Xenobia Bailey (born 1955) is an American fine artist, designer,

Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

ist, cultural activist and

fiber art Fiber art (fibre art in British spelling) refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as ...

ist best known for her eclectic

crochet Crochet (; ) is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term ''crochet'', meaning 'hook'. Hooks can be made from a variety of m ...

African-inspired hats and her large scale crochet pieces and

mandalas A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

. She has said that her specialty is crochet and needlecraft.

Early life

Born Sherilyn Bailey in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

in 1955, in the 80s she changed her name to Xenobia for the warrior queen of ancient

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early seco ...

"The Supernaturalist – Xenobia Bailey and How She Got That Way" article by Jen Graves, in ''The Stranger'', November 201

/ref> and made her way to New York City. She began her professional life as a costume designer for the now defunct Black Arts/West and earned a BFA in Industrial design, Industrial Design from the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

in 1977. Affirmative action took her to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

where, she says, "the whole world opened up to me." She discovered

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

, the study of music and culture from around the world. She followed it with courses in tailoring and

millinery Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

Seattle Central Community College Seattle Central College is a public college in Seattle, Washington. With North Seattle College and South Seattle College, it is one of the three colleges that comprise the Seattle Colleges District. The college has a substantial international ...

. In the late 80s, she worked for the CETA program as an art instructor, which led her to meeting master needleworker Bernadette Sonona. It is here that Xenobia advanced her skills and learned how to create needleworks without the use of a pattern or template.

Work

34 St-Hudson Yards Station (21389404985)

Bailey focuses on ancient African styles, reviving undocumented, non-commercial, engineered designs, artifacts and other cultural treasures from contemporary rural and urban homemakers. Influences on her work include economic culture and a wish to design experimental nature-based-futuristic, sustainable material culture in the aesthetic of funk for a skilled craft & masons labor force. She is concerned with social and economic development and the health and well-being for under-served rural communities that were socially erased during the Atlantic Slave Trade. Her large scale crochet pieces and

consist of colorful

concentric circles In geometry, two or more objects are said to be concentric, coaxal, or coaxial when they share the same center or axis. Circles, regular polygons and regular polyhedra, and spheres may be concentric to one another (sharing the same center ...

and repeating patterns. Bailey's art work ranges from costumes, hats, wall pieces and newer digital images are "the far cry from the traditional shawls and doilies associated with the medium". Her pieces are often connected to her ongoing project ''Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk.'' Bailey's work strives to create a textile culture and aesthetic that African Americans were unable to develop because of slavery and reconstruction. "To be an artist and be able to create things – it's like fireworks every time you think about something", says Bailey. "I try to get energy and movement from something that is not moving at all." Bailey's technique, of mostly circular rows of single crochet, forms a fabric classified as '' tapestry crochet'' in flat, geometric, highly colored designs influenced by African, Chinese, and Native American and

Eastern philosophies Eastern philosophy or Asian philosophy includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philosophy; which are dominant in East Asia, ...

, with undertones of 1970s " Funk" aesthetic. Her work draws upon the

Kongo Cosmogram The cosmogram was a core symbol of the Kongo culture. An ideographic religious symbol, the cosmogram was called ''dikenga dia Kongo'' or ''tendwa kia nza-n' Kongo'' in the KiKongo language. Ethnohistorical sources and material culture demonstrat ...

, or Yowa, a symbol important to Kongo metaphysics and spiritual ceremonies. Her signature stitch is a flowy line, as if it is dripping. She calls it the "liquid stitch". Her hats have been featured in United Colors of Benetton ads, on

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...

, and in the

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

film ''

Do The Right Thing ''Do the Right Thing'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jac ...

'' (worn by

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...

as DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy). She credits her shift from hats to walls to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

artist

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, C ...

. Bailey's piece, "Sistah Paradise Great Wall of Fire Revival Tent (Mandela Cosmic tapestry of energy flow)" was exhibited at Stux Gallery, Fall 2000. The piece was hand crocheted with cotton acrylic yarns, with 10' high x 5' diameter. In 2000 Bailey received the

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

Award in the discipline of

Visual Arts The visual arts are Art#Forms, genres, media, and styles, art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as ...

. In 2003, her designs were featured in an

Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 from the Swedish state. Absolut is one of the largest brand ...

advertisement entitled "Absolut Bailey." Bailey has been

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

, the

Society for Contemporary Craft Contemporary Craft (CC), which was previously known as the Society for Contemporary Craft, presents contemporary art in craft media such as ceramics, metals, fiber, glass, wood, and mixed media by international, national, and regional artists. In ...

in Pittsburgh, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in New York City. In an experimental collaboration sponsored by the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...

