Today we’d like to introduce you to Baileya White.
Hi Baileya, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Baileya White and I am an artist here in Colorado. I grew up in Tucson, Arizona for the first 19 years of my life. Throughout my childhood, two things always held my interest: the natural world and art. My dad grew cactus for a living which allowed me to learn and appreciate the complexities of the desert from a very early age.
I can also remember countless hiking, kayaking, and camping trips throughout my childhood. Between adventures, you could always find me doodling and coloring in my large collection of sketchbooks. My mom always says I was coloring in the lines by age 2.
When it came time to pick a college, I knew I wanted to pursue art, despite the difficult road that may come with that. I also knew I wanted to live in an extreme different from the Sonoran desert. Naturally, I landed myself in the Rocky Mountains.
In 2019, I moved to Denver and attended Regis University. In 2023 I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in visual arts (emphasis in drawing, painting and sculpture). I also received minors in both Environmental Science and English.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Coming to Colorado to pursue my art has been a wild ride for sure, but also the best decision of my life (so far!). Here I discovered my love for the high alpine mountains and a new zest for discovery, not only in the literal sense of hiking, mountaineering, and backpacking but also in my art. Regis gave me the space to change the way I look at and create my artwork.
Moving away from home was scary but I now understand the importance of pushing boundaries and facing adversity with enthusiasm because I know it will ultimately make me stronger. My most recent challenge has been graduating from Regis. Graduating college is a really weird shift in life. On one end, there is this great expectation to have everything figured out and a perfect career path lined up. On the other hand, I am only 23 years old (basically a baby adult!) and trying to break my way in to the Denver art scene.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In my most recent projects, I have been dabbling in graphic design creating postcards and posters for Colorado state parks. I have finished designs for Golden Gate Canyon State Park and am currently working with Eldorado State Park. In general however, my work mostly consists of acrylic landscapes.
I almost always work from photos that I have taken from my actual hiking and backpacking trips and I try to incorporate as much detail as possible. My main goal in painting these is to connect people back to the natural land. I am a firm believer that the first step in addressing environmental degradation caused by human activity is to reignite people’s passion for the outdoors.
Other art I enjoy making usually centers around plants and animals. I love testing out new materials and seeing how they might influence the forms I am creating. I work both 2 and 3 dimensionally and in media including but not limited to acrylic, watercolor, gauche, watercolor, graphite, charcoal, colored pencil, wax, paper, wire, etc.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I don’t think the art industry is ever going to be one that comes with a lot of guarantee or stability. I have chosen a really difficult career path. Trends constantly change and viewing/judging art is a purely subjective thing.
On the other hand, art will always have a place in society. I am a firm believer that art is a way to process events and bring understanding to things that everyday language simply can not. We will always need art and luckily, most of us have the gift of thinking of creative ways to continue making it.
As of right now, I think social media plays a huge role in the art industry and will continue to do so. I think it allows a much larger range of exposure for artists which in my opinion, is a great thing! There are also so many new ways to digitally create artwork so I am interested to see how art styles change. Impressionism was in part a response to photography, for example. How might painters respond to AI art and photography?
Contact Info:
- Website: baileyawhiteart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baileya_white_art
