The Hunt for Terry Bailey

Terry Bailey - if you're out there, let's talk.

Some ten or eleven years ago, I ventured to Victoria, B.C. by ferry. One of the artists on the waterfront was Terry Bailey, and his work was so stunning that I did something I simply do not do- I actually bought a piece of art. To this day, his work is the only piece of art I have paid for.


I'm not a art fiend. I know next to nothing about art. But there's something that spoke to me about his work. And so I've packed the print from my home in Blyn, to Guilin, China, to my room at the University of Washington, and to Tianjin, China. It followed me when I moved to Redmond. And the glass broke on the print, and it survived a brutal attack from our cat, and then the edge was torn... I slipped it into the front of the binder I used most to protect it. I have hauled it from every living location since its purchase.

Two weekends ago I went back out to Blyn to sort through my family's stuff. When my father died, everything that was in our home was pushed into the wood shop and locked up. We all met up with the sole purpose of weeding through all of our treasures. I found something super exciting that day: the pamphlet that came with my favorite watercolor.

That pamphlet describes the symbolism in the painting, as well as the history behind the artist. And it has his full name.

It smells musty. And the pages have started to tan. But there it is, the contact information to my favorite artist. So I googled his name, found nothing. But when I imaged searched his name, this is what showed up:

The image was found at Radaris. But I believe it was taken by this person.

And there he is, the person I bought my sole piece of art from. And to his left? The blue picture? That's the piece I've been hauling around.

So now I know his full name. And I know he was still selling pictures as of 2010. I'm hoping that he's still doing well, and that business has been good to him. And I'm hoping that the next time I'm in Victoria, he's there.