, Bailey crocheted with

electroluminescent wire Electroluminescent wire (often abbreviated as EL wire) is a thin copper wire coated in a phosphor that produces light through electroluminescence when an alternating current is applied to it. It can be used in a wide variety of applications� ...

. Her work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum of Harlem, the

Jersey City Museum The Jersey City Museum was a municipal art museum in Jersey City, New Jersey. The establishment opened in 1901 and was housed in the main branch of the Jersey City Public Library. It relocated to a new building in 2001, but due to financial dif ...

, the

New Museum of Contemporary Art The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sch ...

, and the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (2 ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. As an addition to her ongoing project ''Paradise Under Reconstruction'', she created a hanging installation in 2006 called ''Mothership 1: Sistah Paradise's Great Walls of Fire Revival Tent''. This piece was created to cover the topic of absent historical documentation for African enslavement in America. In September 2014, Bailey partnered with students from Boys & Girls High School in

to design and produce furniture to furnish a home for the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses. Sixty students, aged 14–17, designed three pieces for an imaginary couple moving into 21st century Brooklyn using recycled materials. (Xenobia Bailey. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2019, from http://www.abladeofgrass.org/fellows/xenobia-bailey/) In 2016, Xenobia Bailey created a large-scale glass mosaic at the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in t ...

for the New York City Subway's 34th Street – Hudson Yards station. She named the piece ''Funktional Vibrations''. Bailey crocheted the design for the mosaic; the Miotto Mosaic Art Studio then digitized it and translated it into the final mosaic. That same year, she also participated in the SITE Santa Fe Biennial. Bailey was a 2018 Artist-in-Residence at the

McColl Center for Art + Innovation McColl Center (formerly McColl Center for Art + Innovation) is an artist residency and contemporary art space located at 721 North Tryon Street in Charlotte, North Carolina.Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

. In 2020, Bailey unveiled a new public art mosaic entitled "Morning Stars," at

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

's new Pier District. 2020 Bailey designed the public art work, permanently installed in the Grand Reading Room, in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington DC, The library was originally designed by German American Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1972. During the Summer of 2021 Bailey realized in The Winter Garden at Brookfield Place. ''Mothership'' was on view June 28 under her canopy entitled ''Functional Frequency Environment.''

Collections

Her work is in the permanent collections at Harlem's

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) b ...

, the

Allentown Art Museum The Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley is an art museum located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1934 by a group organized by noted Pennsylvania impressionist painter, Walter Emerson Baum. With its collection of over 19,000 w ...

, the Museum of Contemporary Arts, the

Texas Fashion Collection The Texas Fashion Collection is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and documentation of historically significant fashion. It is operated by the University of North Texas through the College of Visual Arts and Design (CVAD) and ...

, and in the

Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...

Selected exhibitions

Solo

* 2002: Xenobia Bailey: Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk—Phase IV (January 18 - February 17) * 2008:

, '' Eossessed'', (June 16 - August 24, 2008) * 2015: 34th St–Hudson Yards Station, ''Funktional Vibrations,'' Glass Mosaic, The

(Permanent Installation 2015) * 2020: ''Morning Stars'', St. Pete Pier, St. Petersburg, Florida (permanent installation). * 2020: Permanent installation,

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLKML) is the central facility of the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL). Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the 400,000 square foot (37,000 m2) steel, brick, and glass structure, and it is a r ...

, Washington, DC

Group

* 2015: Xenobia Bailey (1955, Seattle) is one of the artists in the exhibition 'Fiber: Sculpture 1960–Present' in ICA Boston, from October 1 till January 4, 2015. The exhibition also has a catalog in print form. * 2017: ''Studio Views: Craft in the Expanded Field,'' Museum of Arts and Design, New York City (October 24 - December 17, 2017) *2019: Vibration & Frequency Experiment Funktional Material Culture Design Lab, Seattle at Wa Na Wari

Honors and awards

In 2000, Xenobia Bailey won a

grant for her project, ''Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk.'' In 2017, Bailey won the Americans for the Arts Public Art Year in Review Award for her artwork ''Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk: A Quantum Leap, Starting From The Top…!!!'' In 2019, Bailey was one of the inaugural recipients of the BRIC Colene Brown Art Prize.

References

External links

* https://xenobiabailey.com/?ctk=60d6530c-06d4-4343-bef6-284544b08b31 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Xenobia American costume designers Women costume designers American fashion designers American women fashion designers American installation artists 1955 births Living people African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists African-American women artists American women installation artists Dollmakers Milliners Artists from Seattle Pratt Institute alumni University of Washington alumni 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists Crochet Mosaics 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women