Gabrielle Baker could no longer ignore the voice inside, encouraging her to return to an old passion. She immersed herself in a half-day, still life/abstract art class at Parson’s. At first she merely dabbled in art, but over time and with further inspiration, she began to regain her former artistic self.  After entering a piece called “Metallurgy 1 – Copper” in an exhibit in Montclair NJ, she sold the work and quickly resumed her practice, making metals the inspiration for her art.

Every Saturday as a ten-year-old girl, she took the train from the Bronx to Manhattan to a watercolor class at the Art Students League. The instructor, Ethel Katz, was welcoming, always giving her a subtle nod and smile. She took her portfolio of paintings to auditions at Music and Art High School in Harlem. The entrance committee took one look at the watercolors and admitted her.  Family members with good intentions offered advice, telling her that painting made for a great hobby but not a career. She listened and majored in science at college, intending to go to medical school. In spite of a nagging inner voice asking why she abandoned her art, she did not pick up a brush for over thirty years.

 Her  journey from still life watercolors to painting acrylic abstracts of metals, quartz crystals, and other minerals is filled with many serendipitous events, leading her where she should have been all along.