Bridget Bailey makes artworks and sculptures that combine intricate making with the down-to-earth approach to life and death of an allotment gardener. They investigate aspects of nature from the growth-rhythm in a tangle of grass to the particular posture of a dead butterfly’s legs.
Finding a ‘making language’ to describe alive and growing, or dead and still, needs very different approaches. Showing variety in thinking as well as materials brings a level of diversity appropriate to her subject matter.
Bridget describes her making process as ‘interpreting’ nature – describing its qualities through translating it into other materials. These materials and techniques come from her textile and millinery background, taking on a new level of refinement in their context as artworks.
Her recent work has been exhibited at Collect Art Fair at Somerset House, Jaggedart galley in Marylebone and North York Moors National Park.
Bridget is a member of The Art Workers’ Guild, Design Nation, and The British Hat Guild.
Background: Bridget studied textiles and made her first collection of millinery in 1984 for Jean Muir. She co-founded the Bailey Tomlin millinery brand, selling to clients from Liberty to Saks Fifth Avenue.