A quick drawing lesson for the kiddos (and everyone else) stuck at home...Choose a familiar object from around your house. Stage it in an interesting way that makes it easy to identify. Try drawing the edges of it with only lines. Imagine an ant is crawling along the edges of the object; follow the trail of the ant on your paper with the tip of your pencil. Draw the edges of the big shapes, the small shapes and the details. Make the silhouette or outline the darkest or thickest line of all...Post your drawing in the comments if you're feeling up to it. ​

HANDS-ON-LEARNING IS THE BEST!: Kanab Nativity Restoration from Joshua Baird on Vimeo.
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A group of Kanab High School students help restore a community nativity set. The set was purchased by funds raised by Kanab citizens over 33 years ago. The set will be on display through the month of December on the lawn of the LDS church on Highway 89, a few blocks South of Highway 89A/89B junction.

The Nvorczk series is one of the most puzzling in the history of American Art. It appears to be the work of a Russian expressionist named Nvorczk when in reality the artist responsible for these images was America's own Maynard Dixon. ​

MAYNARD DIXON (1875-1947)

Maynard Dixon is one of the Southwest's most celebrated artists.  His career overlapped many significant developments in the history of modern art. Many qualities of these modern movements show through in his work as it evolved over the course of his career.

Dixon painted around 60 of these mysterious images between 1917 and 1934, but never showed them to anyone. Susan Bingham, cofounder of the Thunderbird Foundation and friend of Dixon's widow, Edith Hamblin, says, "The abstract paintings Dixon produced with the signature Nvorczk were never meant to see the light of day. They were an expression of a time when Dixon was experiencing depression and difficult personal times, the reason he never signed his own name. After Edith Hamlin Dixon's death these pieces were discovered and offered in the public marketplace through a family member."

Dixon is famous for his tranquil paintings of the people and landscape of the American Southwest. This series flies in direct contrast to Dixon's familiar style and subject matter; it shows just how complex the man really was.  Below are paintings more typical of Dixon's style. ​

I got to ride along as the art instructor on this San Juan river trip with Kanab High school students. Every teen should have the opportunity to go on a trip like this without it breaking their parent's bank account.  Students were so engaged, observant and attentive.  They were much more inclined to take an interest in subjects like botany, poetry, watercolor and conservation in this environment than they would ever be in a classroom.

​Video was an essential component to the Kanab Skatepark compaign we initiated in around 2011. I learned alot while making these videos. They were essential to the compaign's eventual success.
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The film below is just a simple explanation of what K-Town Plaza might look like within the confines of the 100x100 ft property boundaries the city was willing to donate to the project. This was before cell phones were used to capture and share video. I mounted an old canon camera to a stop animation mount to make this video.

I had some students throw this video together in an effort to get as many students involved as possible in the project. We burned this video to DVD and sent it out to businesses to raise money. ​

This animation was curcial in helping people visualize how the plaza might look. We later pitched the idea to the city council to remove the redundant street on the East side of the property. They initially rejected the idea, but only a few months later, we noticed it's removal. We're super glad they got on board with that idea and embraced the idea of connecting the Plaza concept with Jacob Hamblin Park to the East. 

​Virtual Tour of K-Town Plaza from Joshua Baird on Vimeo.
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According to ARC (American Ramp Company) K-Town Plaza is the first skatepark they know of to incorporate a pump track around its perimeter. No one knew what a "pump track" was at the time so I made this video to demonstrate the idea.

​K-Town Plaza Update: What's A Pump Track? from Joshua Baird on Vimeo.

I didn't make this film, it was made by Alon Karpman. It does a great job of showing the construction process. Lots of great shots here...

I'm not totally sure who made the video below, but I think it was a former student of mine, Jake Clayson. It shows what the skatepark looks like today. Every time I drive by I see kids all over it. The folks on the committee and I couldn't be happier with the final results. We could not have make this happen without the support of local families, business and politicians.

Value does the work. Color gets the credit.

​Understanding an artist's style is key to understanding the history of the art world, but it can also be a very misleading practice. Just when you thought you had pinned down the notable styles of the most important artists in your art history class in high school or college. Think again.  

Here's a new perspective on style:  Consider the careers and work of some of the most important painters in the last century: Georgia O'Keeffe, Richard Deibenkorn, Willem De Kooning, Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Maynard Dixon, Claude Monet, Alexander Calder, Piet Mondrian, and Robert Motherwell.  There are many others, but these artists are great examples of individuals whose work evolved dramatically over time.  In their minds, consistency was another word for creative stagnation.  These artists are important because of their unceasing pursuit of a creative vision.  They valued artistic freedom over commercial success.  

Can you imagine if Vincent VanGoh painted sunflowers his whole life?  Or if Claude Monet never got past his charicatures?  Granted, in retrospect, these artists had common threads unifying most if not all of their artistic labors.  But those threads of style were never contrived; nor were they planned.  They were never based on a specific motif or brush stroke.  Their style was always a natural consequence of their artistic journey, of being true to themselves and living in the moment.

Like the tracks of a coyote zigzagging around patches of sage and juniper.  Style should never be the trail that you follow, but the tracks you leave behind.

The images below show how three of the greatest painters explored the coninuum of representation.  On the left are representational paintings, on the right are abstract paintings, in the middle are pieces that cross between the two ends of the continuum.  In some cases the abstract works are non-objective, meaning no subject other than color, line, shape, etc.