J. R. Baldini
is from upstate New York where she studied painting and printmaking
from a very early age at Munson Williams Proctor School of Art, now part
of Pratt.
Having
spent 30 years painting on tiny and exotic islands and the Niagara
Peninsula, she now resides there with well known Canadian photographer
husband Charles Vandersluys and their Silky terrier Bebe Star.
J,
R. is referred by the National Gallery of Canada as the only
Contemporary artist painting Niagara Falls, painting Niagara over and
over for the same reason Monet painted his haystacks, the ever changing
quality of light.
“Painting
en plein air has the capability of transferring internal communication
to the viewer very successfully. A metaphysical immersion happens when
you're drawn to a plein air painting – you're engaged in the atmosphere
the painting was created in, connected to a moment in time,” says
Baldini.
J.
R. founded International Plein Air Painters in 2001, hosting the annual
Great Worldwide Paint Out bringing artists from all over North America
to Niagara to paint, as the Executive Director and a Signature member of
IPAP .
J.
R. is currently showing at the NEW CENTURY ARTISTS Gallery in Manhattan
and the GREEN DRAKE gallery in PA.,as part of the WORLD TOUR OF
CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE ARTISTS that she has been a founding member of
since 2007. She's been a juror for numerous plein air events and been
published in many art and travel magazines. She has taught workshops in
St. Lucia for eight years, Maine for many more, Niagara Falls, Florida,
SC and new locations including a 'Greek Muse' painting tour of the Greek
Islands in the Fall. J. R. is a Master Photographer, she's been
inducted in the Niagara Falls Arts & Culture Wall of Fame
and is currently writing and illustrating a book on art and psychology
and a children’s book on celebrating what makes us different.
