Artist Profile: Lisa LaRue-Baker (Cherokee Nation)
Lisa LaRue-Baker (Cherokee Nation)
3605 SW 11th St.
Topeka, KS 66604
Bio:
Lisa LaRue Baker (Cherokee Nation) is a traditional double-wall basket maker, and contemporary basket artist. She has taught thousands of students over a 20+ year timespan, to make Cherokee baskets, cornhusk dolls, traditional clothing, jewelry, as well as Cherokee language and culture. She has her work in several tribal museums, as well as the collection of the Five Civilized Tribes Museum and numerous Federal government collections. Her other media forms include mobiography and digital manipulation, Cherokee twining, and other textile arts. She also works in mobiography, digital manipulation of vintage photos, and hand watercolor tinting of these images. She was raised in Topeka, Kansas by her maternal grandparents, and spent most of her adult life living and working in Cherokee Nation in Northeast Oklahoma. She has returned to Kansas to enjoy all the things life has to offer after retiring from tribal service. She is the owner, gallerist and teaching artist at 785 Arts studio and gallery in downtown Topeka (2022 People’s Choice recipient), teaches Creative Aging at LULAC Senior Center, a facilitator for Mid-America Arts Alliance and a member of the board of directors at ArtsConnect, a local organization that advocates for and represents artists in Shawnee County, Kansas.