Association www.cotswoldsculptorsassociation.com
South West Sculptors Association www.swsculptors.co.uk
Frome Writers Collective www.fromewriterscollective.co.uk
Bruton Art Society www.brutonartsociety.co.uk