Florida's Astute Marine Artist

Executive Global: Sigmund Freud said ‘when inspiration doesn’t come, I go halfway to meet it.’ What are some of the activities you do to gain inspiration, and who are your greatest creative influences as an artist? 

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Jane Lawton Baldridge: Contact with any body of water can turn into a sea story painting and I have plenty more to refer to. Early on, Jacques Cousteau’s photography of CLEAN Clear water, Georgia O’Keefe and Judy Chicago then came Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Katsushika Hokusai, Willard Bond, JMW Turner and Winslow Homer.
 

EG: You are also a gold medalist, having won the 1976 U.S. Women’s North American Championship! How has life as a licensed boat captain and your relationship with the water, impacted your artistic output? 

JLB: When we moved off the boat, I brought artworks from several studios representing five decades. And in each decade, I had series of moving water in different media with a differing focus. And then it hit me, I have spent my entire life working, competing, living and playing on the water. It is my truth. My Sea Stories are not depictions of seascapes, but reconstructions of lived encounters with the sea.
 

EG: You harness your talents using the power of art to bring awareness to environmental crises. Tell us more about your Sea Stories art portfolio and the Oceana Phenomena Project? 

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JLB: Watching my childhood sandcastles fall to the continued impertinent rolling in of waves and tide captivated me. It was but a miniature version of what happens all around the globe. Currents, tides and runoff change the land, scouring some here, depositing some there. It can be beautiful or terrifying. As powerful as the ocean is, it cannot defend itself from man-made pollution and problems.

EG: You have exhibited in venues like Times Square, Lincoln Center, The Musée du Louvre, and Fayetteville Museum of Art. What do you feel is your greatest achievement of all? 

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JLB: I hope I haven’t peaked yet, haha! I am most proud of not giving up. My current path really started to make a larger impact on audiences in 2022, with the Annapolis Maritime Museum exhibition and the Studios of Key West exhibition. Then in 2024, the Cornell Art Museum exhibition, all of these had powerful participation by stakeholders in politics, environmental care, insurance and mortgage industries. The public wept at my presentations in Key West, I was awarded a citation from the Senator of Maryland and so much more. I had to take a breath, but cannot wait to take it back out to help educate and create compassion for our oceans, shorelines and those that live in and near the water.
 

EG: How would you say that your education at the California Institute of the Arts and the Alfred G. Glassel Museum School, prepared you to excel in life a successful artist? 
 

JLB: California Institute of the Arts taught me to make art that has never been made before. If it is not original, there is no point to it. Alfred G. Glassel Museum School taught me to always be creating in multiple media, to never stop trying new things and experimenting.

EG: You are also a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists. What trends do you see driving the artistic world within the next 10 years? 

JLB: There are so many flavours of art out there. In Miami Art Week, you see a few great works mixed in with a lot of shock & awe or derivative, work that leaves me empty. The ASMA artists are a very talented bunch doing beautiful (mostly) traditional artwork. My favourite was Willard Bond, whose work captured the adrenaline of a sailboat race. Also Joyful Enriquez paints her passion for the whales. I respect their skills immensely. I would hope artists and collectors will respect the need for original thought. Aesthetics vary and are subjective, but having a passion behind the art is important to me.

EG: What can wealthy art collectors, patrons and High Net Worth investors look forward to from you in the future? 

JLB:  We call it an art practice because each piece is hoped to be better than the one before. I will continue to explore new ways to share my passion while I hone my skills. I continue to raise the bar on where I exhibit.   EG