PNW artist Stephen Baddeley has been cultivating his personal visual style for 20 years. As a young child, he was mesmerized by the explosive colors of graffiti masterpieces on freight trains in Boston. It didn't take long for him to start scribbling his own interpretations on any paper he could find. After moving across the country to Seattle at the age of eight years, he continued to practice in the world of graffiti, emphasizing clean line work and vibrant hues to engage the senses of any passerby. A run in with the law for his artwork on these illegal canvases at the age of 14 led the young one to deeply consider his life path. In the midst of the turmoil of consequence, he shifted his focus to ink drawings of landscapes, combined with imaginary figures and elements from his dreams. 

 

Often seeking refuge in nature as a place to heal, Stephen became more and more infatuated with the visual balance of Order and Chaos found in the Cascade Mountains. Jagged granite spires towering over the absolute stillness of alpine waters. Glacial rivers tearing through moss-blanketed old growth forests. These places allowed for space to build self-love, connection, and compassion for life.

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Baddeley has integrated elements from remote places of the Earth with those of the urban environment, always in an effort to create portals into new visual worlds. He deems his immersive creations "dreamscapes."

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Just before graduating from University with bachelors degrees in Psychology and Outdoor Recreation, Baddeley was diagnosed with cancer. He spent the rest of 2019 battling through surgery and treatments, while also guiding whitewater river trips in the North Cascades and showcasing his art at various music festivals around the Northwest and British Columbia. By November 2019, he had emerged from chemotherapy, healthy and victorious. With invigorated fire and life in his eyes, Baddeley spends his time pursuing his creative passion under the moniker Arctic Type.

 

A play-on-words of the Jungian concept of the Archetype, the pseudonym Arctic Type pays respect to the harsh natural environments that shaped his life path, and the collective unconscious that drives his creativity. Stephen now divides his time between guiding canoe-based Wilderness Therapy trips for at-risk youth in the islands of Southeast Alaska, and living a simple life in the small, vibrant artistic community of Bellingham, WA.

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"My goal, both as an artist and as a human being, is to inspire authentic connection. When people make contact with my art, I hope for them to be pulled into a new world of mystical possibilities. I view the process of painting as a communion with the infinite, represented both in the physical and in the metaphysical world. The creation of artwork is an attempt to turn potentiality into actuality -- to inspire, to relate, and to co-create."

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-S. Baddeley

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