Naomi Bays is a Charleston photographer, sculptor and mixed-media artist.  She is also very active in the city’s art scene, working in the Annex Gallery at Taylor Books and also with the city’s FestivALL commission.

Early Life

Naomi Bays comes from a long line of artistic background. She claims, “Everyone in my family is creative in some form.” Her birthplace is Nurnberg, Germany, which is directly related to her art because her earliest artistic experience was making crazy Polish style Easter eggs. Naomi attended the University of Charleston and West Virginia State to get her artistic training. She loves Charleston and sees many opportunities here having to do with her artwork by portraying people from rural areas perceive feminist issues.

Inspiration/Admirations

            Naomi finds inspiration everywhere, but she finds inspiration more from women’s issues.   She admires artists Cindy Sherman, Diane Arbus, and Cy Twombly.  

            Naomi has a very unique work area. She describes is as, “A disaster!” Regardless she loves her work are and confesses, “It’s why I bought the house!” Adding her own personal touch to her workplace, Naomi paints silhouettes of her girls on the wall each year.

            To fully understand Naomi’s artwork, she advises the viewer to simply infer his or her own thoughts or opinions. She doesn’t believe the viewer needs to know exactly why or what she is saying in her artwork but to instead appreciate the gist of it. She further explains, “I don’t expect people to know I am referring to a particular chapter in a book or some pop issue.”

Future Work/Goals

            Some of her many goals include bringing the fine arts together in a cohesive group for this area.  She believes an Artistic Resource center is needed for Charleston and is an advocate for an arts council.

            Naomi’s art is being shown at Taylor Books, Capital Market, Frankenburger Gallery, Della Brown Gallery, Cultural Center and Huntington Museum of Art. She is also published in the 2005 College Photographers book sponsored by Nikon. However, her favorite piece of artwork is Renewal (2004), presented in the 2005 WV Juried Exhibition. If you’d like to see Naomi’s remarkable work then you can visit the galleries listed above or view her current work, which is an E for a FestivALL project.

Ever Reaching, installation