My name is Bonnie Baxter. I’m an artist living in the small mountain village of Val-David (Québec, Canada).
I bought my house in Val-David, around 1982—very proud to be a woman artist living alone and getting a mortgage from the bank without a co-signer (It was another time). It was then that I started the Atelier du Scarabée (custom fine art printmaking studio) to print for other artists to pay for the house. I printed for a small group of excellent artists including the entire corpus (all the etchings) created by Jean Paul Riopelle, over a 10 year period.
In the beginning – when COVID 19 first had us in lockdown – I just wanted to help with the food insecurity in my village. I created “The Patch,” a tomato garden destined to become a food resource, carved out of part of my land. I called it Scarabée Verte, a green extension of my studio, Atelier Scarabée.
THERE IS more to come for The Patch and it’s truly something I have found out as I go along.
After a while I realized it was not just about giving someone food: it was about how it was transformed, what tastes best? what is most nutritious? what fits best into ones daily life? what is acceptable? then, how it becomes desirable.
Further on it will be about sharing recipes, not just to fill a hole, but to savour.
There is no end point. Going further, developing more, through joining voices, to make things better.
The Tomato Patch Project is like that, adding artists voices and gestures, locally and globally; video, images, performance and sound in the service of finding a better way, to go forward, together.
– Anna Halprin
Bonnie Baxter & Michel Beaudry, 1985
MY FIRST GARDEN, Val-David, Québec, CANADA
Who is Bonnie Baxter
Bonnie Baxter was born in Texarkana Texas and has had a studio and residence in Val-David, Québec since 1972. She is a interdisciplinary artist who has maintained an extensive exhibition record both nationally and internationally for more than 4 decades. Her work ranges from Public-Art installations to large-scale pieces in Print Media, video projection and Sculpture.
She studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and received an MFA degree from Vermont College, Norwich University. She lectures extensively including workshops in Canada, Mexico, USA, Turkey and China. She has taught in Concordia’s Print Media Program since 1984. Baxter has been awarded grants from The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association. She has participated in international print biennials in Quebec, Mexico, Russia, Hungary, India, and Taiwan R.O.C..
In 1982 she founded the custom print studio the Atelier du Scarabée in the mountain village of Val-David, Québec. At the Atelier she collaborated and produced etchings, relief prints, and screen-prints for a select group of artists including the full corpus of etchings for Jean Paul Riopelle over a 10 year period. In 2005 The Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides presented Rewind, a 10 year survey of Baxter’s work; the exhibition then traveled across Canada and the USA. In the same year this artistic achievement was awarded the Prix à la création artistique from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, in the context of the Grands Prix de la culture des Laurentides. Her third survey exhibition with The MAC LAU. Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides,. Bonnie Baxter : Présent | Passé | Futur (until January 27, 2019) includes works from her series Jane’s Journey, The Tragic and Premature Death of Jane, and RatKind including an extensive site specific installation in downtown Saint-Jérôme’s business district (330 Rue Saint-Georges).
Her dedication to community engagement in the arts and her contributions as an educator were acknowledged in 2016 when she was awarded the President’s Excellence in Teaching award from Concordia University and again in 2017 when she was awarded the Charles Biddle Prize by The Minister of Immigration, Diversity, Inclusion and Culture for All. In 2018 she received a lifetime achievement award, the Prix les Grands Soleils, from Le Conseil de la cultures des Laurentides (Québec).
Find out more about me on my website www.bonniebaxter.ca