Artist Kathryn Bailey brings “She Grew Anyway” to the art gallery, showing the community her art through her story and her perseverance.
Bailey carries on the message “an artist with no hands and no limits” through her work. She was born with an amputation and doesn’t have a left or right hand. But the daily challenges have not stopped her from pursuing art and earning a BFA in painting and graphic design from Michigan State University.
“She Grew Anyway” is a solo exhibition of Bailey’s that represents personal growth. Through soft explosions of color, Bailey strives to show what it means to bloom while breaking, and that healing and preserving will help prevent slipping away from the world. The exhibit was held in the fine art gallery from Aug. 25 to Sep. 30.
Bringing her artistic skills was a way of showing how an individual can have a unique journey and be able to present that journey without judgment.
Bailey has a message that she hopes the Ferris community learns or takes away by viewing her artwork and her story.
“This too shall pass,” Bailey said. “I know it sounds cliché, but if you’re going through and dealing with something, this too shall pass and maybe you can make something beautiful out of it. The painful portions of life can be ones that you or anyone can turn into something beautiful that maybe somebody could see.”
Bailey specializes in large canvas oil paintings, and she has shown her exhibitions in Manhattan, New York as well as various places in Michigan.
To show her story through her art, Bailey has been painting flowers, and giving them meaning, in the sense that they’ll live longer through her work than if they were outdoors.
“I started painting flowers because I noticed that they show time passing in a way that nothing else does,” Bailey said. “When you pick flowers, they bloom and then they die. It’s just time because time takes everything. So that’s why I started painting flowers. To capture moments back. You can use your time and be productive with it.”
When Bailey came to visit her exhibition at the gallery, her family was able to join her. Her family included her husband, son, mother, brother, nieces and nephews.
Matt Champagne, Bailey’s younger brother, has seen Bailey’s struggles since they were kids. Overcoming those struggles has been something amazing to see.
“She had her struggles growing up,” Champagne said. “To see everything she’s been through, the trials and difficulties, and to take that whole journey and then to express it and show other people who she is through her art. Just the details and things that I could never do is amazing from my perspective.”
Champagne also stated that Bailey helped coach him through painting and that she managed to finish a painting for him, which became an indicator that she was already an artist. Plus, recognizing her story has helped him with his personal life.
“There’s been times that her art and her abilities have really helped me through difficult situations,” Champagne said. “That really does mean a lot and everything she’s been able to do has been awesome.”
Fine Arts Gallery and Museum Director Carrie Weis stated that the gallery wanted to include Bailey’s art because they were inspired by her artistic passion and skills.
“I was captivated by her work and her story,” Weis said. “Her large-scale canvases—sculptural in form of expressionistic in style—radiate both physical, energetic and emotional depth. Each work reveals not only Bailey’s technical command of her medium but also her capacity to transform personal experience into universal statements of growth and strength.”
Bailey’s “She Grew Anyway” and other artworks can be viewed on her Instagram at createdbykathryn.art.