BAILEY FERGUSON

My abstract painting language was developed while I was displaced for 70-days during the 2018 Kilāuea  eruption on Hawai`i Island. My perspective on life and art was transformed as the earth violently  shifted and forced magma through its surface. This experience connected to climate displacement  involving trauma, impermanence, loss, and ultimately, healing. For me, the ocean was a space for  healing—and specifically, the act of surfing—which was a vehicle to gain awareness of life below the sea  surface. My series, Rainforest of the Sea and Wipeout, explore the near-shore ocean environments, such  as point breaks, coral reefs, and geological features. I use color, texture, and line to suggest movement,  change, and energy. The turbulence of water is a metaphor to the chaos / uncertainty / powerlessness  that we encounter in life. I seeks that my works reminds the viewer of their own resiliency, and perhaps  even encourage them to further care for the spaces that provide equanimity.  

BIO

Bailey Ferguson (b. 1985) is a contemporary American artist, her work seeks to find equanimity  in chaos and speaks to the fragility of natural systems by investigating the world above and  below the sea surface.  

Ferguson earned a BFA in Studio Art (2008) from the University of Denver and a BFA in  Communication Design (2012) from Metropolitan State University of Denver. She studied at  Studio Art International in Florence, Italy. Recent honors include: a solo exhibition, Under the  Liquid Veil, at the Wailoa Art and Cultural Center in Hilo, Hawai’i; an Artist-At-Sea Residency  sailing from Honolulu to Fiji aboard the Research Vessel Falkor with the Schmidt Ocean  Institute; a featured story-teller at Volcano Art Center’s Stories from the Summit; and awarded  1st Place for her painting “DISPLACED: The Day the Red Glow Stopped” in the 2019 juried  exhibition“Transformative Forces” at Kahilu Exhibits in Kamuela, Hawai'i. Ferguson lives and  works in Kailua-Kona, HI and exhibits regularly.  

Outside of her studio practice, Ferguson is an avid surfer, snorkeler and soon to be certified  diver. She volunteers with a coral research lab on Hawai’i Island. Since 2016, Ferguson has been  a creative contributor to the web series, The Culinary Edge TV, which cover themes of food,  culture and travel from around the globe.  

See more at baileyferguson.art or @baileyferguson.art