All rights reserved Stephanie Taylor Stephanie Taylor Studio No image or text may be reproduced for any reason without the express consent of the artist. 2011
Artist statement Objects & installations: sculpture since 1994
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n 1991, Taylor returned to an interest in the figure and how people relate to each other with a mural about Amelia Earhart and 29 other aviation pioneers. As other murals followed with the necessary research, she began to think of herself as a visual historian, both representational and as narrative. In 1994, she and a welding partner created their first environmental and monumental sculpture out of recycled and found materials. It was called the “Delta Wind Machine,� a kinetic structure over 10’ tall that moved with the wind.
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cale in the architectural environment has always fascinated Stephanie Taylor. She began her career as an advertising art director, including billboards, in image driven Los Angeles. Since 1977, she has created site specific, publicly placed paintings and sculpture for major private and public sector institutions from museums to upscale hospitality. With curiosity as a driving force and a degree in History from UCLA, her focus was on the role of location and connections between the past and contemporary society, often reflecting her heritage as a fourth generation Californian.
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aylor has maintained a consistent solo and group exhibition schedule, inspired by internal interests as compared to architectural and location driven, commissioned work.
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aylor began creating murals at Jack London Square in Oakland in 1996. She had discovered clay and added 3D elements to the 2D surface, to compel people to become more engaged. With each subsequent opportunity, she added more clay elements until the 3D murals began to come off the wall, and stand freely as sculptural objects.
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tepping out of comfort zones, Taylor returned to school to study art full time in 2003. She had studied Philosophy at UCLA, and with a pivotal trip to London that year, found a renewed interest in theory. She spent the next three years focusing on issues and practice, making objects and exploring a personal response to the world, independent of representation and location. She received a Masters in Sculpture in 2006
eauty is an increasingly worthy pursuit today. Taylor acknowledges a deep appreciation of skill, design and materials. This has taken her beyond narrative representation into a world where she creates her own fantasy, in a variety of expressive materials, from clay to steel.
Curiosity Scale Materials Inspiration: Location versus internal Site specific Research From objects to installations
Confluence Cement, steel, specialty cement, cast ceramics, found objects include pottery shards and fresh water clam shells. 8’high by 40� diameter and over 2,000 lbs. each John C. Fremont Park, City of Sacramento, installed 2011 A tribute to John C. Fremont, featuring elements of his contributions to Western expansion, from his time to contemporary times and issues.
Beyond Ice & Stone Solomon Dubnick Gallery, October 2008 In the summer of 2000, I flew to Norway to a reunion to meet 135 second cousins for the first time. The family now lives all over Norway, but the original farm is in Stryn, about one-third of the way up the west coast at the eastern end of a fiord. The farm dates to 1606, and no further because of the plague. The Stryn region stretches, first by river, valley, then lake, then ascending to vast glaciers dominating the region. It was speechlessly stunning. I cried as we descended into Stryn Valley. In 2007, one of my cousins told me that I should plan on a visit soon because the glaciers were melting and probably wouldn’t last our lifetime. So I went back that summer and we went to the glacier, to Brikstallen, one of Norway’s most famous areas. The glaciers are melting because that’s what they do. You can see the lighter rock more recently exposed in the image below, . We walked past signs that mark the recession of the ice since 18__. But now the pace is quickening, and research teams that have explored and measured every summer have had to abandon their project because of the danger. Glaciers are dangerous places, melting or not.
We followed the water from near the top, across the fields, dripping and melting, a million separate drops combining into a million streams. Tiny streams join and become a rushing, turbulent river flowing past the cabins where my ancestors were born, tapestries on the walls where they’ve always hung, over built-in beds were generations gave birth. And then the River, joined by other rivers, each from a different glacial valley create Stryn Lake. On one shore, the tiny berg of Hjelle, with a charming Victorian hotel, and across the lake, the church and graveyard where generations are marked on tilting headstones. Stryn Lake narrows as it flows towards the sea, back into a river and then a fiord. Now, and for awhile yet, maybe, Stryn is a ski center in the winter. In the summer, tiny family farms hover precariously on narrow bits of land between impossibly steep mountains and frigid lakes and rivers. Most of the families raise grass to feed their cows. And what of the melting glaciers? The changing weather? My response got trapped in my work, and an opening exhibition the night of the Sara Palin debate...followed by an economic crash. Such is life.
