Graphic organizer for biography

by Lizzie Moran UNL intern

Bright orange-rimmed glasses, the fabric crown and the chunky necklace that elinor peace bailey wears match the bright and fun quilts and dolls she creates.

Bailey, a year-old artist from Vancouver, Washington, has been visiting Nebraska once a year since She participated in the Second Saturday art walk in Seward July 11, showcasing 12 of her own items.

“I love the people, landscape and houses in Nebraska,” bailey said.

“I love the people the most. I choose to sell my quilts here because of my long-term relationship with the people in Nebraska.”

Bailey displayed her quilts for the art walk at close friend Roxann O’Hare’s store in Seward, the Cosmic Cow’s Udder Store. The theme of O’Hare’s and bailey’s pieces is “the gatherers” because they are always picking up items like antiques, fabrics, recycled parts and bits and pieces that they use in their artwork.

“You find yourself gathering things in your pocket like a young boy,” bailey said.

“To anyone else, that should be thrown away. But an artist looks at stuff, gives it order and arranges it in a pleasing way.

Elinor peace bailey biography graphic organizer Buy this photo. Bright orange-rimmed glasses, the fabric crown and the chunky necklace that elinor peace bailey wears match the bright and fun quilts and dolls she creates. Bailey, a year-old artist from Vancouver, Washington, has been visiting Nebraska once a year since She participated in the Second Saturday art walk in Seward July 11, showcasing 12 of her own items. I choose to sell my quilts here because of my long-term relationship with the people in Nebraska.

That’s the creative process.”

The largest quilt for the art walk, “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle,” was made of six garments bailey wore in the past, mostly coats. She showcased 12 pieces of art, three of which were dolls.

Bailey makes richly embellished items of hand-dyed fabrics, fabrics designed by herself or her daughter, metal, bits of things, etc.

She calls this type of art “mixed media.”

“Everything I see and touch is part of the mental collection I have,” bailey said. “I also have a physical collection. When those come together, that’s when I make art.”

Most of her creations take between six months and two years to make, according to bailey.

Elinor peace bailey biography graphic organizer pdf I joined the doll making world with my first doll from a kit at 5, then a costume doll of Josephine Bonepart, inspired by Edith Flack Ackley, when I was 13, in , so this wave elinor's group of doll makers and I grew up together I don't remember how we found out about each other. I got into making dolls and selling them at craft fairs when I didn't like occupational therapy, the profession for which I trained, with my parents' encouragement. I think I was supposed to marry a doctor and pump out babies, but that didn't work out. Those were the early days, the Sixties, of the popularity of craft fairs

The quilt and doll making process takes a lot of exploration, time and energy.

“I never know where it’s going to take me,” bailey said. “I just let it happen.”

Bailey said there are two types of quilters—imitators who copy the past and inventors who display something new that speaks to the viewer. Bailey and O’Hare are inventors with their work.

Each has created a scroll of “mixed media” fabric that they put between two book covers hanging from a tree for a year to let the elements weather it, among other unique pieces.

Bailey said that she enjoys the fact that quilting and doll making is a way of making new friends that are nurturing and cooperative. This type of art brings her to Nebraska for a week each year to visit her friend O’Hare and participate in Seward’s art walk.

“Quilting is an old-fashioned hobby that a bunch of old women do,” bailey said.

“I hope that more young people see that it is a lively art form that has grown, morphed and changed into a million different things.”