Photographer credit: Travis Dodd
Installation Image
Bo Bartlett Center
August 28 - December 5 , 2026
Featured Solo Installation
GARDEN OF ATHLETES
Bo Bartlett Center | August 24 - December 5, 2026 | Reception Oct. 20, 6-8pm
Garden of Athletes expands my exploration of dance from the notation of steps into the expression of energy itself. Inspired by George Balanchine's comparison of a ballet company to a garden, with each dancer a distinct flower contributing to a greater whole, I became interested in the relationship between individuality and collective form. I am equally drawn to Martha Graham's description of dancers as "athletes of God," each carrying unique strengths, vulnerabilities, and capacities for expression.
The works draw upon the language of flowers as symbols of emergence, transformation, breath, and vitality. Budding forms, unfolding edges, and layered silhouettes echo the way flowers and bodies expand and contract into space. Line, shape, color, relief, and shadow become ways of expressing movement without depicting the figure, suggesting energies that can be felt but not necessarily seen.
Flowers also connect this body of work to my own family. My grandmother, who was born in Augusta, Georgia, spent countless hours drawing flowers. Watching her observe and sketch the natural world became an early lesson in looking. Today, I draw flowers with my children, continuing an exchange of observation, creativity, and care across generations at a time when so much of our visual experience takes place through screens. The vibrant palette also draws from the exuberance of Georgia's landscape and gardens.
The series engages a broader history of floral imagery, from the magnified forms of Georgia O'Keeffe to the symbolic still lifes of Dutch painting. I find inspiration in Duane Michals and his poetic use of sequence, transformation, and the body, particularly his ability to make an unseen experience visible.
At the foundation of Garden of Athletes is an ongoing investigation into what elements comprise a painting. My background in textiles, fashion and a lifelong practice of dance provides the vocabulary through which I approach paint, canvas, substrate, and structure. Each painting is deconstructed and reconstructed so that its materials can assume new roles.
The depth of each work is also a part of the choreography. Multiple cleat designs and locations position the paintings at varying distances from the wall, allowing each form to engage the space uniquely, much as dancers enter a stage. As construction progressed, the pieces began to resemble seeds growing outward, each developing its own character while becoming part of a larger garden.
Presented together, the fifteen paintings form a bouquet, their relationships creating the whole. Garden of Athletes extends exploration of how movement, touch, color, and experiences that cannot be measured or held can be articulated through the physical language of painting.
Garden of Athletes is a featured solo installation by Chellis Baird at the Bo Bartlett Center, exploring movement, individuality, and collective form through sculptural painting. Inspired by George Balanchine’s comparison of a ballet company to a garden and Martha Graham’s description of dancers as “athletes of God,” the works use flowers, layered surfaces, gesture, and shadow to evoke the energy of dance without depicting the figure.
Pastel, graphite powder, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
36 X 30 X 11 inches
Acrylic paint, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
34 × 30 × 9 inches
Acrylic paint, pastel, matte medium, plaster, wire, on birch panel
36 × 30 × 10 inches
Pastel, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
34 X 27 X 4.5 inches
Pastel, matte medium, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
42 X 38 X 10 inches
Acrylic paint, pastel, graphite powder, matte medium, plaster, wire, on brich panel
Pastel, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
31 X 30 X 9 inches
Pastel, matte medium, acrylic paint, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
Pastel, matte medium, acrylic paint, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
34 X 31 X 11 inches
Lapis pigment, pastel, matte medium, acrylic paint, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
35 X 28 X 12 inches
Pastel, graphite powder, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, on birch panel
33 X 28 X 9 inches
Pastel, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
30 X 32 X 9 inches
Pastel, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
38 X 30 X 6 inches
Pigment, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
29 X 34 X 7 inches
Pastel, matte medium, plaster, cotton gauze, wire, on birch panel
41 X 32 X 12 inches
Garden of Athletes is a featured solo installation by Chellis Baird at the Bo Bartlett Center, exploring movement, individuality, and collective form through sculptural painting. Inspired by George Balanchine’s comparison of a ballet company to a garden and Martha Graham’s description of dancers as “athletes of God,” the works use flowers, layered surfaces, gesture, and shadow to evoke the energy of dance without depicting the figure.
Garden of Athletes is a featured solo installation by Chellis Baird at the Bo Bartlett Center, exploring movement, individuality, and collective form through sculptural painting. Inspired by George Balanchine’s comparison of a ballet company to a garden and Martha Graham’s description of dancers as “athletes of God,” the works use flowers, layered surfaces, gesture, and shadow to evoke the energy of dance without depicting the figure.
Garden of Athletes is a featured solo installation by Chellis Baird at the Bo Bartlett Center, exploring movement, individuality, and collective form through sculptural painting. Inspired by George Balanchine’s comparison of a ballet company to a garden and Martha Graham’s description of dancers as “athletes of God,” the works use flowers, layered surfaces, gesture, and shadow to evoke the energy of dance without depicting the figure.
Sometimes quick sketches help me work through ideas. 💡 They become a way to refine process, test concepts, and discover the common threads that connect a larger body of work. Artists never really take vacations as the work continues long before it reaches the studio.
