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From the time she was
a young girl, when Suzanne Baker wanted something she went
after it with everything she had. It is that determination
that has earned her
acclaim as one of the country's pre-eminent painters of the
High Sierras. Baker was raised in Three Rivers, a tourist
area in the foothills of the Sierras
in California. Surrounded by large ranches, it was only
natural that she
would come to know and appreciate the cowboy life. In fact,
for awhile the course her life would take was a toss up:
horse trainer or artist. Luckily for art
aficionados, she chose the later. But, at age 10, Baker's
choice probably would
have been a different one. "I loved horses," she
says. I dug fish worms for
three years and sold them at a lodge to buy a horse. I was
ten. It took me three more years of digging worms to get a
saddle. In the meantime, I rode bareback. I was damed with
horses and was an avid horsewoman. She also was a shy child,
had it not been the boldness of her mother, Bakers life
could have taken
a much less fortunate course. Her mother, seeing that Baker
was not getting the kind of education that Baker needed,
enrolled her in a school in a nearby district. A move in
those days that was almost unheard of. Even
though the family faced some difficult times financially,
Baker's mother
always saw to it that her children had art supplies. When
Baker switched schools, it was her good fortune to be
friended by her teacher.
"She was an
artist's wife."
Later, Baker worked
as a horse trainer and pack guide to pay for her college
tuition. She met her husband Gordon, a fellow classmate, who
went on to teach agriculture. Today Gordon is a substitute
teacher and raises cattle on the 106 acres the couple owns
in Raymond California. Eight years ago, her work was
accepted by a gallery and Baker has been on a steady upward
course ever since.
Although Baker
started out using watercolors and some acrylics for her
paintings, today she works solely in acrylics. Its been a
long, long road but the
rewards, she says, were well worth the journey. "I
always knew that I would be a painter and that I was going
to be successful."
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