Ken Bischoff Baxter

Oil painter Ken Bischoff Baxter was born in San Diego, California, in 1944. In 1971 he received a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of Utah and later pursued an MFA from Utah State University. Landscape painter Frank Erickson and portrait painter Alvin Gittens were especially influential in his formal education. While Ken has taught art in high school, the University of Utah, and privately for more than twenty-five years, he is a focused, yet versatile career painter who expresses his talent by treating a wide variety of subjects. He enjoys both historical and contempo￾rary themes and is equally adept with portraying rural landscapes and city￾scapes. Ken says of his work, “I suppose one might attempt to define my style as ‘impressionistic realism.’ My themes are traditional yet my brushwork is very spontaneous and often vigorous. In order to communicate effectively, the realist must exaggerate many of the technical aspects of his work.” Ken prefers the traditional plein-air (“open air” or “from life”) approach to painting. He remarks, “The constant movement of sunlight requires me to put down my impressions rapidly while continually keeping in mind composition, surface quality, and moving objects.” Mentor Alvin Gittens commented that “Ken deals with his subjects with crisp, painterly assurance and a keen sense of mood and atmosphere. The scope of his themes is constantly expanding with design solutions which are novel to each one. It is as though one subject trig￾gers another of a totally different theme and mood so as to challenge his innate resourcefulness and daring. What pleases me most, however, is his abil￾ity to ‘Pin down’ the time of day, the precise season, and even the temperature of his work. I suppose that the ultimate compliment that could be paid an artist is to say that because of his work, one comes to see the world around himself through the artist’s eyes. I pay Ken that compliment.” Extensively decorated with awards and exhibits of his work, Ken has placed more than 1,500 of his paintings in numerous museum, corporate, and private collections internationally. Tire geographic diversity apparent in his paintings attests to his wide travelling to explore new subject matter. His thoughtfully sensitive portrayal of scenes from the Mormon Corridor are particularly valued in the Intermountain region.