Dee Bailey: Artist in the Window
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Yukon Artists @ Work Cooperative 4129 4 Avenue, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 1H7
Dee Bailey, "Art table," 2021
Yukon Artists at Work is proud to present another series of Artist in the Window residencies, funded by The Great Yukon Summer initiative.
Whitehorse artist Dee Bailey faces a daily struggle: how to move to more environmentally sustainable ways of producing her work. Bailey is best known for her intricate oil-based modeling clay sculptural paintings, but for the past few years she’s been looking for a new path forward.
“I always feel guilty in my studio. Sometimes I worry about looking like a hypocrite with some of the media I use,” Bailey said. “I have been working to change my habits by doing things like recovering and reusing the paint from my paint water, but I want to do something on a more visual scale.”
Bailey’s search has led her to the practice of up cycling furniture and turning it into fine art. It’s that work she’ll be doing in the front window at the Yukon Artists at Work gallery from September 22 to 25, 11 am to 2 pm each day.
“I have been painting on furniture for myself and some of my friends, reviving pieces and saving them from being discarded. I decided to try to meld that hobby with my fine art practice. It seems to be an easier focus for me than some of the other things I have tried, like using garbage in my art,” Bailey explained.
A few years ago she began picking up plastic and other garbage on her regular walks and incorporating it into her art pieces, but she has never been satisfied with the results. “The refuse always ends up looking like refuse but at least I’m removing it from nature,” Bailey said.
She’s hoping her work with furniture will be the key to a new and more sustainable approach to her art.
One thing she won’t change is the focus on the natural world that can be seen in all Bailey’s work. “I want to continue to reconnect people with nature through my art,” she said.
In addition to the furniture, Bailey has been creating some smaller pieces using items such as wall mirrors and candelabras. A few of those works will be part of a group exhibit called “Experienced Materials” that is running until the end of September at the Yukon Artists at Work gallery.
Artist’s bio:
Deanna (Dee) Bailey completed fine art and biology studies in Alberta and moved to the Yukon in 2010. Dee’s strong love of nature and wildlife is almost always the subject matter of her art.
Interested in fusing painting and sculpture, Dee began developing techniques for sculptural painting with oil-based modelling clay eight years ago.
Dee attended artist residencies in Tombstone Territorial Park (2019), Iceland (2018) and France (2015). In 2017 she was an artist on the Canada C3 voyage travelling to promote reconciliation.