Rocky Rische-Baird
Rocky Rische-Baird is an artist born and raised in Northern California who divides his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and a studio in the village of Putney, Vermont. Rische-Baird’s work, beautiful and peaceful, timeless and reflective, and stunning in both vision and rendering, reflects his deep love and affinity for nature, as well as his interest in questions regarding consciousness, the self, and the unity between the human mind, wonder, and nature. Fascinated and enamored with drawing, painting, and the natural world from the earliest of ages, Rische-Baird spent his every waking free hour honing his craft and exploring and observing nature, which led to a series of apprenticeships starting at a very young age with various artists and craftsmen, and eventual employment as an assistant art director in his teens at a printing and design studio. Later, Rische-Baird moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he has shown his work in Bay Area galleries, been voted “Best of the Bay” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian, accepted commissions to be part of permanent city collections, and has frequently been featured in numerous publications, such as the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Magazine, as well as featured on ABC News and KCBS radio. Through all of this, Rische-Baird has continued to create technically masterful works of a unique vision all his own, inspired by expressions throughout the ages that reflect concepts of continuity within nature and/or the self and how they relate to our contemporary perceptions of the world and our role in it; works that strive to portray an eternal essence of nature through timeless and magical pieces that place the value onto the wonder of being.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2008 Rocky Rische-Baird: Recent Paintings and Drawings, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA
2007 My Ruling Planet, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA
2006 Works Created From Work, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA
2006 The Capture of Solid, The Escape of Soul, Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA
2005 The Electric Life is Safe Together, Key Route Plaza, Oakland, CA
2001 Red Paintings, Hey! Gallery, Oakland, CA
2001 Collected and Displayed, Gaylord’s Café, Oakland, CA
2000 Work From the Dog Island Studio, Bear Flag Roasting Company, Red Bluff, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2007 GigaStar Round-Up 2, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA
2007 Uhruru, SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
2007 Artwork Unveiling & Artist Reception, Alameda County Arts Commission, San Leandro, CA
2006 Small Works Show, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA
2006 Awards Exhibition, Precita Eyes Arts Center, San Francisco, CA
2006 About Art, Dan Hauck Galleria, Oakland, CA
2002 Phantom Dreams and Lollipop Orbits, Nexus Gallery, Berkeley, CA
1999 Recent Works, Red Door Gallery, Chico, CA
PUBLICATIONS:
“A Colorful Journey Through Oakland,” San Francisco Chronicle, by Brenda Payton, Oct. 10, 2009
“Off The Wall,” Oakland Magazine, July/August 2009 issue
“Interview With the Artist, Rocky Rische-Baird,” KCBS Radio, November 2008
“The American Protest Essay and National Belonging: Addressing Division, SUNY Press, 2008
“My Ruling Planet Exhibition,” San Francisco Chronicle, by Reyhan Harmuci, May 3, 2007
“Interview With the Artist,” KCBS Radio, April 2006
“The Capture of Solid, The Escape of Soul,” ABC7 News, April 2006
“Painting The Past Into the Future,” Terrain Magazine, 2006
“New Art Explores Early California Culture Clash,” The Weekly – Mills College, 2006
“Art Raises Eyebrows With Look at Ohlone Plight,” Oakland Tribune, 2006
“Key To the Past,” San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, 2005
“Artist Making History,” Oakland Tribune, 2005
“Best of the Bay,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, 2005
“The Politics of Art,” East Bay Express, 2005