Barry Stone Bailey was born on October 21, 1952, in High Point, North Carolina. Bailey received his M.F.A. in sculpture from East Carolina University in 1978. His thesis exhibition was titled, "A Sculptural Response to Coastal Landscape and Environmental Space." In 1980 he came to New Orleans for the College Art Association Conference and never left. From 1980-1982 Bailey served as visual arts coordinator at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans. He was one of founding members of A.J.A.C. Studio (Artists at Joliet and Cohn) with Mark Grote, Steve Klein, Gene Koss, Sandra Russell Clark, and others. Bailey served as supervisor for "Artworks '84" at the Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans in 1984.
In 1987 Bailey joined the studio art faculty at the Newcomb Art Department at Tulane University, first as visiting professor (1987-89), then assistant professor (1989-1993), and finally associate professor (1993-2010). Bailey also taught in the summer at the University of Georgia sculpture program at Cortona, Italy from 1992-1996.
Bailey is remembered for the many community iron pours, annual "River Day" events, and foundry shows in the Tulane studio and courtyard. In the sculpture community Bailey was known for his unique head furnaces for casting iron, themselves sculptures made of paper, clay, and sand. In 2002-2003 he exhibited in Italy and England, the only American exhibiting in the Canterbury Sculpture Festival, among a select group within the ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey. In 2004 he served as one of the local chairs for the International Sculpture Conference in New Orleans with John Scott.
His students were exceptional and of them he was most proud. Distinguished alumni of the Tulane Sculpture program during his tenure include Zarouhie Abdalian, Joseph Burwell, Thor Carlson, Allison Collins, Maysey Craddock, Joseph Hillier, Jonathan Hils, Erik Johnson, Loren Schwerd, Cynthia Scott, and Phoebe Washburn. On his birthday in 2016, he wrote, "Thanks one and all, for all the kind greetings and well wishes on my birthday. Though I never had children, I had students much more interesting and brilliant than myself. It has brought me great joy to see them grow into well-adjusted men and ladies. Bon chance, to all my FB friends and colleagues alike, around the world wherever you may be remembered, we are one and never the same, or ashamed to be who we truly are. Carry on, brothers and sisters, and as John Scott used to say, "PASS IT ON !"
