Douglas Bailey was raised on the shoreline of Lake Erie and has stayed there. He is self-taught, works mostly in found and reclaimed materials, and describes his influences as skateboarding, street art and nature — which shows up in the work as layers: paint over salvage over more paint, on skate decks, on scavenged frames, on whatever was going.
Douglas Bailey
Mixed media, found and reclaimed materials, graphic design · Erie, Pennsylvania
The 814 in the name is the area code.
Why He Is The First Artist Here
Because the subjects keep wandering into this index's territory without being asked to.
Bailey's work is deeply rooted in the place he calls home, and that sometimes leads him into territory that feels a little unusual.
You might recognise his Bailey's Bigfoot logo before you recognise him. It is his signature trademark, but he also pays tribute to the Lake Erie Monster on stickers and shirts. There is even a callout to the Lake Erie Alligator, which sounds like an invention but isn't entirely made up — alligators have occasionally turned up in this freshwater lake.
His connection to Lake Erie goes beyond the strange and unexpected. One of his latest pieces is a tribute to Misery Bay at Presque Isle State Park.
The other things
SEEK814 is a community art drop: work hidden around Erie for people to find and keep. 814 DRKRM is a separate photography project.
He also does graphic design for local businesses, and is explicit on his site about why — so that a small business in Erie can have something that is not clip art.
Worth Knowing
Many of his projects are produced in limited quantities, and some items are available only through pre-orders. Original pieces are hard to come by, so if you have the opportunity, grab it.
The work is part of a larger connection to the Erie area — local places, stories, discarded materials and everyday observations as the raw material. Whether it is found art, photography, design or a slightly strange creature from the shores of Lake Erie, the common thread is the same: make something that feels connected to where it came from.
If you are driving the Erie shoreline, this is a good stop to make before you go. The Vampire's Crypt and the Harborcreek dinosaurs are both within twenty minutes.
Support Their Work
These go straight to Douglas Bailey. OddWay takes nothing and has no arrangement with anyone listed here.