Name: Neil Lawson Baker
Business: Chairman of The Chichester Art Trust; CEO of The National Open Art Competition and Artist.
Location: West Ashling near Chichester.
Website: www.neillawsonbaker.com and www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com
Tell us about your background:
After nearly 50 years in the medical profession practising as a London based, medically qualified Dental Surgeon, I have had a career change and am now fully integrated into the art world!
Tell us about what you do:
I administrate The National Open Art Competition, which is the fastest growing Open Art competition in the UK. As a not-for-profit charity we help and encourage artists and photographers across the entire UK to compete for good money prizes as well as helping them to market their art works. However, the very fact of competing and, in particular, getting work shown, both in our exhibitions and online on our website, hugely helps in getting these artists recognized in the art world at large. We have a following of over 5000 artists who give us very positive feed back about the help and inspiration our team give to many of them throughout each year.
Tell us about the kind of people that you meet and work with:
The National Open Art Team are a small group of enthusiasts working together with a number of unpaid volunteers and committed trustees. There is a strong bond which provides the team with a very positive outlook and an ongoing feeling of continual improvement of the service provided, as well as developing inspirational new concepts.
What is your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement is probably being alive, well into my 73rd year and being able to maintain the enthusiasm for each and every day. A special achievement was saving the life of a little girl with terminal cancer when she was 11 yrs old. She is 24 this week…Cherish is a whole story in her own right!
Who, what or where inspires you and why?
Picasso, Henry Moore, Bach, Louis Armstrong and Bernstein are all inspirational for their great art, great music and genius. On the flip side, our tiny earth, all its wonders and a number of people I have known who have made it through adversity, whether life threatening illness or life experiences, are just as inspirational. There is just so much to inspire one if you have your eyes open. It might be a gardener, a housekeeper or a nurse in a hospital; everyone has a story and if you look and listen so many can inspire you.
What projects are you working on now/ have you worked on recently?
I have retired from my profession as a London based Dental Surgeon and I am now totally involved in the Art World. I am a sculptor, painter, photographer and poet but at present most of my time is spent at the helm of The National Open Art Competition run by a local charity, The Chichester Art Trust, which I chair.
Our team is building one of the most successful Open Art Competitions in the UK, involving artists from across the whole spectrum of abilities, nationwide. Recently we have launched a new UK ARTMAP which will be known as ARTMAP-UK.com. At present it is being trialled on www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com and it provides a map where people will be able to find artists, photographers, galleries, museums, framers and indeed any art-related business. Anyone can register their business and, for £15 a year, have a flag on the ARTMAP-UK, which when clicked on will link straight to their website. It is an exciting new development and we think it will be very successful. Our mission is to help artists nationwide to produce and sell their work and also to be exposed to the biggest market possible, inexpensively.
You recently took part in the Chichester Open Studios Art Trail. Tell us about your experience:
This is one of the many annual Art Trails that take placed across the UK and this one is very well organised by Malcolm MacDonald. It helps artists to get closer to the public and the public to have the opportunity to see artists at work; it increases public awareness of just how much talent there is in and around the area that they live. Every year people get pleasure from these two weekends. It is a huge amount of work to organise but very well worthwhile. Chichester and the surrounding areas, as far as Arundel and Petworth, are hugely blessed with a host of artistic talent and there are many very well known artists who are not on the trail. I would like our city to be known as “Chichester The City of The Arts”.
What do you hope to be doing in five years time?
Be alive and fit. I will be 78 years old if I am lucky enough to still be here! I hope that I will have found a dynamic successor to run the National Open and that I will still be able to produce art works, write poetry and enjoy our fabulous city and all its cultural and artistic offerings. Perhaps I will even find time to ride too!
What do you do in your leisure time?
I beg your pardon? Leisure!!! I love work, even if it is working the garden or the horses. I travel if possible. Last year we rode in Argentina; we do tend to end up on a horse wherever we roam. In 2000 I drove Around the World in a classic car rally…there is just so much to do! Work and leisure blend in to each other and every day is a good one. In days gone by I was a three day eventer and drove rally cars too. Sport of all types is a passion of mine.
What do you think you would be doing do if you weren’t an artist?
Most things in life have an artistic side to them. I would probably be dead!
If you could meet one famous artist, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Picasso, he was a genius and bon viveur with a huge zest for life and an intense work ethic.
Finally, any words of wisdom for other creative people?
Just do it! Everyone has an artist inside them. Always open the mind to learning, as you learn everyday of your life. Don’t let any box cover your head and always keep an open mind, making time for everyone and every idea. Radiate happiness; what you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.
The exhibition this year looks good and there is a great range of works. I think that the selection of work has produced a show that represents much of what is interesting and good about contemporary art practice. I was lucky enough to have a painting accepted but was unable to attend the artists private view.
Will attend in the next few days.
Alex Hanna