Q & A with Bridget Bailey
Discipline: Mixed Media
Location: London
Please describe your creative process/practice:
My artworks and installations are inspired by encounters with plants and insects on my allotment. From millinery and textiles to fly-tying, found feathers to cat whiskers, my works grow from the creative compost of my life and career as a maker and their
intricate delicacy echos the fragile eco systems that inspire me.
Short Bio:
I’ve been an established maker since 1984 with a background in textiles and millinery, but these skills have taken on a new level of delicacy and refinement in my current artworks.
Recent exhibitions include Insect Odyssey at Salisbury Museum, Jaggedart’s 21st Anniversary show, and Freshair Sculpture. In March 23 my Garden of Making installation was exhibited at Collect Art Fair as part of Collect Open, the fair’s platform for pioneering and thought-provoking craft installations by individual artists.
- Your Influences and motivations:
Making is my way of investigating. I might take all the flora and fauna in a tussock of grass or try making an insect in the distance of just a hint of a bird. All the different ways of making have their comments to add and each scrap of fabric or feather makes its own suggestions – velvet describes different plant textures in a lovely way and feather fronds make beautiful barley whiskers. I’m intrigued by what materials and making can bring to our understanding and appreciation of nature.
What makes your work UNIQUE? Anything from materials, tools, are you a Heritage craft maker?
I love the way traditional techniques and familiar materials can look surprisingly unrelated to their origins. Making has its own evolution and taxonomy – an Ikat dragonfly, a millinery nest, a spider made with fly-tying techniques. Wondering how things are made can get people enjoying less popular aspects of nature like a wasp or a butterfly caught in a web.
Bridget Bailey, Garden of Making.
Bridget Bailey, Egg Collection.
