About: Artist Verina Baxter

Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg TN, 1987,88,90-93,97
Advanced Sculpture Symposium, Goshen IN, 1994-96
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1989
Carson Newman College, Jefferson City TN, 1970

There are two theories on the source of the characters that seem to find life in my studio. The first is the common thought that the being exists in the stone (the molds for my bronze pieces are made from a carved stone) and my duty as the artist is to release that form. I, however, prefer a different approach. My home is located in North Georgia between Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga National Battlefield. For centuries, families have farmed the bottomland and it is likely soldiers and Indians, possibly even Desoto, camped next to the springs where our house is now located. Although I travel extensively and have lived in other parts of the country, my soul lives in this valley. Maybe this is also true of these individuals. (1999)

Within hours of my first introduction to sculpting in stone I was hooked. Few artforms or female career options provide the need for such aggressive energy, whether manual or mechanical, as I use in my initial contact with the stone. In contrast, there can be a relaxed comfort of file moving against stone in the finishing stages of the process. It is very satisfying to begin with something so hard and crude, and work to release the beauty hidden inside by nature.

My work is mostly abstract, finding even my "Spirit Fragments" - fragments of the human form - to be more representational than correct in human likeness. As in our daily view of life, the essence of someone or something is much more important than the being.

I find detailed planned images restrictive and prefer the freedom of working the design to enhance the hidden grain and color of the stone. Often times even the position of the piece - top or bottom - becomes a final decision. (1997)

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