Between Ice & Stone 240 Tiny Paintings Ceramics, steel, plexi 72x18� 2008
Between Ice & Stone Floating Series Ceramic with engobe and glaze 12x16� average 2008
Between Ice & Stone Totemic Series #1-5 Ceramic, steel 60 to 80� x 12� 2008 Between Ice & Stone Bollards Ceramic and engobe, some glaze 24x14 average 2008
Between Ice & Stone Amphora Series: #7 Ceramic, fractured glass, steel 24x12� 2008
What’s Next? Ceramic, thread, fabric butterflies 28x12” 2007
100 Porcelain Forms Ceramic, installation and details 5� diameter average 2004
Diligent Indolence Steel, screen, thread An interactive installation with computerized sound, triggered by hidden devices in the floor. 83x83� diameter 2005
Suspension Steel, fabric, plastic screen, ping pong balls, thread 30x60x24”
Vibration Steel, fabric, screen, clay, thread, plastic 36x54x24” 2006
Where Does Time Go? Ceramic, fractured glass, plastic, string, 74x18,� 2006.
Rose Teapot #2 One of forty-nine teapots Ceramic, engobe, pencil, glazed 12x13x9� 2007
Floating An installation of ceramic, plexi rods on wall, details 5x60’ Scott’s Seafood Restaurant, Sacramento, 2004
Migration An installation of over 2,000 ceramic and fiberglass fabric element, engobe, glaze, tensioned on steel cable from wall to wall to ceiling in children’s room. 17x17x9 feet Valley High North Laguna Library City of Sacramento, 2009
Peeps Ceramic, pencil 36x72� on wall Iron Grill, Sacramento, 2010
Jack & Friends Ceramics, paint 12x60’x 4” exterior 5x24’ interior
Hilton Hotel, San Francisco Murals, sculpture, paintings Over 3,000 sq. feet 1997-99
Sacramento: miscellaneous projects “Delta Wind Machine,” Sacramento City Hall proposal, Del Paso Theater “Big Fish,” cement over architectural foam, 7x24,’ 2002
The Fans Cement over architectural foam Paintings and digital murals Raley Field, West Sacramento, 2002
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WORK HISTORY 2011-present Writer/op-ed freelance contributor, Forum, Sacramento Bee 1977-present Stephanie Taylor Studio, Sacramento-1984-present, est. Los Angeles area, 1977-84. Prior Advertising art director, Los Angeles, CA EDUCATION 2004-2006 1974-77 1969-70 1968-89
CSUS, Masters in Sculpture UCLA, BA in History Art Center College of Design. Los Angeles Chouinard (Cal Arts), Los Angeles
COLLECTIONS AND COMMISSIONS INCLUDE: International Disneyland Hotel, Paris, France (the only non-French, non-Disney artist on the project) Shoji Corporation, Kyoto, Japan National Bally’s Casino, Las Vegas Crown Plaza, New York Disney Institute, Disneyworld, Orlando Grand Floridian Beach Resort, Disneyworld, Orlando Harvey’s Resort, South Lake Tahoe Hilton Hotel, New Orleans Hyatt Hotel, Atlanta Marriott Hotel, Washington D.C Sheraton Resort, Tucson California Bel Air Bay Club, Santa Monica California Association of Realtors, Los Angeles City Hall, City of Indian Wells City Hall, City of Los Angeles Columbia Pictures, Los Angeles Crown Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim First Interstate Bank Branches, Southern California Fluor Corporation, Irvine Hilton Hotels in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles Hyatt Hotels in Sacramento, Los Angeles Manhattan Beach, four exterior murals, 1979-82 MGM Studio, Los Angeles Rancho Bernardo Inn, Rancho Bernardo Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood Scripp’s College, Claremont Six Flags Corporation, Los Angeles Stephan Cannell Productions, Los Angeles Sutter Medical Centers, Santa Rosa, Antioch Texaco Corporation, Los Angeles Transcon Corporation, Los Angeles UC Medical Center, Los Angeles United California Bank branches, Southern California Waterfront Plaza, Jack London Square, Oakland Wells Fargo Bank, Los Angeles Xerox Corporation, Los Angeles
