SAIGE BAXTER
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Currently the “Emerging Artist of Pittsburgh”, Saige Baxter affects of space. Primarily displayed outdoors, her sculptures derive from her community engagement and educational experience to design unifying spaces. Baxter currently has outdoor work installed in Greensburg, Frick Park, The Museum Lab of Pittsburgh and Messejana Portugal. Her first international piece was completed in 2018 and is permanently installed outdoors in Messejana, Portugal through the Buinho artist residency. Some past works have been displayed with the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, the Mattress Factory Museum, and Artsmiths. Her passion for education has kept her closely tied with primary and secondary learning through mentoring with the Mobile Sculpture Workshop, working with the Pittsburgh Public Schools system, and teaching art workshops both locally and in Portugal.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Photo by Chris Uhren
Our environments invent biases layered with complex attachments and blindspots. Although difficult to dissect, our spaces control our functionality, cater to our culture and provoke an array of comforts. Using my infatuation with territory, my work attempts to design and fabricate environments that would not exist in the real world, but instead initiate the exploration of new settings with familiar touches. Throughout recent installations, my sculptures experiment with private versus public spaces and an audience's willingness to test their surroundings. By blurring the lines between sculpture, architecture and play, audiences can be equal in unknown territory.