bio
Mack Baker is a transdisciplinary artist interested in the tactile allure of squishy forms—bodies, expressive line-work, and the curvature of wheel-thrown clay. Born in New England, Baker had an early fascination with artisan wares and craft pottery, evolving into a passion for wheel throwing. Spanning drawing, fibers, and ceramics, Baker's installation-based practice is concerned with themes of bodily intimacy and connection through repetitive mark making. Their ceramic sculptures explore the beauty in the clay’s decay and collapse, a metaphor for the serene vulnerability of a body at rest. Beyond their studio practice, Baker engages in relational aesthetics by hosting intimate dinner gatherings, where meals served on their ceramic plates which are adorned with words of affirmations and poetry, embedding thematic narratives within everyday rituals.
In 2022 Baker was included in the Austrian American Foundation’s collection in Salzburg, awarded during their residency at the Summer Academie at Festung Hohensalzburg. After graduating with their MFA in Ceramics at SAIC in 2023, Baker went on to complete residencies at the Institut für Alles Mögliche in Berlin and the Project Network residency at Guldagergård’s International Ceramic Research Center in Skælskør, Denmark. In 2024 they had a solo show at Rainbow Unicorn Gallery in Berlin and has an upcoming solo show at the Design Museum of Chicago. Baker continues their practice as a studio artist in both Chicago and Berlin.
cv
Solo Exhibitions
2026- Where My Hands Have Been, The Design Museum, Chicago IL
2025- So You Want an Award or Something? Compound Yellow, Chicago IL
2024- Ethereal Flesh, Rainbow Unicorn, Berlin DE
2022- (not) hiding, Gallery 1922 SAIC, Chicago IL
2022- Being With You, Gallery 1922 SAIC, Chicago IL
2019- Fascial Movements, UVM, Burlington VT
Group Shows
2025- Halloween Group Show, Hex Gallery, Chicago IL
2025- In a Child’s Place, Purple Window Gallery, Chicago IL
2025- Kaolinite Obstruction, Positive Space Studios, Chicago, IL
2025- Conjuring Home, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, IL
2024- Return to Care, Lill Street Group Show, Chicago, IL
2023-24- Unfurled, Post Residency Group show, Denver CO
2023- Zeitgeist Group Show, Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin DE
2023- Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2, Chicago IL
2023- SPACORE, Co-Prosperity, Chicago IL
2023- Me Importas Tù, The Martin Gallery, Chicago IL
2023- The Grounds Between Us, Heaven Gallery, Chicago IL
2022- Roy Leiman Center Exhibition, SAIC, Chicago IL
2022- SPACORE, Midway Art Fair, Chicago IL
2022- Festung Hohensalzburg Group Show, International Academy of Art, Salzburg, Austria
2022- pätˈlək, Gallery 1922 SAIC, Chicago IL
2021- Soft Spots: Body as Home, SMFA, Boston MA
2020- Reclaimed, SMFA, Boston MA
2019- Art Shape Mammoth Group Show, Spannocchia, Rosia Italy
Awards
2022- Seebacher Award, Austrian American Foundation, Salzburg, Austria
2021- New Artist Society Scholarship, SAIC
2020- Dean’s Research Grant, SMFA, Boston, MA
2019- APLE Research Grant, Burlington VT
Residencies
2024- Project Network Residency, Skælskør DK
2023- Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin DE
2023- Post Residency, Denver CO
2022- International Summer Academy, Festung Hohensalzurg, Salzburg, Austria
2019- Art Shape Mammoth Residency at Spannocchia, Rosia, Italy
2016- Visitor’s Center Art Camp, Ironwood MI
Dinners
2025- So You Want an Award or Something? Dinner with Txa-Txa Club, Compound Yellow, Chicago, IL
2024- Vis-à-vis Dinner with Txa-txa club Chicago, IL
2023- Gertie Exposition Weekend Dinner (featured artist), Chicago IL
Press
https://kumorecords.com/Mack-baker/
https://www.aaf-online.org/index.php/aaf-fine-arts-prize.html
https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/review-mdw-art-fair-at-mana-contemporary/