Jim Baker is a New Mexican mixed-media artist working in the creation of three-dimensional devotional art. Jim’s work is strongly influenced by his years as a pastor and by his love for the Bible and sacred writings. His art uses antique and ancient religious artifacts, repurposed Bibles, reliquary altars, crosses, clay sculptures and spiritual symbols to illuminate Biblical passages, metaphors, and stories. Jim’s prayer is that his art will inspire devotion and worship of God, provoke spiritual conversations, and help to uncover the often-hidden meaning in Holy Scripture.

Jim’s sacred art structures can be found in churches, schools, religious institutions, homes, and businesses….wherever people want creative and inspirational art to express and experience their faith.

My Inspiration
All of my work is inspired by the Bible and the 40 authors who wrote it over a 1500-year period. My work reflects the diversity of those writers. Some were kings and prophets, others were shepherds, fishermen, and physicians, people from all walks of life. They lived at different times but used a common language of stories, symbols, and metaphors to communicate a central message – God, who created us all, desires a personal relationship with us through His Spirit and His Son, Jesus.
As a pastor for over 40 years, I frequently came across old Bibles in different languages and translations. I discovered there is a vast trove of old Bibles in many languages in a state of disrepair and disuse. My desire became to somehow repurpose these old Bibles, to give them a new life and a new purpose. Turning them into pieces of art seemed to me an appropriate way to restore their beauty and transform their usefulness into something that could serve as a visual reminder of one’s faith heritage and could continue to be passed down from generation to generation. The realization that the word “religion” comes from the Latin word, Re-ligio, which means “to rebind,” further inspired me to rebind these old Bibles.
My final bit of inspiration came from the knowledge that from the beginning of time every indigenous people, culture and faith group has used stories, metaphors, and symbols to communicate the history, values, and truths they hold dear. Because my faith heritage is Judeo-Christian, I drape these re-stitched Bibles from a Biblical symbol, metaphor, or story.

My Story
For most of my life I never considered myself particularly creative or artistic. My work in church administration kept me primarily in the left brain. Over time though, I came to understand that structure and organization can be a creative enterprise. That creativity can be exercised in the designing and presenting of reports and the conceptualizing of processes and systems. And I came to see art as organized beauty and religion as organized spirituality. This realization freed me to begin accessing both my organized left brain and my creative right brain to uniquely express my personal spiritual journey and my understanding of Holy Scripture.

The result is what I call “Sacred Structures,” that convey my belief that the Bible cannot be fully interpreted and applied without understanding its metaphors, symbols, and stories. Jesus modeled this practice when he took what he saw around him, animals, flowers, trees, vines, bread, wine, yokes and used them as metaphors and parables to communicate truth. Sacred art has been a foundational means of teaching and inspiration for all faith groups for centuries. For me, art is an expression or representation of my most cherished values and my evolving spiritual journey. Hopefully, through my art I am able to inspire, move and connect with others who share similar values, truths and spiritual journeys.

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