Unable to write or speak French, and unable to use the telephone, while in Paris Baldridge had to rely on his crude junior high Latin skills, sign language and lots of exploration. Most days began with a walk in different directions, as he sought basic necessities, food, drink, art materials and technical services. It’s a very humbling experience to be in a grocery store looking at a cooler of dairy products and wondering whether a product was the desired coffee cream, or whether it was yogurt, low calorie yogurt, artificial yogurt, skim milk, 1% milk, 2% milk, soy milk, artificial cream, or half & half, etc. Thus, an example of almost everything for which he searched. Buying art materials was easier, but they were two to three times more expensive than in the U.S. In anticipation of his residency Baldridge brought a large case of acrylic paints and a sketchbook of designs, realizing he couldn’t possibly bring all the tools and materials to create jewelry or stained glass, let alone transport home the finished products. So, he concentrated on several acrylic paintings, something he hadn’t done in thirty years.
However, his residency in Paris, was a real “art vacation”, a concentrated period of time with few distractions. Paris is a fabulous city so full of light, space, grandeur, history and energy. Baldridge tried to capture this energy and light in his paintings which fused right into his design philosophy, and continues to have a major impact on his work. He titled his favorite painting “Paris 2002” full of energy and color. Like everyone else who has been to Paris, he vows to return.
Mark Baldridge has a B.S. degree in art education from State University College at Buffalo and a M.F.A. degree in metalsmithing and jewelry from Cranbrook Academy of Art, with a minor in design. He taught two years at the University of Evansville before coming to Longwood University in 1972, where he continues to teach jewelry, two and three dimensional design, wood, jewelry and stained glass classes. He has a strong focus on design and states all media is simply used to create designs, whether it be in paint and canvas, wood and glass or gold and precious stones. He says his biggest work of art is his house and surrounding land, which continues to evolve through the years.
Baldridge has participated in over 150 local, national and international exhibitions including at the Virginia Museum, the Mint Museum of Art, the Cite’ Internationale des Arts (in Paris) and the Vatican Museum (in Rome). He has received numerous awards such as Merit Award, “Goldsmiths '77”, Phoenix, AZ and University of Seattle;
First Prize, “3rd Biennial Lake Superior International Crafts Exhibition”, Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, Minnesota; and Most Creative Functional Design in any Media, “Tenth Biennial Crafts Exhibition”, Creative Crafts Council, Washington, DC. In addition, he has conducted 26 workshops in 14 states on jewelry or design at prestigious places like Arrowmont School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Brookfield School of Crafts, Peters Valley Craftsmen and for organizations like Washington Goldsmiths Guild, Pennsylvania Society of Goldsmiths, Michigan silversmiths Guild, Southeast Region of the American Crafts Council and Florida Craftsmen. Also, he has organized and coordinated four American Crafts Council, Southeast Region conferences including coordinating the most recent one at Arrowmont School of Crafts in 2007.
In 1975 he created the first newsletter for the Society of North American Goldsmiths and served as its editor for five years as he quickly expanded it into a pamphlet (Golddust), then Goldsmiths Journal, and finally Metalsmith magazine. He continued to assist with Metalsmith for an additional five years as co-editor, associate editor and editorial advisory board as well as serving two four year terms on the society’s board of directors. Because of this, the society which had been floundering with a membership of less than a hundred, is now thousands of members strong and has continued to publish Metalsmith as a full color magazine for the past twenty years representing the society’s artistic achievements to the world. In 1982 he initiated and co-organized the "Founding Fathers of the U.S. Metalsmithing Movement" conference at Smithsonian Institution. For fourteen years, he also served as a book reviewer for Jewelers Circular Keystone, the nation’s (and perhaps the world’s) largest commercial jewelry magazine. In 1999 he presented the keynote address at the Association of Virginia Artisans’ conference in Fredericksburg. Currently he serves as the Virginia representative and treasurer for American Crafts Council-Southeast and the coordinator of the Virginia atelier at the Cite’ Internationale des Arts in Paris.
For the past several years, all his art projects have revolved around his house. It has involved building three towers, benches, fences, decks, pools and more, using wood, stained glass, glass blocks, stained glass windows, light panels, mirrors and aluminum in dynamic and creative ways to play with the element of light. Baldridge has personally designed and built at least half of this house. The most recent stained glass panel (created with the assistance of two former students) is more than ten feet high and two feet wide, and mounted on one side of an exterior chimney. His background in jewelry and love of color and light, can be seen throughout the house and grounds. He is now designing and creating two more stained glass windows, which will serve as transitional caps sitting atop vertical strips of glass blocks. When the house is finally completed, it will represent his abilities as a craftsmen, and a dynamic example of his teaching and design philosophies, a true work of art.
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