Light Totem Sculpture

M.A. Bailey originally hails from the East Coast of the U.S., where he grew up along the cliffs of the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River and New York City. There he discovered his love for culture and the fine arts and his inspiration to study theatre and performance at Rutgers University and The Mason Gross School of the Arts. After a long career working as an actor and singer in every imaginable medium - from theatre, TV, and film to video games, radio spots and music videos - his interests and desires for other avenues of expression continued to grow and eventually brought him to working with art that could be created by hand. He began by training in stained glass with a local artisan and has never since stopped exploring and expanding his points of view. His passion for new tangible expression flourishes, and he now devotes his time to working in his studio and exploring his creative processes through his unique sculptures. His earliest 3-dimensional pieces took their cue from the traditional Japanese method of wood burning - yakisugi - a blackening of the wood that reveals clean, distinct lines and an inherent textural beauty. Combining that with his glass-making skills allowed for a unique take on sculptural relief and a furthered honing of his woodworking skills. Although his love for stained glass and for his particular use of it in unconventional ways hasn’t waned, the fragility of glass as a medium eventually led him to explore the use of other materials. This has brought him to his current series of works - utilizing resin and recycled plastics combined with exotic woods - to create geometric sculptures that get their inspiration from historical art forms like traditional stained glass and totem carving, as well as the myriad geometric configurations and array of colors found throughout nature.