Multimedia Artist Shelley Brenner Baird Deconstructs and Transforms Political Signs into Powerful Works of Art
By Laura Savage, executive director of the Ohio Art League
Shelley Brenner Baird is a Columbus-based multimedia artist who has exhibited extensively throughout the US. She has work on view in UNCENSORED at RAW Gallery (through Sept. 12) and in the Ohio Art League’s Fall Juried Exhibition at Shot Tower Gallery (Sept. 4 – Oct. 8).
Laura: Shelley, tell us about yourself.
Shelley: I am an artist based in Columbus. I have lived in Ohio my entire life, with a brief five-year foray at Bloomington, Indiana for college. At Indiana University I majored in printmaking but developed an interest in photorealist painting. That led me to realize that I needed to take my own photos, so after graduating from IU I came back to Columbus and got my MA in photography and cinema from OSU.
I continue to study and create art in various media, including drawing, painting, photography, printmaking and surface design (involving dyes, resists and screen-printing on fabric). Spending over 20 years (two weeks a year) in textile and surface design workshops with people from all over the world made a significant impact on my work, helping me to develop a body of work that integrates these media.
Laura: Tell us about your current art making process.
Shelley: I envy artists who wake up every day and know exactly what tools they will use and what they are going to make. I look at my processes as tools in my toolbox. My work is usually about concept, not material or process-driven. The thread that connects my work is how I ask or answer questions at the intersection of ideas and materials.
In high school I made political art, and while I was at IU I briefly made cartoons for the student newspaper. Social issues are still reflected in what I am doing now.
I’ve developed a series called POLITICAL SCIENCE. It started when I worked on the Obama campaign. I collected signs at our early vote location and at recycling events after elections. The idea of deconstructing them and transforming them from seasonal ephemera to more permanent political truths appealed to me.
Laura: Where can readers see your work?
Shelley: I have a piece in a show called UNCENSORED at the RAW Gallery that is a timely exhibit up through Sept. 12. I have worked in two shows from my POLITICAL SCIENCE series in Philadelphia’s National Liberty Museum where I have pieces in the exhibit called WORD POWERED.
My work is included in an exhibit called WOMEN TO THE FRONT from the collection of Sara and Michelle Vance at the Lubeznik Art Center in Michigan City, Indiana. I also have a piece in the Ohio Art League’s Fall Juried Exhibition at Shot Tower Gallery.
Laura: Can you tell us about your participation in the Ohio Art League?
Shelley: I have been a member of the Ohio Art League since 2013. More recently I have been more active in the opportunities that OAL offers, such as artist talks, exhibit openings and online “meet-ups” where people can hear from one artist monthly and learn in-depth about their work. For me it has become a community that is interesting and welcoming.
Laura: What are some of your favorite things to do in Columbus as an artist?
Shelley: There is so much to see in Columbus. And a lot of opportunities to find art in works and music. My favorite social activity is going to art openings all over town and having studio visits. I go to the usual large venues like the Riffe Gallery, Wexner Center, Columbus Museum of Art. But there are smaller venues that offer so much to see and hear. Streetlight Guild has visual art along with verbal art (performance and poetry).
See Shelley’s work in UNCENSORED at RAW Gallery (through Sept. 12) and alongside that of more than 75 artists in the Ohio Art League’s Fall Juried Exhibition at Shot Tower Gallery (Sept. 4 – Oct. 8).
This article is part of a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council as part of the Art Makes Columbus campaign. Explore a calendar of events, public art database and artist stories at columbusmakesart.com. To learn more about GCAC grants visit gcac.org.