BIO

Christy Bailey is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and musician living in Portland, OR. She holds an MFA in Visual Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and received her BFA from the former College of Santa Fe (RIP.) Her work creates poetry out of common things, repurposing and repositioning the everyday to make new meanings. Her process looks to women working with their hands to produce something of necessity and beauty, reflective of the time, and art as a meaningful and effective tool for social change. Christy has exhibited work across the country, and has completed recent residencies at Leland Iron Works, Caldera, and the Hambidge Center for the Arts. In addition to her studio work, she has taught and art and music lessons to kids and adults and has a certificate in Instructional Design. She is a firm believer in the importance of art education and is interested in creating meaningful, innovative, and accessible arts programming.

WHAT I MAKE

I tend towards making sculptural objects. My work is conceptual, meaning I am inspired by ideas more than one particular medium. I will learn how to work in a certain medium if the idea requires it. I also have a background in performance and video art and would love to explore those mediums again.

INSPIRED BY

Our everyday collective experience, rituals, politics, symbols, nature, adventure, travel, patterns, food, dinner parties, textiles, quilting, weaving, embroidery, poetry, curriculum design, art education, humor

EXPLORING:

Times feel tough, but I find that is when I draw the most inspiration. In the current state of our country, I am interested in symbols, rituals, and traditions that empower and attune us personally and collectively. As I make sense of the world, my creative ideas have ventured toward social practice and community building more than ever and I would like to explore ideas around care packages, experimental dinner parties, experimental instructional designs, and sewing circles. That being said, part of the reason I am interested in joining The Midwives is because I have too many ideas and not enough focus. I look forward to being able to parse out ideas and zero in on projects that I will actually finish and release into the world.