Bailey is determined to raise awareness about the pollution in this lake, a place where he goes almost daily during the summer with his wife, Amy, and his children Dorian and Ava, and where for decades he\u2019s gone to skip rocks after a bad day or watch a sunset he calls \u201cone of the most beautiful things you can ever see.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the last couple of months of 2025, Bailey<\/a> worked on a piece of art that\u2019s titled \u201cLake Erie Leftovers\u201d<\/a> and is made up of items he found on the shore. That work will be available for the public to view beginning Feb. 1 at the Center for Lake Erie Education and Research<\/a> at Blasco Library in Erie. Following that exhibit, which is expected to run through June, the piece will be available to see at the Lake Erie Maritime Museum.<\/p>\n \u201cMy intention is it will never be for sale,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be something that\u2019s just constantly lent out to be displayed and just encourage and promote that there is an issue with trash in our freshwater lakes, and that people are just mindful of collecting, not littering. You see something on the shoreline \u2014 just pick it up and throw it away.\u201d<\/p>\n Bailey\u2019s not sure how many items of Lake Erie debris are in his piece, but there are several that especially stand out on the 22-inch-by-37-inch work that\u2019s covered in blue spray paint and surrounded by a $1 plastic frame the artist picked up at a local thrift store, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe golf club head, or maybe the octopus \u2014 it\u2019s definitely the main focal point,\u201d he wrote to the Pennsylvania Independent. \u201cBut that toy engine? It\u2019s not something you see every day, either.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLake Erie Leftovers\u201d follows other works by Bailey, a self-taught artist who said he\u2019s especially inspired by nature, street art and skateboarding. His evolution as an artist has been from designing band flyers and logos when he was younger to tattoo designs as he got older. He then moved into helping companies with branding and logo design, illustrations and other commercial work. These days, in addition to doing his mixed-media artwork, Bailey has been pursuing more photography.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never had any formal training beyond what I had in high school, really, so it\u2019s just kind of one of those things that I\u2019ve tried to be a sponge with anything that I find interest in,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cI just try to deep-dive on it and consume as much as I can and then just try to implement that in what I\u2019m doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He loves finding the pieces of life others have left behind and incorporating those in his work \u2014 the Lake Erie debris, of course, but also items like stickers scattered throughout city landscapes. Last year, Bailey completed a piece titled \u201cBroke in the 814,\u201d<\/a> which featured five different broken skateboards from local skaters. Erie\u2019s area code is 814. That work was displayed at a local gallery alongside the text, \u201cThe skateboards used in this piece were all broken locally in Erie Pa by 814 skaters. Don\u2019t be sad for the people who broke these boards, celebrate them. They are making progress. They will continue to push their boards and their limits.\u201d<\/p>\n Bailey said he\u2019s especially proud of the \u201cBroke in the 814\u201d piece, which is inspired by his decades-long love for skateboarding.<\/p>\n \u201cI still cruise around on a board from time to time,\u201d Bailey wrote to the Pennsylvania Independent. \u201cSkateboarding was a huge part of my youth, from the graphics on the boards to the music to the lifelong friendships I established. When you have that skateboarding mindset, you look at things differently; you\u2019re always looking for the next line through a group of obstacles. You look at how things are created and built. I\u2019ve taken that approach with everything I do now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n With \u201cLake Erie Leftovers\u201d completed and being shown to the public, Bailey is turning his focus to new projects, including creating a \u201clarger-than-life postcard\u201d against which North East beachgoers will be able to pose and branding work for local businesses.<\/p>\n Then, of course, there\u2019s the ongoing work of cleaning up the Lake Erie shoreline, something he does at least several times a week when the weather turns a bit warmer. He\u2019ll keep doing that until it\u2019s no longer needed for the body of water that he explained has given him so much throughout his life, from a chance to decompress to moments of beauty.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSunsets around here are just absolutely amazing because the water will be completely still,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cYou actually have trouble seeing where the horizon and the skyline meet each other because it just all kind of disappears, and then the sun just sinks into the lake. And it\u2019s one of the most beautiful things you can ever see. Honestly. It\u2019s gorgeous.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lake-Erie-LeftoversPROVIDED-1024x680.jpeg\")
Douglas Bailey holds his piece \u201cLake Erie Leftovers\u201d on the shore of the lake. (Photo provided by the artist.)<\/p>\n