Colored Pencil Artist
Current Area Chair 2012- 2022
Artists Bio:
The Forward Observer is a continuation of my ‘chair as metaphor’ series. This drawing was created in the aftermath of a personal loss. The time consuming nature of the colored pencil technique allows the artist many hours of meditative color application and reflection. The chair placement, color and value represent for me facing the future and moving forward.”
Jeffrey Smart Baisden was born in Fort Payne, Alabama and grew up in the Florida Panhandle. She graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Art Education. After moving to Live Oak, Florida in 1974 to teach at Suwannee High School, she developed the Fine Arts program teaching grades 9-12, Advanced Placement and adult painting. On weekends, Jeffrey exhibited her artwork in regional exhibitions. Discovering Prismacolor Pencils in 1980 as a valuable teaching tool, she began exploring the medium along with her students. These improved colored pencils offered the desired color and control of painting and were portable. In 1992, she resigned from public school to devote full time to drawing and exhibitions.
Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, as well as thirteen Colored Pencil Society of America International Exhibitions, receiving Awards of Excellence in 1996, 2001 and 2007. In February 2003, she received the prestigious CPSA Exceptional Merit Award at the Explore This! Experimental Exhibition for the drawing “Night Watch”. Her drawings are included in the series The Best of Colored Pencil 2, 3,and 4, Colored Pencil Explorations, The American Artist Magazine, The Artist’s Magazine and the cover of Art Calendar magazine.
Jeffrey is a signature and ten year merit award member of the Colored Pencil Society of America and a past president of the Florida chapter of CPSA. She was selected to teach one of the two national workshops at the CPSA Convention and Exhibition in Memphis, 2004 as well as.
Awards:
Fifteen year merit award recipient for CPSA
Artist Statement:
“I am a treasure seeker in search of treasures that can be arranged, interpreted,
and preserved. I am not seeking to record classic beauty, but intimate spaces, discarded items, and a moment in time. I require the viewer look at subjects that are not usually considered common art subjects. I want to take functional utilitarian objects and tell a story or provoke the viewer to respond with his own story. The title of the work is part of the artist’s gift and should spark the viewer’s imagination to go in many directions. I want to take the viewer along as we discover a unique type of beauty often overlooked. My role as an artist is to entice the viewer to look, linger and respond to the subject, the color, textures and details.
Colored pencil as a medium enables me to achieve these results.”
Exhibitions:
Colored Pencil Society of America
International Exhibition 2014 Daytona Beach, FL
International Exhibition 2013 Brea, CA
International Exhibition 2010 Los Gatos, CA
International Exhibition 2009 Atlanta, Georgia
International Exhibition 2008 Seattle, Washington
International Exhibition 2007 Bethesda, Maryland
International Exhibition 2004 Memphis, Tennessee
International Exhibition 2003 Los Angeles, California
International Exhibition 2002 Ft.Worth, Texas
International Exhibition 2001 San Francisco, California
International Exhibition 2000 Birmingham, Michigan
International Exhibition 1999 Seattle, Washington
International Exhibition 1997 Chicago, Illinois
International Exhibition 1995 Cleveland, Ohio
International Exhibition 1994 Portland, Oregon
International Exhibition 1993 Detroit, Michigan
Explore This! West Bend Art Museum,
West Bend, Wisconsin 2001
Explore This! 2 Stuart, FL 2003
Explore This! 3 Brea, California 2007
CPSA Signature Showcase Cornell Museum
Delray Beach, FL 2006
Gallery 84 National Exhibition 1995 New York, New York
Southeastern Juried Exhibition 1996 Mobile Museum of Art
Mobile, Alabama
FLAG St. Augustine Art Association Museum 2014
Florida Artists Group Lemoyne Art Museum 2013
Florida Artists Group Florida Gulf Coast University 2005
Florida Artists Group Leepa-Rattner Museum 2009
Florida Artists Group Daytona Beach Museum 2007
Florida Artists Group Ridge Art Association 2007
Fifth Annual Regional Fine Arts Exhibition
Fort Walton Beach, Florida 1997
Florida Art Center National 100 Exhibition Havana,
Florida 1996,1997,1998
National Exhibition 2000, 2002 Punta Gorda, Florida
20th National Exhibition New Orleans, LA
2000, 2001, 2002
National Exhibition Hilton Head Island, S. C. 2000