About Edith Baker

Edith Baker, long a prolific contributor to the Dallas arts scene, was born and educated in Bulgaria, where she graduated from the American College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Studies at Chicago’s Art Institute were a prelude to her continued scholarship in Dallas, where she studied during the 1950s with the city’s prominent core of contemporary artists: Octavio Medellin, Otis Dozier, Jerry Bywaters, Roger Winter and DeForrest Judd.

After a period of travel and study of art history and painting in France, Portugal and Mexico was terminated, she returned to Dallas in 1963 to establish her own studio and for the next 15 years taught and lectured, including a three year symposium at Temple Emanu-El on ”œUnderstanding of Modern Art” based on a syllabus developed at Brandeis University.

While continuing to teach, in 1977 she became a partner in a Dallas art gallery, which ultimately evolved into the Edith Baker Gallery, with a concentration on the work of local and regional contemporary artists, another evidence of her devotion to the local artistic community. In 1985 she became a charter member and active participant in the establishment of DADA, the Dallas Art Dealers Association. In 1992 Edith Baker and Patricia Meadows co-founded EASL, the Emergency Artists Support League, a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to North Texas visual artists who are in dire distress because of unforeseen medical emergency or catastrophic events.

Although Edith Baker’s enthusiastic efforts in the success of EASL contributed toward her receiving the Dallas Visual Arts Center’s (now known as Dallas Contemporary) Legend Award in 1977, as well as a prestigious High Profile article in The Dallas Morning News, she believes that the real heroes are the artists who contribute their work to the annual fund raising events, which distribute grants to those artists in need.

See The Dallas Morning News High Profile story about Edith Baker below.

ABOUT THE EDITH BAKER ART SCHOLARSHIP AND ARTIST CAREER DEVELOPMENT FUND

To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2005, DADA created a scholar­ship fund honoring a respected member of the Dallas art community and one of its founding members, Edith Baker. Edith owned and directed The Edith Baker Gallery in Dallas for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2004. Every year, the Edith Baker Art Scholarship and Artist Career Development Fund, a 501(c)(3), financially benefits students pursuing the study of visual arts along with giving those students a gallery internship, a mentor and an artist studio visit. The Fund also presents a career fair at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a juried exhibition of high school students’ artwork, a docent-training program, and biannual educational events.

*The Edith Baker Art Scholarship and Artist Career Development Fund is a tax exempt non-profit organization under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.