About Genie
Austin has been my home from 1960-1976 and 2011 to current day. My education includes a BFA from UT Austin in1975, a master’s in social work from UALR in 1980, and an Art Therapy Certificate from UC Berkeley Extension, in 1997. I made a living as an LCSW Social Worker, retiring in 2015.
The last eight years (minus the time of Covid lockdown) included almost continuous courses in art at the Contemporary Art School at Laguna Gloria. My mentors have been Eric Jackson, master potter who created a wondrous clay community and Ryan Sanderson-Montgomery, M.F.A., who created the successful painter’s roundtable experience.
I was also influenced by my father, Mort Baranoff, M.F.A., who taught at UT Austin from 1960 to his death in 1978. He was a printmaker, and painter. Please check his work out at mortbaranoffart.net
Another aspect of my life was social activism starting with the protests of the Viet Nam War, working against smoking inside buildings (Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution), various green & peace groups in San Francisco, and Peace Fresno – see Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 911, the Temperature at Which Freedom Burns.
I sublimated my desire to make art into making protest signs and banners.
Retirement from 40 years of making a living, left energy and time to pursue throwing pottery and painting full time. The studio classes at the Contemporary Art School and Austin Pottery have provided the service of firing my ceramic work in their kilns. I have also been blessed with the teaching of Rob Sheldon from Eye of the Dog Art Center and Patty Creamer of Austin Pottery.
Every town I’ve lived in has brought its special gifts to bear. San Bernardino gave my parents, newly minted citizens, a business to support our family and my birth. Los Angeles gave my parents college educations. Austin was a funky, quirky town to grow up in, and provided my mother a doctorate, my brother and I bachelor’s degrees and a place to come home to.
Little Rock gave me an affordable and charming quality of life and a husband, as brief as that came and went, and a masters. San Francisco was a tough, beautiful, dream of a city, where I toughened up. Walnut Creek/Danville/San Ramon showed me that all patients deserve thoughtful care. Fresno/Madera gave me the best community of activists one could imagine, and a work program focusing on maternal, infant, child health.
Covid brought unexpected challenges as has aging. Being isolated from other human contact was devastating. And the vicissitude of waning physical strength has brought new challenges. But the creating of art, the process of art, and especially the community of artists is a welcome oasis.
"Art comes from life, not from the studio."
Marina Abramovic
More about the artist
Artmaking is a way of processing the adventure of life --especially the angst of my perceptions of the external world. My imagery also includes altered reality, my internal experiences via fantasy and dreams, and illustrations of imagined tales. The female face and form have a central role, though I’ve begun not using the nude female figure. It is important to remember the history of who traditionally gazed at artwork. I may in the future reclaim the female nude figure but right now it feels voyeuristic.
The experience of creating through the various media, especially throwing pots on the wheel is transformative; I’m unaware of time passing and the ever-present demands of the day subside. There is an exaltation in color, line, and form. While on the pottery wheel, the sensation of the clay spinning around through my hands is deeply sensual. Throwing a pot is the practice of constantly pursuing the perfect form.
Often my paintings have many actual layers, as the first painted surface often presents a “problem” that I want to solve. Images emerge from my imagination but aren’t fully realized. Then I must let the design and forms percolate in my mind until the next steps present.
I expect each observer will project their own meaning onto the images, and every interpretation is valid within reason. My intention is to present a snapshot of a moment in time, without making it too didactic. When world events harshly intrude, then I use the painting to process my grief. Examples of this are the images of Bucha, Mariupol and an image called “Waiting.”
Repeated themes include windows, portals, archways, souls rising to the next existence, ghosts and the staring female face. The women’s eyes are seeing things we can’t see or expressing feelings via their gaze. What have we all witnessed?
Please enjoy my work.
Check out my instagram for more of my artwork, uploaded on a semi-frequent basis!