Meet Bruce Bayard

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bruce Bayard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Bruce, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

I keep my creativity alive by giving it a break on a regular basis. I’ve lost track of the number of times I quit being an artist. Running headlong into a creative block is a common occurrence. Frustration and disappointment seem ever present. The thing is, in the early days of this cycle when I quit, it used to be devastating to think that my life as an artist was over. Then I’d have an inspiration for another creative project. The more this happened, the less dramatic each cycle was, until it dawned on me that this was just my normal way of recommitting to the creative act.

It is now evident that I’m creative all the time, just in different ways depending on the cycle. Collecting thoughts, collecting raw material, experiencing other artists’ work, all lead to getting inspired, and the creation of new work begins again.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I create multi-media events that have grown out of my interest in visual art, music, and dance. For more than a decade, I’ve developed and evolved a randomly composed image projection that started as a simple three-channel slide show and grew into a multi-layered, randomly composed never repeating collage of video, stills, animated gifs, word lists and transparent textured overlays. The program can run as short or as long as I like.

The events generally take the form of an evening performance with three musicians, including myself, improvisationally generating a soundscape to accompany the image collage projection. While the performance normally lasts an hour, I’ve also performed it for 12 hours at a time.

In addition to live performance, I watch the image program run on my computer monitor, and take screen captures when I see a particularly compelling composition. Those then get enlarged, printed and framed for gallery exhibits. I call this collaborations with randomness.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I remember being a very late-comer to the idea that the computer was a tool that would benefit my art. But then one of those cycles hit and I was completely dumbfounded where to go with my painting. At a friend’s suggestion, I looked into digital painting tools and became a bit obsessed. I spent hours learning how to do things electronically that I couldn’t really do with physical paint. There really is no substitute for spending long periods of time learning things. Patience was helpful, too, exploring a world in which I knew very little, Staying open to what new capabilities might arise, while also working towards a goal was helpful.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

A few years ago, the community I live in was devastated by wildfire. One structure that suffered major damage was rebuilt into a building that I thought would be a beautiful art gallery that could exhibit work of many artists whose opportunities for display were dwindling. I started The Talent Gallery and am managing the exhibit space for 20 artists (including me), and looking to expand opportunities for guest artists in nearby businesses. The Gallery has become the central focal point for the rebirth of Fourth Friday Art Walks that used to take place before the pandemic and before the fire. I never saw myself as a leader or organizer, yet here I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brucebayard.com
• Other: https://thetalentgallery.art

Image Credits

All images: Bruce Bayard