Michael Baggarly

Michael Baggarly is an associate professor of Art at Middle Tennessee State University where he teaches Sculpture and 3-D Design. He lives and works in Murfreesboro, TN with his wife Melodie and two children Kaia and Caedryn. Michael earned a BFA (Magna Cum Laude) from Western Kentucky University in 1998 and MA and MFA degrees from University of Iowa in 2001 and 2002 as an Iowa Arts Fellowship recipient. Michael’s focus of study was sculpture and graphic design.

 Initially an undergraduate ceramics major, Michael was interested in the sculptural ability of clay to build large forms with relative quickness. As his interest toward sculptural works pushed the addition of new materials he began to make the transition from clay as a primary medium to a new focus towards materials such as steel and wood. His conceptual interests have always focused upon the human experience. He has explored this through physical representation of the body and as body in absence. Currently he is focused upon process and labor as both physical and conceptual narrative. Viewing himself as an object-maker, his forms draw physically from the world around him, finding inspiration in product design and other mass produced items, he searches to find a balance between the hand-made and the slick manufactured products of today.

 Michael’s art has been exhibited nationally and internationally in juried and invitational exhibitions. His work has appeared recently at the Gail Contemporary Art Museum in Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Positive/Negative 30th. Annual National Juried Exhibition, Space 204, Vanderbilt University, Red Clay Survey: Contemporary Southern Art, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, Positive/ Negative 26th. Annual National Juried Exhibition, Slocumb Gallery, Johnson City, Action: Reaction, National Juried Exhibition, Gloria Singletary Gallery, and Art Biologic: International Juried Exhibition, Limner Gallery. His works are also included in the Tennessee State Museum Collection, Nashville, TN, Learning Connexion, Wellington, New Zealand, Museo de Collage, Morelos Mexico, and SUNY, Geneseo, NY.