Bonnie Baker works at drawing and printmaking. She grew up in farmlands of Southern Ontario at a time when big tobacco agribusiness was at its peak. The rapidly changing social, economic, environmental landscape of her rural community made an impression on her and her work continues to reference the rural experience. Baker studied at Humber College, Toronto, lived in Northern Canada from 1970 to 1975 before moving to Nova Scotia/Mi’ma’ki. She studied printmaking at NSCAD, Women’s Studio Workshop in upstate New York and with Nova Scotia printmaker Cecil Day.  In addition to drawing and printmaking, she has worked with textiles from 1984 to 2007.

Her textile and works on paper has been included in several invitational group exhibitions in Canada and US as well as a slate of solo exhibits. Selected drawings were published in the International Drawing Annual 7 (INDA) and pieces can be found in the public collections of the Art Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank and Societe internationale des enterprises ECONOMUSE.  Baker regularly exhibits her drawings and prints. In 2016, she presented new drawings in a joint exhibit Geography of Bliss. Her prints have been seen in exhibits in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Alberta  as well as New York and Ithaca, US.

Community engagement is an integral part of her practice. Among other projects, she has coordinated on several projects including Folio an open interpretation of the art book, Groundworks environmentally sensitive installations on a local walking trail, Collaboration on Marginal Road a collective writing of text projected during Nocturne, Halifax and SKATE Print, a day of community printmaking with skateboards, roller blades, bicycles, and all things wheeled.

Baker is a founding active member of Elephant Grass Print Society. a printmaking collective located in rural Nova Scotia/Mi’ma’ki. In addition to her continued involvement with a regional art council she has served as president of NS Printmakers, and on the Boards for Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Board of Governors and Visual Arts Nova Scotia.  In 2016 she was a recipient of an Established Artist Award in Nova Scotia.