Bridget Bailey

Textile sculptor

©Dan_Kelly

Interpreting nature through textiles

Bridget draws inspiration from the flora and fauna in her allotment and beyond
For her, creating art is a physical way of exploring nature
Her works are animated by the nuanced suggestions of each fabric

Bridget Bailey views the world through a textile filter. As a child, she spent time beachcombing and building nests in the woods, unknowingly building her artistic eye for the future. Today, guided by nature’s hand and over four decades of experience as an artist, Bridget crafts intricate artworks that inspire viewers to consider their environment with fresh eyes. “Sometimes I am dyeing the colours of an earthworm, and sometimes I am looking at the satin sheen on a petal or the bloom on a plum,” she shares. Exhibited at the V&A, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Fortnum & Mason, Bridget is led by the quiet magic of materials and the language of textiles and millinery.

Where

Interview

©Yeshen_Venema

©Dan_Kelly

What draws you to the materials that you work with?: Each scrap of fabric or feather makes its own suggestions. Embossed velvet makes lovely plant textures and feather fronds make beautiful barley whiskers. Chiffon colours shine through each other like ripe fruit glowing through the skin, and the Fibonacci pattern of veiling might suggest wild strawberry seeds.
What is it about your allotment that inspires you?: Allotments are places in-between people, nature, and agriculture, where one focuses on how gardening works rather than creating something photogenic. This makes it a wonderful environment to observe our relationships with plants and insects.
How does your work process usually start?: I have all sorts of daydreams and fantasies about my creations. I start trying things out really early on so that the practicalities do not get left behind. Working out ways the pieces can hang or invisibly attach to the wall is important, so I do a lot of tests and trials and mock-ups. I try not to be too fixed in my plan and not too experimental either!
Are there any particular messages you hope that people will take away from your work?: Making is a physical way of exploring and noticing. I try not to get stuck on replicating nature, but instead work in parallel, using the principles of 3D-making to see what observations are conjured up. Working with less popular aspects of nature with delicacy can get people interested in things they might turn away from in reality, like a dead fly or a tangle of worms. I love that.

Bridget Bailey is a master artisan: she began her career in 1981 and she started teaching in 2008