Reflection: Artist Inspiration & Conceptual Sketches

Chuck Baird

Chuck Baird was a Deaf artist who worked with painting, sculpting, and mixed media. Painting was Chuck’s main form of art. He would set up his work space with everything he would need and then look at his reference as if it was a living organism. He watched his art breathe and with each breath he saw another layer. Baird would paint constantly to work on his technique; always learning new things through the process. His inspiration for his work came from deaf culture and everything he was experiencing in life. I was drawn to Baird because I have seen his art around Rochester and I love the way he incorporated sign into his art unintentionally or intentionally teaching people ASL. My artwork for this project will incorporate signs with ceramics.