Meditative Motions
Chellis Baird 11.21.2019 - 02.20.2020 Living Room and Narthex Galleries
About the Exhibition
Baird’s work lies at the intersection of painting, sculpture, and textiles. Through texture, evidence of the human hand, and the emotional sensations of color, the viewer can disconnect from screens to move back into the physical world. Much like sculptural environments by Louise Nevelson, from whom Baird draws inspiration, Baird transforms materials to celebrate the transition from the mundane to the sacred, using shadow and light to sculpt her own visual language. The repetitive patterns in her work ground and invite the viewer into physical spaces, asking them to uncover their eyes, bodies, and souls by honoring the sacred spaces around us.
The saturated vermillion orange of the Torii Gates and Japanese shrines, seen during a recent trip to Japan, inspired Baird to create Reclaim. To Baird, the intensity of color “radiates like a cloak of protective fire” and conveys strength and power. The Torii Gates symbolize the transition from the mundane to the sacred and, in presenting this work in the more familiar space of Saint Peter’s, underscores for Baird the importance of learning and sharing among disparate cultures.
In Impression, Baird paints fabrics using the Encaustic Monotype process, an early form of painting discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs, and nods to the history and process of painting by taking ownership over each of the elements of a gallery painting—wood, fabric, and paint. This technique is evidenced in Baird’s work where she used stretcher bars as brushstrokes in the composition to move beyond the square.
Caress, Collide, Crescendo, Cambre, Chasse, Connect, Coupe, and Cloud—a series of white-on-white works that pay respect to Nevelson’s use of white in Nevelson Chapel—explore how contrasting gestures intertwine or dissolve within themselves or together to offer moments of tethered relationship. Each work
is meant to hang individually, expressing the interconnectedness
between recto and verso. As such, the series examines and celebrates communities of connection between individuals.
Inspired by her life-long love of dancing, Extend celebrates the moments that dancers suspend their bodies and spirits in space. Nevelson was an active modern dancer and believed the act of dancing was imperative to her practice as a sculptor.
Echo uses a spinning reference point to force the eye to move in a contrasting, organic circular path. Echo uses diagonal stretcher bars composed in a turning movement while being wrapped and woven in a linear path. The repetitive forms—as with Nevelson’s use of repetition—creates a comfort that allows viewers to digest Baird’s process and delve deeper into the depths of her work.
Quake emphasizes two contrasting themes in each work: the organic and the geometric. Baird pushes the boundaries of these two themes in creating a sculptural form that challenges her use of negative space. This negative space expressed through shadow gives substance to the fleeting nature of light, allowing the viewer to embrace it.
About the Artist
American artist Chellis Baird blurs the intersection of painting, sculpture and textiles. Baird explores the elements of painting by reconstructing handwoven canvases from a unique perspective. Her bespoke process begins with woven structures as her base. Each canvas starts with neutral toned materials that are then painted, dyed and sculpted into dimensional brushstrokes. She creates tangled compositions through a series of twists, knots, and upcycled textiles. Baird’s background in fashion allows her to dress the canvas with imagination. Not unlike a garment, she uses color to emphasize the authenticity and body of each piece. Baird received her BFA in textiles from Rhode Island School of Design and studied studio art at the Art Students League in New York City. Born in Spartanburg, SC, Baird now lives and works in New York City.
Chellis Baird, Impression
Chellis Baird, Reclaim