We are pleased to offer a new series of interviews highlighting some of the artists whose works are featured in our new in-gallery exhibition at Art Saint Louis, "Storytellers," on view August 1-September 10, 2020. If you are planning on visiting to see this show, please review our Safety Measures and Protocol in-place for your safe visit. And, if you can't make it to the Gallery to see the show in-person, we offer a complete Facebook album featuring all of the works in the show along with accompanying information and artist's statements.
For this new post, we are pleased to present our first two interviews with artists Kayla Bailey and Kevin Wilson.
KAYLA BAILEY
My name is Kayla Bailey. I live and work out of St. Louis City. Although I sometimes mix media, my work is primarily embroidery.
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| Kayla Bailey. “Vulnerable.” 2019. Fiber, Wood, 14”x11.75”x1.5”. $600. |
Kayla Bailey: I am most inspired by nature. Instead of entire landscapes I like to focus in on individual items. The texture on a certain rock, the way moss and lichen grow, the path that water takes. In many of my pieces I combine real patterns of nature that I have seen with elements that represent how being there made me feel. This allows me to start from something tangible and solid and let it grow into an abstract piece that allows me to unleash my creativity.
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| Kayla Bailey. (detail view): “Formation.” 2018. Fiber, Wood, 23”x23”x1.5”. NFS. |
KB: Time. My pieces are complicated and slow moving. Even small pieces take a month to complete and as they continue to grow so does the timeline. It starts in a frenzy with so many quick and fun tasks. Making a pattern, picking out colors and materials, and preparing supplies. After that, comes the tedious task of turning it into a real thing. During work it is almost a zen-like experience. Each small stitch going on by hand. But there are certainly days when I set the piece aside and feel discouraged by how little got accomplished. All of this assumes I have not made any mistakes. Sometimes I spend entire days ripping stitches that turned out to be a mistake to redo them.
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| Kayla Bailey. (detail view): “Organized Chaos.” 2019. Fiber, Wood, 10.25”x18.25”x1.5”. $650. |
RP: What qualities attract you to other artists' works?
KB: The art that I find myself most attracted to tends to be very different from my own. There is something I admire about a piece of art that no matter how hard I tried I would not be able to reproduce. Trust me, the list of things beyond me is a long one.
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| Kayla Bailey's studio. |
KB: I think the best advice I have received is that everyone you will ever meet knows something that you don't. It makes it a lot easier to appreciate others when you can accept that they have qualities and abilities that you lack. It could be something you can simply admire or something you can challenge yourself to learn. Everyone is contributing something special to the world and everyone can keep bettering themselves. The easiest way to do that, in my opinion, is investing in others.
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| St. Louis artist Kayla Bailey. |
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| Featured in "Storytellers": Kayla Bailey. “Gravity.” 2019. Fiber. 34”x26”. $3,000. Artist’s statement: "The starry sky is the truest friend in life, when you first become acquainted; it is ever there, it gives ever peace, ever reminds you that your restlessness, your doubt, your pains are passing trivialities. The universe is and will remain unshaken. Our opinions, our struggles, or sufferings are not so important and unique, when all is said and done." —Fridtjof Nansen (Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate) |
Learn more about Kayla Bailey: https://kaylabailey51.wixsite.com/kaylabailey and https://www.instagram.com/invisibleoctopus/
KEVIN M. WILSON
Kevin Wilson is an artist and art educator living in St. Louis, MO.
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| Kevin M. Wilson. “Little Boy.” 2017. Oil on Canvas, 24”x12”. $600. |
Roxanne Phillips: What qualities attract you to other artists' works?
Kevin Wilson: I couldn’t pin it down to a formula, but in general I am attracted to work that isn’t overtly commercial in its aims. We are submersed in consumer culture and when art becomes a part of it, it becomes less interesting to me. I also like art that challenges my preconceived notions of what makes for quality art. Before I had become familiar with the artist Dana Schutz, I thought neon candy-like palettes were the absolute worst. Now I love them and occasionally I will use colors that I would have previously thought too garish to consider.
Kevin Wilson: I couldn’t pin it down to a formula, but in general I am attracted to work that isn’t overtly commercial in its aims. We are submersed in consumer culture and when art becomes a part of it, it becomes less interesting to me. I also like art that challenges my preconceived notions of what makes for quality art. Before I had become familiar with the artist Dana Schutz, I thought neon candy-like palettes were the absolute worst. Now I love them and occasionally I will use colors that I would have previously thought too garish to consider.
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| Kevin M. Wilson. “Dauphin County.” 2017. Oil on Canvas, 24”x12”. NFS. |
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| Kevin M. Wilson's studio with a work in progress. |
RP: Describe your artistic process/technique.
KW: Recently, I have been painting a lot of images of birds. This has to do with my experiences in bird watching and photographing birds. I find birding meditative in that it is nearly impossible to think about issues that might be depressing or anxiety inducing while hiking around looking for a bird that might not be much larger than a ping-pong ball. In many of the paintings there will be an image associated with some catastrophic contemporary or historic event that is relegated to the background of a painting with a crisper image of a bird in the foreground. All of the birds in my paintings are based on photographs that I have taken in the wild.
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| Kevin M. Wilson. “Yperite.” 2017. Oil on Canvas, 24”x12”. $600. |
RP: Is there another artist that has influenced your art and how?
KW: There are many, but I always go back to Francis Bacon. His work was pure expression and he didn’t seem to be overly concerned with how it would be received. He possessed a total lack of fear regarding the content of his work and that is something I aspire towards.
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| St. Louis-based artist Kevin M. Wilson. |
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| Featured in "Storytellers": Kevin M. Wilson. “MCMLXXIX.” 2019. Oil on Masonite, 24"x18”. $1,000. Kevin’s artist’s statement about this work: “This painting refers both to my fascination with birds, as well as to a gift that was given to me by my father when I was 12-13 years old. It was a cardboard box filled with books by Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, John Steinbeck and others. These books were profoundly important for me at that time, and still are today.” |
Learn more about Kevin M. Wilson: https://www.wilsonkm.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/kmwengineering/
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Roxanne Phillips is an artist and art educator based in St. Louis since 2001. She earned a MFA in Printmaking & Drawing from Washington University in St. Louis and BFA in Painting & Drawing from University of North Texas. Roxanne is an adjunct art instructor at Washington University in St. Louis and has worked with Art Saint Louis since 2017 as Administrative Assistant and Installer. From 2018-2020 she was Master Printer for Pele Prints. Her works have been featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the St. Louis region including at Art Saint Louis, Crossroads Art Studio & Gallery, and St. Louis Artists’ Guild. Her work is currently available at Union Studio in St. Louis. She has served as exhibit Juror for several regional exhibits & art fairs. Roxanne is past Board member of St. Louis Women’s Caucus for Art.
Roxanne Phillips is an artist and art educator based in St. Louis since 2001. She earned a MFA in Printmaking & Drawing from Washington University in St. Louis and BFA in Painting & Drawing from University of North Texas. Roxanne is an adjunct art instructor at Washington University in St. Louis and has worked with Art Saint Louis since 2017 as Administrative Assistant and Installer. From 2018-2020 she was Master Printer for Pele Prints. Her works have been featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the St. Louis region including at Art Saint Louis, Crossroads Art Studio & Gallery, and St. Louis Artists’ Guild. Her work is currently available at Union Studio in St. Louis. She has served as exhibit Juror for several regional exhibits & art fairs. Roxanne is past Board member of St. Louis Women’s Caucus for Art.
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