The high desert country of West Texas is engrained in the psyche of Mary Baxter.  Her paintings reveal a deep understanding and nuanced knowledge of these storied lands, based on insights she has acquired over years of living here as a resident, a rancher and now a full-time painter. Her paintings of the area, reflect Baxter’s profoundly internalized “sense of place”, these bold abstractions drawing from this expansive and dramatic country and affirming her vision through grand execution and striking color schemes.  As the high plains and Palo Duro Canyon lands of the Texas Panhandle fed the imagination of a young Georgia O’Keefe in an earlier time, the Texas Big Bend has influenced the life and art of Mary Baxter, lending vision, inspiration and natural ingredients to her inspired landscapes of this vast and mystical sector of West Texas. Like O’Keefe, Baxter’s far west Texas paintings, including the Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks, exalt the latent glories of her slice of the American West - glories which are reflected in the artist’s stylized views of nature and which likewise emerge through a lens of strong and enlightened female perspective. This show features over 40 of Baxter’s recent works, unquestionably her most stunning output to date. The works truly speak for themselves and clearly move Baxter to a well-earned spot at the head of the class when it comes to conveying the aura of the far West Texas. Thus, this show assumes the stature of a “command performance” for all Texas art aficionados, and especially those enthralled by the majesties of Far West Texas.

Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on display through April 29.