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• Baird uses junk mail as the material for many of her sculptures. She was inspired when she started managing her father’s mail and realized how much junk mail he was receiving. Her sculptures organize pieces of junk mail by word frequency, making the viewer aware of how often certain words, such as “urgent” or “attention,” appear in such correspondence.
• Baird also takes photographs while walking around Kansas City, cuts them into strips, and weaves them together to create a work.
• The artist credits her mother and grandmother as major influences on her practice: “As a child I often helped cut and organize old fabric strips into squares for my grandmothers and aunts. In recent years variants of those methods began finding their way to my work. Borrowing from the past and acknowledging the importance and skills of the women who preceded me, I am repurposing those experiences into my practice.” Baird’s grandmother was a professional seamstress, and her mother was just as skilled.
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for Miki A. Baird
Miki A. Baird
United States, born 1949
• Baird uses junk mail as the material for many of her sculptures. She was inspired when she started managing her father’s mail and realized how much junk mail he was receiving. Her sculptures organize pieces of junk mail by word frequency, making the viewer aware of how often certain words, such as “urgent” or “attention,” appear in such correspondence.
• Baird also takes photographs while walking around Kansas City, cuts them into strips, and weaves them together to create a work.
• The artist credits her mother and grandmother as major influences on her practice: “As a child I often helped cut and organize old fabric strips into squares for my grandmothers and aunts. In recent years variants of those methods began finding their way to my work. Borrowing from the past and acknowledging the importance and skills of the women who preceded me, I am repurposing those experiences into my practice.” Baird’s grandmother was a professional seamstress, and her mother was just as skilled.
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- Miki A. Baird
