By the early 1980’s, he expanded his repertoire again to include painting in acrylics, pastels, watercolors, and mixed media. Most of his paintings emanate from ideas regurgitated up from his years of study and contemplation in the form of figures and symbols on mystical landscapes that conjure up thoughts of the supernatural and of tribal shamanism.
To date, over 150 of these unique creations have been born and have found homes around the globe. He has work from these mediums in the keep of both private and corporate collectors and public institutions in the United States as well as Europe.
The most popular of his sculptural ideas was one he derived from the lore of spiritual beings called Manetuwak who live on the edge of the world in the first of the twelve heavens. These spirits, called Rim Dwellers, are used by God to influence people’s lives in many important ways. The unique paintings on animal vertebrae take on the name “Rim Dweller” and are his representation of the guardian spirits who reside on this sphere with us, just outside the range of our visionary ability. They are our guides and guardian spirits who accompany us on our journey on the path into the great unknown toward our ultimate home in the twelfth heaven with Kishelemu’kong, grandfather of us all.
He began his formal training in sculpture in 1971 when he apprenticed under Walter (Blackie) and Michael Collins and studied the art of creative knife making. By the mid-1970’s, he expanded into the mainstream of traditional sculpture, working in wood, stone, metal, bone, and a variety of found natural objects.
Born in Durham, North Carolina in August of 1949, James Baxter lived as a youth in rural southwestern Georgia, and relocated to Atlanta, Georgia as a young man in the ‘60’s. He attended the University of Georgia with studies in Anthropology. He is a third generation artist from an extensive family, both personal and tribal, of artists, photographers, and sculptors, all of whom had profound influence. The spirit of his art is influenced in manifold ways by the close ties he maintains with his Lenni-Lena’pe and Scots/Irish heritage. That spirit is also accentuated by a lifelong study of modern and ancient civilizations, their religions and philosophies, as well as their arts and crafts.
In 1988, he again entered formal training under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph Perrin, Professor Emeritus, Chairman and Founder of Georgia State University School of Art and Design. Dr. Perrin, himself a renowned painter and sculptor, spent five years working with James, teaching and consulting with him to help expand his natural physical abilities as well as the ideological mindset so necessary to the expansion of creative talent. In addition to the study with Dr. Perrin, came the friendship and consultation with one of his tribe’s most renowned visionary artists, William Sauts Bock of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Bock also has work in many museums, private and corporate collections, as well as United States Embassies around the world. That friendship and consultation endures to this day.
In the mid-1990’s, with the advent of extremely powerful personal computers and the introduction of digital Photography, James again moved in a new direction. Combining the use of photography and computers, he began to produce art on the computer. So enamored was he with the possibility of what could be done using this medium, he has leaned heavily into this new direction. Though he still produces art in the more traditional methods, the preference for the production of digital or computer art has grown exponentially as the years have passed by.
“The excitement generated by the possibilities of this new direction has opened doors of opportunity that I never thought possible, “said Baxter, “Crossing the 60th year of my life, I can only see expanding growth of my media capabilities and I am hoping one day to be able to see my growth into a combination of visual art, performance art, and music; all packaged together into a complete artistic and spiritual experience of the mind and senses.
As a person today, I am defined by my work. My life is art and all of my thought processes are expressed primarily in the nature of the work.”
I would like to personally thank James for his kind contribution to Native Digest. The samples provided here are but a mere sample of James extrinsic work and talent. Please visit James online studio by “clicking here” to view a full array of James work.
