Cash Baxter, MFA, award-winning artist and plein air Master Teacher is a multi-talented, multi-dimensional man for all seasons.  Baxter is a professor of art and theater history at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at California State University San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus.  As a faculty member of the Living Desert University, he taught plein air painting.  Baxter was president of the Artists’ Open Group of Painters at The Palos Verdes Art Center and served on the Governing Board of the Artists’ Council of the Palm Springs Art Museum.

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The Early Years

Cash Baxter's interest in art began at an early age stimulated by his paternal grandmother, Jeannette Hampton Baxter, a journalist and painter. At age 12 he became the youngest student of Chicago Art Institute's Roy Keister, with whom he studied portraiture and landscape, working with brush, palette knife, and winning local, regional and state awards.  In his teens, Baxter was invited to spend academic break time at the New England studio of Master Illustrator Norman Rockwell, observing and studying process and technique.

Later, at Southern Methodist University, he studied advanced painting with Jerry Bywaters, a founder of the famous "Dallas Four," a pace-setting group of Southwestern artists with a dramatic and theatrical style, which Baxter says made a lasting impression on his many choices of diverse subjects and styles.  Adding more awards to his already impressive list, he was given two "single artist" shows at The Shuttles Gallery in Dallas. He also became the assistant to Mr. Bywaters in teaching Freshman Painting at the University.

Baxter's works hang in galleries and private collections worldwide.

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College and University Theatrical Education Experience

In addition to his painting and art instruction careers, Cash Baxter has fifty-plus years’ experience in acting, producing, and directing stage, film, and television internationally, on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and teaching/directing in universities, conservatories, and master classes using the technique of Sanford Meisner.  He has been a MasterTeacher, Guest Director, or Lecturer at the following: California State University San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus; Southern Illinois University; University of Houston; Art Institute of Houston; Baylor University; American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYC; Clark University, MA; Pennsylvania State University; Rice University; State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton; SUNY New Paltz; Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts, CA; Southern Methodist University; The Living Desert University.

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Theatrical Career

Cash Baxter produced Candida on Broadway, and was an investor in the original company of Hair on Broadway.  He was the Executive Producing Director, Vice President, and Board Member of Windmill Dinner Theatres, where he produced 22 musicals and plays; Executive Producer and Artistic Director at Coachlight Dinner Theatre in Hartford, CT, where he produced and/or directed 42 musicals and plays, and Partner, Executive Producer, and Director of Parkway Casino Dinner Theatre in Tuckahoe, NY.

His regional theater directing career included the Asolo State Theatre in Sarasota, Meadow Brook Theatre in Detroit, Candlewood Area Theatre, CT, Stages Repertory Theatre, Houston; Opera Columbus, OH; Stage West in Springfield, MA; the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Santa Maria and Solvang, CA, and the Palm Springs International Playwriting Contest, where he was the director of competition productions.

On the international stage, Baxter was the Director and Consultant to Toho International, Inc. for two Rodgers and Hammerstein Library productions of The Sound of Music, performed entirely in Japanese.  He was honored to receive the Chunichi Theatre Award, the equivalent to Broadway’s Tony Award, for his work.

 

Film and Television

As an officer in the United States Air Force, Lieutenant Cash Baxter shot, produced, and directed over 200 training and documentary films for the Department of Defense.  He was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he directed The Berlin Wall Affair, documenting the making of the Berlin Wall.  

Baxter directed the feature film The Last Resort, starring Pat Carroll, Eartha Kitt, Tom Ewell, Don Porter, and Barbara Baxley.  His PBS documentary, Beethoven: A Portrait, was co-hosted and narrated by Anthony Quayle.

Baxter was the Production Supervisor and Co-Director on This is Ben Shahn for WBCS-TV’s Eye on New York series.

 

Education

Cash Baxter was graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BA in Speech and Theatre. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.  He studied under Sanford Meisner, Agnes de Mille, Matt Mattox, and Helen Menken in New York. 

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Personal

Cash and his wife Betty have been married since 1959.  They are proud parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.