“Saying Elizabeth A. Baker plays toy pianos is like saying the Hubble telescope takes photos.” – Tampa Bay Times
The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker is a new renaissance artist whose work is best expressed as a constantly evolving practice that doesn’t fit neatly into definition or expectation boxes. It is an artistic body of work vast in scope and scale outside of the confines of a simple elevator pitch, unrestrained and unencapsulated.
In recent years, Elizabeth’s commitment to pushing herself and the scope of her work has manifested as a deeply in-depth and time intensive process of creating pieces that involve new systems of notation from time-cones to video scores as well as creating new virtual instruments based on original samples from archives and field recordings collected by Elizabeth both nationally and internationally. Building the virtual instruments and backend of these notation systems to create new works for herself and others can take upwards of 30 to 100 hours.
Within her role as sonic practice artist, Elizabeth performs on a system instrument an extensive and evolving setup, lovingly referred to as “The Spaceship” includes a variety of semi-modular analogue synths, interactive MIDI controllers driven by movement and light, theremins, multiple computers and mobile devices, found objects, toy piano, harmonium, handmade hydrophones, as well as a 6’ 2” custom double-sided third-bridge non-resonant amplified zither designed and built by experimental luthier John C. L. Jansen, named “Black Moon Lilith.”
Elizabeth’s practice also extends into the visual aspects both still and moving her works on canvas have been displayed in galleries as well as being enjoyed by collectors across the United States, while her film works have been featured in international festivals such as Women of the Lens (UK) and African Smartphone International Film Festival (Nigeria). Her video series FIELD STUDIES and AGGRESSIVE PILLOW TALK, which explores the nature of humans and their structures as an equal part of the cosmic ecosystem have been awarded grants from the State of Florida and was the subject of her research as a 2021-2022 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow.
Innovation and expression of ideas that cause people to think and listen deeply has placed Elizabeth at the forefront of discussion about humanity, the impact of art, mental health in the artistic community, as well as dismantling hierarchy in artistic presentation and society as a whole unit. Elizabeth’s work has been studied by scholars across the globe, recognised by press, highly sought after by performers, and been a life-changing experience for collectives of people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Whilst Elizabeth assigns no specific human narrative to the majority of her work and notably mentions that all beings experience her work through the lens of their own backgrounds and physiological capacity, she challenges the receiver of her work to consider… “all things exist and have their own essence outside of human definition… what does our interaction with the world around us look like if we remove ourselves from the narrative center?”
Fanfare Magazine and I Care If You Listen (.com) have both proclaimed The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker as “the Pauline Oliveros of her generation.”
The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker 