Chuck Baird, Sunset (via Deaf Art Teacher)
Chuck Baird was born deaf and fluent in ASL, receiving an education rich in Sign Language from the Kansas School of the Deaf, Gallaudet University, and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). After graduating from RIT Baird worked with the National Theater of the Deaf as a set-painter, and as Visual Arts Coordinator for a Deaf artist colony in Texas- Spectrum Focus on Deaf Artists. He also worked with Rainbow’s End, an Emmy Award-winning show for Deaf children.
His first exhibition was at Gallaudet University’s Deaf Artists’ Exhibit: World Federation of the Deaf Conference in 1975, and spent his time at Deaf schools teaching and inspiring several long-lasting artworks. Among these fantastic works includes a 150-foot mural at the The Learning Center for Deaf Children in Massachusetts, and a 30′ by 10′ mural at Gallaudet University entitled The Five Panels: Deaf Experiences, which is still on exhibit today and continues to inspire Deaf children to be proud of their identity.
Chuck Baird is arguably known the most for his work in the development of De’Via (Deaf View Image Art), which is an artistic concept that contains messages about deaf life and experiences. This artistic concept does not only include Deaf artists (and not all Deaf artists are included) and must fit a specific criteria including a relation to Deaf experiences, a use of color contrast, centralized focus, and exaggerated facial features. They may also use colors that are quite vibrant and expressive to better accent these concepts.
Check out Chuck Baird’s Website for more brilliant art.
DeafArt.Org Link