Chuck Baird

Patty Liang

If you ask me who would be one of the top Deaf artists who incorporate their personal journey with technical skills and creativity with multiple elements; Chuck Baird would be one of the pioneers.  He successfully produced a range of artworks covering different topics and mediums that reflected his experiences.  Baird, along with others, created a new movement, DE'VIA (Deaf View / Image Art). He collaborated with Dr. Betty G. Miller, Guy Wonder, Alex Wilhite and many others.  They met at the Deaf Way arts festival at Gallaudet University in 1989 and produced a manifesto, "De'VIA," defining Deaf Culture Art. To be a De'VIA artist, one creates artworks based on their Deaf experience, incorporating sign language, a heavy  emphasis on facial features,  body language, and possibly making a political statement as a Deaf person.

Chuck Baird

To understand why his work exemplifies the De'VIA ideal, you need to understand how his experiences as a culturally deaf person

influenced his work.

As a Deaf person, he studied at Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1974. He spent his summers with the National Theatre of the Deaf painting their sets. He honed his art on the East coast before he joined Spectrum, a now defunct deaf art colony in Texas. As an educator and artist, he worked all over the United States, working with various deaf communities, organizations, deaf schools, and theaters.  He was selected as one of the spotlighted artists in Deborah M. Sonnestrahl’s “Deaf Artists in America: Colonial to Contemporary." Not only an artist, he was an actor, and ASL storyteller.

Near the end of his life, he resided in Austin Texas, creating his works at his studio and abroad.  He also established a  visual art foundation in his his name, the Chuck Baird Foundation, to promote emerging deaf artists.  With his 35 years of experience in art, he was able to create a perfect symbiosis of  his amazing talent in various multicolored themes with Deaf culture tropes in his art.  

He recently  passed on Feb 10, 2012, from complications due to cancer. Many people and I were saddened to hear that.   The Deaf community will never forget him.  His works are  available for viewing at various Deaf institutions, books, and online as well.  Please do take a look and marvel.

Here are more examples of his work:  www.chuckbairdart.com/galleries.html


You can also learn about his foundation at http://chuckbairdfoundation.org/. 

Rest in Peace, Mr. Baird.

February 22, 1947 - February 10, 2012