Walter Bailey, emeritus professor of art, will be hosting an art exhibition Thursday through Nov. 6 at Holt-Russell Gallery in Parmenter Hall.

The opening of the exhibition is from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and from 8 to 9 p.m Thursday.

“Out of Fifty: Walt Bailey Retrospective” will feature work Bailey has made since he graduated from Baker in 1962.

“This isn’t your typical retrospective,” Bailey said. “It shows my history as a teacher.”

Bailey said he painted toy airplanes as a kid but never had any formal art training until he arrived at Baker. He took his first art class as a sophomore, after a friend recommended the class to him.

During his college years, Bailey was interested in the abstract expressionists.

“If you didn’t have to imitate something, then there is a whole world of things you could do,” Bailey said.

Bailey returned to Baker in 1965, when he started as a part-time instructor before becoming a full-time professor. During this time, Bailey made improvements to the art program.

“Walt Bailey was the art program,” Brett Knappe, asistant pofessor of art history said. “The man is a legend.”

His return to Baker made him aware of other art media that he hadn’t tried before. Bailey became the professor of photography, as well as working on the stained glass windows that are now in Collins Library.

“I consider my teaching to be my art,” Bailey said. “My students are my greatest achievement.”

Bailey went on to become a member of Baker’s faculty hall of fame.

Student response for the upcoming retrospective has been positive.

“I love looking at art,” art history minor Haley Barnes said. “It will be interesting to see his unique style.”

The retrospective will display around 26 works of art tracing Bailey’s evolution as an artist. Among the items are paintings, drawing, pints, photographs and what Bailey calls two “hands-on” exhibits.

Bailey hopes to be in Parmenter Hall at various times that the exhibit is open.

“I love to talk to people; hear their opinions,” Bailey said. “If someone says ‘What is this?’ I want to be around and talk to them.”