RECAP: Artist in Residence George F. Baker III Welcomes Community to Midtown Studio
Need a pep talk? Here’s some words of wisdom and motivation from Atlanta’s busiest, most positive muralist.
Published: 04/07/2022
BY ELLIE HENSLEY
George F. Baker III may be one one Atlanta’s busiest artists. In the past three years, he has completed over 40 murals across the country.
But on March 31, Baker (also known as GFB3) took a breather from his many mural assignments to host an artist talk for members of the community.
More than 40 attended the event, held at Baker’s studio at One Peachtree Pointe in the north end of the district. The studio was gifted to him for a year and made possible by a partnership between Dewberry Foundation and Midtown Alliance as part of our Heart of the Arts program.
If you didn't attend the event, you missed out on Baker’s tales of befriending iconic Atlanta activist and rapper Killer Mike, making it on ESPN's College GameDay, and the surreal feeling of seeing his murals appear alongside Porsches in music videos. But Baker also had plenty of words of wisdom and affirmations to pass along — check them out below, along with some photos.
Your Dreams Look Different When They’re Reality
“If you’d have told me five years ago that I would have been painting, I would have said, ‘Ain’t no way, you’re lying.' But literally diving into this four years ago, I’ve been able to see this was something I was perfectly aligned for. All the physicality of getting stuff done, all the problem solving things that bring me so much joy, and making things for people... I had no idea it would be attached to me getting on a lift that’s 80 feet in the air [referring to his latest mural project in Midtown], but hey, your dreams look different when they turn into realities.”
Baker is pictured with John Dewberry, left, and Jaimie Brown Dewberry, right, whose foundation Dewberry Foundation provided his studio space at One Peachtree Pointe.
Invest in Your Community
“Invest in your community, invest in people as much as possible, because they’ll do the same and invest in you.”
Value Friendship Over Networking
“Just make sure to make friends. I don’t try to network at all. I don’t believe in that. I believe in making genuine relationships with the people that are around you. I don’t try to put any type of pressure on, ‘I have to meet this person,’ because that’s not genuine… my career, in itself, has benefitted from me making friends.”
Get to Know the True Community Leaders
“When you do community work, people make mistakes in that they only meet the people that are officially named in the community. ‘Oh, this is the community leader that has been appointed,’ but a lot of the times the people that are the true community leaders don’t have that title.”
Playfulness is Key — Even at Work
“During the pandemic, Mailchimp tasked me with trying to illustrate the perfect workspace. For me, it’s going to be a place that’s incredibly playful. That’s one of my main tenets when I’m designing or making anything… because when we play, we bring out our inner child, and that’s the expression of who we are.”
Build the Plane as You Fly It
“It’s a lesson of perseverance, an artist’s journey. We’re all on our own individual artist’s journey. We all see ourselves as artists. We’re all making it up as we go. We’re building this plane as we’re flying. You have to make sure to honor that.”
Don't miss Baker's upcoming series of “Something to Say” Workshops that challenge artists of all levels to use the hand-drawn lettering to communicate their message with the world in new ways. Sign up for the free workshops, held on various dates starting April 28, here.
