Aliana Grace Bailey

BIOGRAPHY

Aliana Grace Bailey is an interdisciplinary fiber artist. She was born and raised in Washington DC, and lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a passionate advocate for radical self-love, wellness, healing, and grief support.

Aliana is a proud alumna of NC A&T State University, where she double-majored, earning a Bachelor of Social Work and a Bachelor of Art in Visual Arts Media Design. She has worked as a socially-engaged teaching artist since 2017, after completing the Art for Social Impact fellowship at The Sanctuaries. In 2020, she earned her MFA in Community Arts and a Certificate in the College Teaching of Art from Maryland Institute College of Art. Aliana is a 2023 Sondheim Semifinalist and 2023 Rubys Grantee. She has completed art residencies in Ghana, Maryland, DC, Virginia, MASS MoCA in Massachusetts, and an apprenticeship at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. 

Aliana is the founder of vibrant grace studio. At vibrant grace studio, she creates patterns, products, design, and facilitates art + healing workshops. vibrant grace studio caters to health, social justice, and wellness-centered initiatives dedicated to the wellness, joy, and liberation of Black communities.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am an interdisciplinary fiber artist—taking up space with bold softness. My work embraces artmaking as a vehicle for growth, building intimacy, and creating inner peace through weaving vibrant colors, narratives, and the creation of environments. Through my art, I explore and manifest awareness of self, Black womanhood, the world, and everything sacred to me.

My work is bold, warm, quiet, soft, private, and full of details that intimately engage the patient viewer. My work preserves stories—the legacy of those I love. It invites the viewer to consider their relationships, how they choose to love themselves, and how they choose to love the people closest to their hearts. This invitation initiates by sharing my vulnerability, openness, and self-healing practices. My work is large in scale, emotional, and vibrant in color to encompass the body and provide viewers with a hugging comfort while exploring familial connections, memories, and experiences that tug on our hearts. 

Fiber entered my practice in 2012 in honor of my grandmother, Ruby. During my final years with her, our relationship grew close. We became like best friends. We shared many intimate moments of care and patience. Each day, my grandmother spent time repetitively admiring a print from across the room. Following my grandmother’s passing, I was called to reconnect to my creative freedom of mixing mediums and my interest in textiles as a child. It was not until after her passing that I paid closer attention to the print she was admiring, Faith Ringgold’s 1988 Church Picnic Story Quilt.

My weavings and crochet are living works, adapting and transforming from space to space—taking on new forms in response to their surroundings. I focus on deepening personal connections to love, spirituality, and healing. While intimacy is not something to force, it is something that can be intentionally explored, better understood, practiced, celebrated, and strengthened between individuals, ancestral lines, and communities. Through fiber, I weave layers of interconnection, comfort, and storytelling. My artwork juxtaposes beauty, a sense of optimism, and at times, traumatic realities.