Bailey served as visual arts coordinator at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), was a founding member of A.J.A.C. Studio (Artists at Joliet and Cohn), and served as supervisor for "Artworks '84" at the Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans in 1984. In 1987 Bailey joined the studio art faculty at the Newcomb Art Department at Tulane University, where he taught until 2010.
In the sculpture community Bailey was known for his unique head furnaces for casting iron, themselves sculptures made of paper, clay, and sand. In 2002-2003 he exhibited in Italy and England, the only American exhibiting in the Canterbury Sculpture Festival, among a select group within the ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey. In 2004 he served as one of the local chairs for the International Sculpture Conference in New Orleans with John Scott.
