Baylin’s colorful, painterly photos of flower petals, stems, and dappled light have an unexpected inspiration: the weather of her hometown, Portland, OR
“There the typical gray, wet weather is occasionally visited by glorious streaks of sunshine that selectively illuminate parts of the scene,” she says. “After I left the west coast, I realized how much that quality of light and landscape are a part of my DNA as an artist.”
Baylin originally studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute where she received her BFA. She later earned her MFA at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where she began to experiment with photography. Now a resident of New York, Baylin finds photographic inspiration all around her, whether in her husband’s flower gardens in North Branch or at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.
“I enjoy searching for the overall abstraction rather than a literal depiction of what I see,” she says. “When I lose a sense of the particular flowers or objects and see the whole as almost a tapestry of shapes and colors, then I know I am approaching what most interests me about taking photographs. I particularly love the fleeting moments of sunlight on objects.”
Acknowledgements
The activities of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance are made possible in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support from the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
