Bob Baird FRAS AWI PSA(N.Y.)
Born Sydney 1948
Fine Art Education:
St. George Technical College
National Art School Sydney
Alexander Mackie CAE
Sydney Teachers College (Sydney University)
ARTISTS STATEMENT
The ultimate aim behind my portraits is to capture the inner emotion/character of the sitter. By the use of composition, lighting, body language and great attention to drawing to create a strong feeling of spatial depth and the ultimate challenge of converting paint into flesh. Full-time Fine Art Educator with TAFE School of Art and Design 1980/2008. Bob has practiced extensively as a professional musician engaged in backing and jazz performances and recording 1965/ 2010. He has been touring yearly since 2001 playing jazz in British, European, American and Australian Jazz Festivals.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Fellow of the Royal Art Society of NSW
Member of the Pastel Society of America (NY)
Foundation President of the Pastel Society of NSW
Member of the Australian Watercolour Institute
Member of Portrait Artists Australia
SELECTED MAJOR EXHIBITIONS
1988 Doug Moran Inaugural National Portrait Prize – Additional Awards (Sali Herman in his Studio)
1992 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (John Sangster – Jazz Musician/Arranger)
1994 Archibald Prize (Salvatore Zofrea Psalm 58)
1996 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (Salvatoria Zofrea Psalm 58)
1997 Dobell Prize for Drawing – Art Gallery of NSW (Oxford Falls Terrain)
2000 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (Les Murray – Poet Larrikin)
2001 Portraits 2001 An Australian Odyssey (Slim Dusty – Historian of the Bush) – National Tour by Tweed Regional Art Gallery
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1988 to 1996 Holdsworth Gallery Woollahra
1998 Dobell House/Studio Wangi Wangi (Artist in Residence)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1976 Bush 1976 Bush Hut Gallery, Northwood (Martin Place Waterfall – Lloyd Rees and Friends)
1977 N.S.W. Friends of the Hebrew University & B’nai B’rith
1979 6th International Print Biennale (Bradford U.K.)
1984 Manly Art Gallery (Seaforth T.A.F.E. School of Fine Art Teachers Exhibition)
1988 The Print Council Gallery, Victoria – 100 x 100 Print Portfolio Exhibition
1988 Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery – 6 Wise Men – Coburn, Zofrea, Marchant, Dunlop, Griffen, Baird
1988 Bridge Street Gallery – Bicentenary Print Award Exhibition
1988 Royal Art Society of NSW – Bicentennial Exhibition “Works on Paper”
1988 The Warringah Book Exhibition – Print Section, Warringah Art Show
1988 Pastel Society of Victoria – Doncaster Gallery Exhibition
1988 Julian Ashton Art School Exhibition – Students and Teachers
1988 Sydney Printmakers – Macquarie University
1988 Master Builders Association Bicentennary Exhibitions – Holdsworth Contemporary Gallery
1988 In Search of Excellence, Doug Moran – Royal Easter Show, Sydney
1989 International Master Print Fair (Hotel Inter-Continental)
1989 Heidelberg and Heritage 1889-1989, 9×5 Centenary Exhibition and Memorial to Lloyd Rees – Linden Art Gallery, Victoria
1998 Wynne Prize (Salon Des Refuses)
1989/2010 AWI Annual Exhibitions – SH Ervin Gallery, Wagner Gallery, Gosford Regional Gallery, Wollongong Regional Gallery
2010 Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award, Bega Valley Regional Gallery
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1979 6th International Print Biennale
1982/88 Directory of Australian Printmakers
1984/89 Artists and Galleries of Australia (Max Germaine)
1987 Who’s Who in Australia and Far East (International Biographical Centre, Cambridge U.K.)
1988 The Warringah Book
1988 100 x 100 Print Portfolio, Print Council of Australia
1988 Newsworld ATN 7 (Clive Robertson) “Impressions of Australia”
1988 The Artists of Lane Cove Book
1988 Print Council of Australia Archives
1990 Manly/Warringah F.M. Radio
1990 Museo de la Acuarela Mexicana, Mexico
1090 University de Mexico
1991 Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. (Archives)
1993 Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Alan McCullock Pub.Co.
Australian Artist magazine No. 94 April 1992, No. 119 May 1994, No. 128 February 1995
Australian Watercolour Institute 75th Anniversary 1923-1998. The Beagle Press, 1998
Pastel Artist International November/December 1999, January 2000
Australian Watercolour Institute 83rd Anniversary 1998-2006 Phillip Mathews Book Publishers 2006
COMMISSIONS
Bob has been painting portrait and figurative commissions over thirty years. He works with the client to establish what medium they require with a choice of oils, pastels, watercolour, pencil or charcoal in any size to suit their requirements. Further discussion as to choice of medium, size of the image, clothing, framing and his working process are available on request Nationally and Internationally.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Represented in collections including:
The Reserve Bank of Australia
College of Fine Arts Sydney
The University of New South Wales
Australian Workers Union Head Office, South Australia
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
IBM Australia and the United States of America
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
The National Library of Australia
The State Library of New South Wales
The National Gallery Canberra
The University of Technology Sydney
Warringah Shire Libraries
The Administration Centre, Teachers Credit Union
The Pastel Society of America Collection New York
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
St. Johns College University of Sydney
Tweed Heads Regional Art Gallery (The Australian Portrait Collection)
Private Collections in: England, Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Estonia, Switzerland, USA,and Australia.