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Art Career Biography of Douglas E. Taylor
Douglas E. Taylor, American visual artist and poet, was born in Oregon, in 1956. Initially he studied illustration and painting at Oregon College of Art in Ashland, Oregon. Taylor was trained in representational styles and excelled in painting, including transparent watercolor, oil painting and acrylic painting. In 1986, he studied at the Maryland Institute of Art, in Baltimore, Maryland. He achieved his Master of Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1989. At that most progressive printmaking program, he concentrated on a wide variety of printmaking processes and began to combine them, creating rich layered surfaces on large scale monoprints. He refers to these as "mixed-process" monoprints.
Before graduate school, Taylor had been producing edition etching prints for over seven years. At Washington University he began exploring the image through the rapid progression of the monoprint (unique and one-of-a-kind). To accommodate his larger print sizes, in 1991, he built and designed his own motorized etching press with a 30 by 72 inch press bed. Combining numerous printmaking processes in one monoprint is a progressive concept and contributes to the unique qualities that only can be achieved through the rich and subtle layers of printmaking. Taylor combines the processes of etching, including non-acid techniques, several forms of relief printing, collagraph, dry-point, photocopy transfer, monotype and offset counter proofs.
Larger format artworks are done as mixed-media on canvas. Usually these tactile artworks integrate layers of collage and acrylic painting. The collage elements are various pieces of his printed images, fragments of his printmaking he cuts or tears, and a variety of Oriental rice papers. Since 1986, Taylor has been experimenting with iridescent and iridescent interference acrylic paints. These can create a magic sense of subtle animation, causing colors to shift and change with the viewer's relationship with the light source and the character and quality of that light.
"As I have grown older I have realized the influence my father has had on my creative process. My father was a blacksmith and farrier (shoeing of horses). All my life, I have watched him encounter situations where the tools he was using didn't quite resolve the problem he was dealing with. When he couldn't buy what he needed, he would make it; fabricate it, sometimes from raw materials. I have admired that ability."
Taylor's versatility as an artist has enabled him to teach a wide variety of studio and some academic art courses on the university and college level from 1982 to 1998. He found teaching was another form of creative expression and allowed him to share his unique experiences and processes. Fostering a lifelong interest and passion for art in others was very rewarding.
In 1990, Douglas Taylor came to Lake Tahoe's north shore. The beautiful alpine lake is truly a blue jewel set in the high Sierra Nevada range on the California and Nevada border above six-thousand feet above sea level. He has been inspired by the poetic metaphors of nature and his endeavors to be a human being. He explores innovative aesthetics and formal issues with subjects that relate to nature woven with symbolism of the human condition. He writes poetry that accompanies his visual art.
In 1992, he created what has become, Vista Gallery, in Tahoe Vista, California. This unique art space and business allowed him to express himself through the creative process of a commercial enterprise. The gallery features original art by over thirty-six accomplished contemporary artists, and is a full service custom picture frame shop. See www.vistagallery.com for more information.
In 2009 he sold his business, Vista Gallery, fulfilling his dream of being a full time artist, moving to the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. See his career web site: www.douglasEtaylor.net.
He does professional speaking, demonstrations and presentations. His Successful Artist Workshop has helped many artists create a more successful and professional way of being an artist. Douglas loves speaking before the general public and elevating their understanding and appreciation of art and related topics.
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