Richard Baker - Artist based in Cambridge UK

I was at Portsmouth and Winchester art schools 1965-67. Portsmouth was great and I have many happy memories of the foundation year there in its old building. It was a bad choice for me to go on to the Diploma in Art and Design course at Winchester in its first year which was completely unsuitable and chaotic. I fortunately left after the first year (thank you Heinz Henghes). However, I did meet my life partner there. Later after evening class studies I became an undergraduate at Cambridge, studying the English Tripos at Christ's College, graduating in the mid-seventies. I started attending a life drawing group in King's College art studio and kept going for 40 years. My wife and I stayed here permanently and I continued to paint and draw quite intensely for several decades up to the present time. I have a couple of small garden buildings used as studios and places for art storage. We take great joy in our pre-school twin granddaughters who are a short train ride away.

 

Frequently on bsky.app/profile/bakerart.bsky.social and www.instagram.com/cambridgeartstudio/

 

My old website is www.cambridgeartstudio.com/index.htm - A very simple website, not https, but doesn't set cookies or collect user data.

 

exhibitions include:

 

1980 - Gallery Soleil, Cambridge (one-man show). This was small gallery with a winding staircase in Free School Lane also used at that time for Japanese Tea Ceremony meetings. My paintings were briefly quite abstract at that time (not a style I continued with).

 

Twice a year since 1983 - Cambridge Drawing Society, although from this year (2026) I will be less involved in public exhibitions because of age.

 

1980s- Cambridge Arts Forum, an art society (no longer extant) which held several exhibitions in some unusual venues and was a great success for a while (pub social meetings too!)

 

1984 - Eleven Artists of Cambridge and Heidelberg (shown in both cities) organized by members of the Cambridge Arts Forum

 

1989 - Royal Society of British Artists (Mall Galleries) - one painting

 

1990 - New English Art Club (Mall Galleries) - one painting

 

1990 - Sebastian Pearson Gallery, Cambridge, selected work. Sebastian was keen on my paintings and regularly showed some of them in his antique shop (and sold them). He was a great character and I was very sorry when I heard he had died.

 

1989/91 - The Hiroko Kato Gallery, Tokyo, selected work. This lady had a list of artists she regularly visited in the Cambridge area and took work unframed back to her gallery. I heard that she had sold some of mine.

 

1991 January - Clare Hall Gallery, Cambridge - one-man show, well-attended with lots of sales.

 

1991 September - Gallery on the Cam, Cambridge – two-man show

 

1993 - Royal Institute of Watercolour Artists (Mall Galleries) - one painting which was sold later.

 

1993 October - Conservatory Gallery, Cambridge - one-man show and a long-term continuous involvement until the gallery closed (thank you Pamela!)

 

1993 onwards - The Bow House Gallery, Barnet - annual group exhibitions and a shared exhibition, continuous involvement until owners retired from running the gallery.

 

1996 April - Conservatory Gallery, Cambridge - two-man show

 

1997 November - New English Art Club - Just one oil painting shown but very pleased to have one accepted. It sold later in Cambridge to the bursar of Pembroke College.

 

1998 March - The Old Fire Engine House, Ely - I showed my work downstairs in this lovely gallery. I stood in at short notice for this exhibition and it had good sales

 

1999 January to March - Clare Hall Gallery, Cambridge - second one-man show

 

1999 onwards for a long period – The Whittlesford Gallery, Cambridge - one-man show (and several mixed shows)

 

from 2000 - Linda Blackstone Gallery, Pinner (now Totteridge) – regular gallery artist for about 14 years. Work included in the gallery’s displays at the Affordable Art Fairs and in the Watercolour and Drawings Fair at the Royal Academy. In 2001 included in Metropolis 21: A Study of Urban Life in the 21st Century - mixed exhibition. Work shown at her stand at the Cambridge Art Fair 2014. I eventually stopped taking work down to Totteridge because the driving was too much for me.

 

2000 October - Gallery 96, King's Street, Cambridge - one-man show. This was a very enjoyable exhibition to do and there was a crowded preview with lots of sales.

 

2001 March to May - Conservatory Gallery - My View: Fenscapes, Cloudscapes, Cityscapes

 

2012 Cambridge Artworks – one-man show

 

2013 onwards – Curiosity Gallery, St Ives Cambs, now closed but a lot of sales and |'m very grateful for their support over quite a long period. Thank you Jacqueline and Jane!

 

2014 – Cambridge City Art Fair with Linda Blackstone Gallery (I helped her with the hanging)

 

2015, 2016 & 2017 COAX at Swavesey, with paintings selected for follow-up exhibitions at the Over Gallery, the Babylon Gallery, Ely and the Haddenham Gallery (2017 First Prize winner)

 

Autumn 2017 Selected work at the Book and Print Gallery, Newnham, Cambridge until it closed and moved to Oxford.

 

I have shown and sold work over many years in various public buildings, offices and colleges etc.

I'm somewhat retired from seeking out exhibition spaces because I no longer drive which limits my ability to deliver framed paintings to venues. I have always done my own framing including quite large paintings under glass but as an no longer wish to do this.

 

website: www.cambridgeartstudio.com (not https yet)

 

Garden studio on Google Photos: photos.app.goo.gl/KhDhuCa7mwBN7Jyt7