Exploring Color, Fabric, and Form with Aliana Grace Bailey
Education & Community Engagement
Public Engagement Manager-Phillips@THEARC Emani Mickens on Phillips@THEARC’s new program—Studio Saturdays inspired by Art-Play-Practice.
This fall, Art-Play-Practice invites visitors to explore the creative possibilities of color, fabric, movement, and experimentation through a series of artist-led programs with our Teaching Artist Cohort. Featuring local artists working across disciplines, the cohort brings new perspectives and creative practices into conversation with Sam Gilliam’s work, creating opportunities for visitors of all ages to engage with art through making, movement, and play.
Our first Studio Saturday on September 5 featured interdisciplinary fiber artist Aliana Grace Bailey, whose practice explores the expressive possibilities of fabric and other materials. Inspired by Gilliam’s Broad Cape, Aliana invited participants to experiment with color, fabric, and weaving. Participants painted fabric, transformed paper into a woven structure, and brought the two materials together to create individual works. The process echoed Gilliam’s own approach to materials, allowing color, gravity, and the movement of fabric to help shape the final form.
Aliana’s workshop offered participants a chance to experience Broad Cape beyond the gallery, translating some of the ideas found in Gilliam’s practice into a hands-on creative experience. Rather than focusing on a single outcome, participants were encouraged to experiment, make choices, and see where their materials took them.
For Aliana, that connection comes naturally through her work with fiber arts. Her Studio Saturday series offers participants an opportunity to consider fabric not simply as a material, but as something that can move, transform, hold color, and create structure. Across the fall, her programs provide different entry points into these ideas, with each experience designed as a stand-alone opportunity to participate.
Teaching Artist Cohort
The September workshop marked the beginning of a fall season of programming led by Art-Play-Practice’s Teaching Artist Cohort. The cohort is part of the initiative’s commitment to connecting Phillips@THEARC with local artists and creating opportunities for artists to share their practices with the community. Throughout the season, cohort artists will lead interdisciplinary programs that invite participants to explore different ways of making and thinking about art, while drawing connections to Gilliam’s innovative use of materials, color, space, and process.
Upcoming Studio Saturdays
And there are still opportunities to join us this fall!
- On Saturday, October 3, from 2–4 pm, Aliana will join us during Building Bridges Across the River’s Taste of the Harvest for a special drop-in art-making experience. Phillips educators will continue art-making opportunities throughout the festival from 4–8 pm.
- Aliana will host her final Studio Saturday workshop on Saturday, November 7, from 1–2 pm.
No previous participation is required, whether you joined us in September, discover the program at Taste of the Harvest, or are experiencing Art-Play-Practice for the first time, all are welcome.
Through the Teaching Artist Cohort, Art-Play-Practice continues to create space for artists and community members to learn from one another, experiment with new ideas, and discover the many ways art can be experienced through play and practice.
