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A Gallery of Tahoe Artists: Douglas E.Taylor
by Michael Penwarden Tahoe Quarterly Magazine, Holiday Issue 2003
Douglas E. Taylor has crafted a unique place for himself in the North Tahoe art
community: as a printmaker, gallery owner and mentor to other aspiring artists.
“I came to Tahoe for a position at Sierra Nevada College in 1990,” he says.
“It was a one-year stint teaching printmaking and sculpture. Before that, it had
never occurred to me that I might actually live here.”
Inspired artistically by the beauty of the area, Taylor began creating original pieces by combining several printmaking techniques in innovative ways. The results have
been stunning: collage’s of imprinted shapes and colored with layer upon layer of
paints that shimmer and change depending on the viewing angle and the time of
day. Many of the works are huge for printed art, Taylor having constructed his
own press in order to create them.
“I use iridescent and metallic acrylic paints, and iridescent interference colors that
bend the light spectrum," he says. “If you view the pieces from different angles,
the colors become invisible or intensify...it represents the sense of animation you
observe in nature. If you look at water or leaves fluttering on trees pr at the sky,
they’re in a constant state of flux, which suggests to me a certain spirit. I try to
capture that in my work.”
The eclectic, natural forms of Taylor’s work are part of the variety of mediums
one finds at his Vista Gallery - one of the most interesting and diverse galleries at
The Lake. “Everything here has to relate to nature and to the people’s experience
at Tahoe,” he says. “My vision was to create a space that would be different
from the average gallery, and represent very accomplished artists that aren’t
reproducing their work by the thousands.”
Among the artists whose work can be found at the gallery are ceramists Susan
Roden and John Manley, painter and printmaker Brooke Bishoop, painter
Madeline Bohanon, metal artist Ron Hagerty and photographer Robert Desmond. The gallery also features an impressive collection of nostalgic photographs unique to
Vista Gallery.
In addition to running the gallery and producing his own artwork, Taylor conducts annual workshops intended to help artists find their style. “As an instructor, as
an artist, as a gallery owner, I see artists all of the time who are struggling
needlessy,” Taylor says. “My intention is to use the information and skills I have to help them. And it’s very gratifying to get letters from artists telling me I’ve changed
their lives. I enjoy helping to create things that are larger than myself.”
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