Bailey Feeney
Artist Profile By Emily Ireland
Bailey Feeney has the most pure and smooth personality, and when you get the chance to talk to her you find she is like a bright light on a dark day. Her voice shines when she talks about her creative lifestyle, and how she came to do what she loves – which is creating the most artistic, beautiful, and functional silver jewellery. 
Bailey grew up surrounded by the arts; her parents ran a theatre company, and her father is a brilliant painter and sculptor – she came by her talent for creating honestly, and says she has known in her heart forever that creating beautiful things was what she wanted to do.
Currently Bailey lives on an 8-acre farm where they grow garlic and she home schools her son. On her property located in Wainfleet, ON Bailey opens her studio doors by appointment. You will find this blissful space a fully stocked studio. Bailey also offers calming energy and aura cleansing services in the studio. You will also find offerings from other selected artists, as well as local honey from her property, sage, crystals, and candles. But this space she has curated is not where her jewellery exploits began…
Bailey grew up participating in theatre for over 18 years, she also trained in dance and spent time busking; she found joy in participating in creating art for others to enjoy in one form or another. She also says she has always made jewellery in some form or another, and at the age of 16 she started collecting her grandmothers vintage buttons. From there Bailey started making and selling her intricate pieces made of buttons and strings of pearls. At the age of 24 Bailey had the great occasion to be invited to study with self-taught silversmith Peter Lyewellyn in Georgetown P.E.I. She travelled with a 6-month plan, and ended up staying a year as Peters apprentice, growing her talent as a seasoned silversmith. Bailey has sold pieces to over 10 countries including Canada, United states, England, Australia, Germany, France and even Trinidad and Tobago.
“We spent every day in his studio in the backyard from 10AM-10PM creating. We laughed a lot and drank copious amounts of coffee; I soaked it all in like a sponge. I learned so many skills from him.”
Lemonade Designs, Baileys current artistic business was born in 2015 and it gets its name from the popular saying “I’m taking all of the lemons and making lemonade.” Bailey says that the name is her anchor and her reminder; it can be hard sometimes being an artist not knowing how things will go, how your creativity will be received and enjoyed.
This year will mark Baileys 10th anniversary as a metalsmith and she is excelling in creating lifelong mementos for people to wear and appreciate as lasting heirlooms. “Knowing that things I have made are going out further than their home town, out to around the world is amazing. My work, what I create, every piece that I make is to inspire an emotion in someone; to offer feelings of empowerment, inner strength, inner beauty.” Positive and uplifting affirmations are often found stamped onto Baileys one-of-a-kind pieces, and she is a passionate champion for mental health, and is an advocate for the Niagara Sexual Assault Centre.
When asked why she creates, Bailey answered: “It allows me to communicate with people; all the undertones in my work are about loving yourself, reminding you that you are enough – I need that for myself, mental health is extremely important. Every person that I have ever met in my life has always needed to be reminded that we belong somewhere, that we are cared about, worthy of being loved. When I create pieces, I feel all of that in myself – but every person that wears my jewellery is worthy of feeling these things too. 90% of my sales are people buying for themselves, a treat yourself moment, it fills me up.”
Covid created tense times for many artists, and Bailey found that pivoting from in-person shows and turning to social media was a saving grace, but also a really neat experience. She began releasing her collections as live sales on Instagram and in doing so has found a lovely, supportive coven of people who come together to admire, comment, and share her designs; no talk of negativity, simply all about the joy of sharing a common interest.
Baileys style can be described as bohemian, earthy, bewitched and natural. She uses a selection of high-quality gems and stones and creates magically spun silver around them. She also uses stamping in her work and you can find the mantra ‘I am enough’ stamped on many pieces. “I want my work to evoke the notion of pride and enjoyment and empowerment” says Bailey. Collections are released throughout the year with limited inventory, and every collection has a different theme based on things that inspire her, these themes affect what materials are used. For example: The Cove Collection was mermaid inspired, it featured pieces made with seashells aquamarines, lapis lazuli and followed a beachier theme.
Do you have a silver heirloom, perhaps a spoon from Grandmothers collection? Bailey takes custom orders and is fond of upcycling family heirlooms. She is also able to melt down sterling silver pieces to give them a new life in your daily jewellery rotation. Bailey also offers memorial jewellery for loved ones we have lost, if you would like to incorporate hair, or ashes in something lasting, Bailey takes the utmost care in creating a memento you can carry with you next to your heart.
Follow Bailey on Instagram @lemonadedesigns
Find her available work online: www.lemonadelifedesigns.com
