In January of last year I had just returned from my first artists residency abroad. I was awarded the Canton Vaud residence in Berlin. I started developing new bodies of work which I have been working on since i’ve been back and hope to have an opportunity to share this year. The residence was in general an incredibly fruitful and rich experience.

It was amazing to be in Berlin, to reinvent a daily life and rhythm. We had lots of visits from friends, I celebrated my 40th birthday, and I started singing shapenotes in Berlin. If I haven't told you about it or you haven't heard it you can learn more about it from this BBC podcast.

I have been working part time at the Musee Jenisch since I've been back in January. There is currently an excellent exhibition about ukiyo-e.

The part time job allows me to spend time in my new studio. I have a few different bodies of work i’m working on; I would love the chance to work on public artworks (kunst am bau) this year (if you are reading this kunst am bau attributors.)

Some things I enjoyed in 2025:

Travelling to sing - I travelled to Lewes in the UK and Koln, Bremen, Berlin, and Munich to sing Sacred Harp last year.

Reading - This year I read alot of Neal Stephenson: Seveneves, Cryptonomicon and the three books in his Baroque Cycle; Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. Annihilation from Jeff Vandermeer and Blood Meridian from Cormac Mccarthy amongst others.

Unclehood - Although my nephews were technically born in November of 2024, I met them for the first time in 2025. Genetics is totally psychedelic and when I look at them I see flashes of their parents and grandparents in their faces and gestures. I can't wait to grow old with them, and it makes me want to be a better person and steward for our world.

Teaching - I gave a multi day workshop at the HEAD Geneva as part of the POOL week. It was about dark patterns and you can see some source material here. Big takeaway for me, I love teaching, and the generation currently in art school are beyond rock solid and caring; maybe even doubling down on taking care of eachother as the world becomes increasingly uncertain.

Photographing - Since I'm not on Instagram (you can follow #bakerwardlaw to see what others post about me) I still wanted an outlet to share photographs. Now is a good time to check out the full 2025 photos at the bottom of my website. It also functions as a gratitude journal / inspiration notebook. As you can see, lots of photos of food, nature, and street stuff.

Green Tea - If you have talked to me recently (or ever came to Silicon Malley) you know that I like specialty coffee. After a visit to this shop in Berlin, I got more serious about tea, and have been loving drinking different Japanese and Chinese green teas.

Wishing everyone an amazing year. If you'd like to sign up to my newsletter where i will infrequently (a few times a year) share updates, please do so here 😀

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