Sacramento In addition to the following, Taylor has created over 14 exterior murals in the region Beer’s Books, Jack London Mural, 2005 California Association of Realtors California Exposition and State Fair California State Library Foundation California State Railroad Museum Capitol Area Development Authority City of North Sacramento Crocker Art Museum Hyatt Regency Hotel Sacramento Public Library Sacramento Regional Transit Headquarters Sacramento River Cats. Raley Field Scott’s Seafood, Loehmann’s, Folsom, River Senator Leroy Greene’s Capitol office Sutter Club, Sacramento Sutter Medical Centers UC Davis Medical Center, since 1986 Water Education Foundation PUBLIC ART PROJECTS Sacramento Metro Arts Commission, Valley-Hi Library, Sacramento, CA., 2009 Sacramento Metro Arts Commission, Fremont Park Project, Sacramento, CA., 2011 Lecture to Crocker Art Museum on public art projects in Sacramento, 2006 Finalist, Sacramento City Hall, in two areas, Sacramento Metro Arts Commission, CA Finalist, Alhambra Water Reservoir, Sacramento Metro Arts Commission, CA North Sacramento Sculpture Concept & Project, Del Paso Blvd, CA Sculpture Project, Earth Day, Capitol Grounds, Sacramento, CA Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment, proposal to paint Del Paso Blvd, CA Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment, proposal for urban park California Department of Transportation, Proposal, Sacramento, CA City of Manhattan Beach Arts Commission, CA City of Manhattan Beach Mural Project, CA (over 700 linear feet)
EXHIBITIONS: Solo: 2008 1996 1993 1988 1986 1985 Group: 2008 2007 2006 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1994 1990 1988
Between Ice & Stone, Two-person, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Figures, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Perspective: Ordinary People/Ordinary Places, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA. Sterling Gallery, Napa Valley, CA Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento, CA Rara Avis Gallery, Sacramento, CA “Clay Now: Current Ceramic Art,” Sacramento Public Library Opening shows, June and July, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Moving to Midtown, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Progressive Dissonance, Library Gallery, CSUS, Sacramento, CA College Bowl, Sakata Garo Gallery, Sacramento, CA Clay Connections, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA A Horse is a Horse, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Drawn to the Figure, 11 Artists, 1 model, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Tenth Anniversary Exhibition: Looking Beyond 1991-2001, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento Masque Parade, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Big Kids Toy Box III, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Downtown Market Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Paintings & Drawings, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento, CA Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Publications and Films: 2011 Sacramento Bee: California Sketches Sacramento Business Journal 2009 Sacramento Bee 2008 Sactown Magazine 2006,7 Sactown Magazine 2004 Sacramento Bee 2003 Ceramics Art and Perception, Australia American Craft Magazine 2002 Sacramento Bee 2001 Feature film, Los Angels 1990’s San Francisco Hilton Murals, mini documentary PBS short film Arts Alive Wall Street Journal, Top Ten Hotel Properties Sacramento Bee Sacramento Magazine Sacramento Bee, art review, 1993 Sacramento Business Journal Sacramento Union Prior Design International Magazine Designer’s West Magazine Sacramento Bee, art review, 1985 Kodak’s More Joy of Photography Sacramento Business Journal German Art Calendar of International Murals Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Herald Examiner
Stephanie Taylor Stephanie Taylor Studio stephanietaylorart.com