Michael Taylor (glass artist)
Encyclopedia
Michael Taylor is an American studio glass artist, teacher and lecturer. His best known body of work is his geometric glass sculptures. He works the glass cold, shaping, polishing and laminating translucent colored and clear blocks of glass together using epoxy resin.
. There he was first exposed to glass as an artist's medium. He returned to Penland in 1968 and, with the encouragement of glass artist Fritz Dreisbach
, began to work with glass. Taylor graduated from East Tennessee University in 1969 with an M.A. in sculpture and ceramics. That summer he studied glass at the University of Utah under University of California-Berkeley instructor Marvin Lipofsky
. In the fall Taylor returned to Tusculum College
in Greenville, Tennessee, where he was working as a part-time art instructor, to take a full-time teaching position.
In 1970 Taylor attended the Toledo Museum School's Glass Workshop, where he met a number of the artists involved in the Studio Glass Movement, including Dominick Labino
, Harvey Littleton
, Harvey Leafgreen, Jack Schmidt, Doug Johnson, Tom McGlauchlin and Henry Halem. Returning to Tusculum College, Taylor won a Louis Comfort Tiffany grant to work with Harvey Littleton at Littleton's studio in Verona, Wisconsin. In 1977, while serving as the chair of the art department at Peabody College, Taylor returned to graduate school at East Tennessee State University, where he was awarded an M.F.A. in sculpture.
of Vanderbilt University
. In addition to his duties at Peabody, Taylor lectured at Penland and taught during the summer at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
and Naples Mills School of Arts and Crafts in Naples, New York. He also found time to begin glass programs at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, Maryland Institute College of Art
in Baltimore and Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, New Jersey.
From 1979–80 Taylor was an associate professor of art at the College of Idaho. During this time he also lectured and presented workshops at California State University
at Chico and the University of California
campuses at Davis and San Luis Obispo. He taught at Kent State University
in Ohio in the summer. In 1981 he was hired by the Rochester Institute of Technology
to head its glass program, a position that he held for 19 years. In 1988 he took time out to teach at the Tokyo Glass Art Institute in Japan, and in 1991–1994 he served with the United States Department of Information Services as a specialist to the glass community in Monterrey, Mexico. In 1998 he lectured in Seoul, Korea at Namseoul University. In 2000 he retired from Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2005 he was awarded a professorship at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Facauldade de Ciências e Tecnologia in Lisbon, Portugal.
Glass artists who studied under Michael Taylor include Jiyong Lee, Jonathan Schmuck and Sam Stark.
Also in 1969, Taylor took his first foray into glassblowing. Early works included the "Glass Fabrication" series, in which Taylor combine blown glass forms with grommets, plate glass and automotive products, such as motor oil and anti-freeze. A trip to Scandinavia in 1974 gave Taylor the opportunity to work at the Johansfors Glasbruk in the province of Småland, Sweden where he developed his "Johansfors" series. There he created sculptures by cutting and assembling clear glass forms manufactured by the factory. Upon his return to his Nashville, Tennessee studio Taylor continued his exploration of cut and assembled clear glass forms in his 1975–76 "N-Sequence" series. The artist found that the soda-lime glass
that he used to make the forms for this series had impurities in it that caused striations in the glass; these he felt, distracted from the appreciation of the sculptures. In subsequent series of fabricated glass sculptures Taylor created his forms in borosilicate glass
, the same substance of which Pyrex
laboratory glass is made.
s, lekythoi
and amphora
s. At first the surfaces of these bulging forms displayed colorful spots and splotches that contrasted with the solid body color of the vessels; but a trip to the desert regions of Idaho and Oregon influenced Taylor to wrap the surfaces of his vessels in landscape-like configurations of color. In 1980 Taylor returned briefly to ceramic, folding and draping slabs of porcelain into twisting, gestural forms. These he airbrushed in black and brown glazes to emphasize the forms' depth.
with thin layers of brilliant color, became the basis of his work after 1991.
. Taylor said that Eisch's series was "about controlled pandemonium," or "tranquil chaos," a spontaneous quality that he tries to apply to his own work. The twentieth century Russian art movement, Constructivism
has been a major influence on Taylor's art, not only because "it is deliberately composed" and non-representational, but also because the Constructivist seeks to touch human emotions and intellect through the highly formalized language of graphic art and architecture. Taylor feels a kinship with the minimal
artist Dan Flavin
because of that artist's professed interest in Russian Constructivism. Artists James Turrell
and Robert Irwin
also influenced Taylor because of their environmental use of light and light-sensitive materials.
Taylor has expressed admiration for the modern artists Jackson Pollock
, Piet Mondrian
, Marcel Duchamp
and Louise Nevelson as much for the revolutionary effect of their ideas on the course of art history as for the formal and visual qualities of their oeuvres.
In a general way the structural model of DNA
and electronic circuitry bear a visual resemblance to Taylor's constructions in glass. Taylor says that his work represents no one technology, but refers to modern technology as a whole.
(N.E.A.) Fellowship in 1984 and a N.E.A. Forums Grant in 1985. In 1987 Taylor was presented with the New York Governor's Art Award; a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts came in 1987 and a grant from the same institution was awarded in the following year. In 1998 a grant from the Samsung Corporation allowed Taylor to work at the Sung-Jin Glassworks in Kimpo.
Taylor underwent successful surgery in 1990 to remove a tumor from the left frontal lobe of his brain.
, New York, New York; Chrysler Museum of Art
, Norfolk, Virginia; Corning Museum of Glass
, Corning, New York; High Museum of Art
, Atlanta, Georgia and the National Collection of American Art, Renwick Gallery
, Smithsonian Institution
, Washington, DC. Taylor's work can be found in the corporate collections of Bausch & Lomb
, Rochester, New York; Coca-Cola
, Atlanta, Georgia and Standard Oil
, Chicago, Illinois, among others. Internationally his work can be found in the Düsseldorf Museum of Art, Germany; Glasmuseet Ebeltoft
, Ebeltoft, Denmark and the Tokyo Glass Art Institute in Kawasaki-Shi, Japan.
Early life and education
Michael Estes Taylor was born in Lewisburg, Tennessee and began to draw at age 12. At age 18 he entered Middle Tennessee University in Murfreesboro where he was awarded a B.S. in art education. He entered graduate school in 1967 at East Tennessee University in Johnson City, where he received a summer scholarship to Penland School of CraftsPenland School of Crafts
The Penland School of Crafts is a center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, about 50 miles from Asheville....
. There he was first exposed to glass as an artist's medium. He returned to Penland in 1968 and, with the encouragement of glass artist Fritz Dreisbach
Fritz Dreisbach
Fritz Dreisbach is an American studio glass artist and teacher who is recognized as one of the pioneers of the American Studio Glass Movement.-Early life and education:...
, began to work with glass. Taylor graduated from East Tennessee University in 1969 with an M.A. in sculpture and ceramics. That summer he studied glass at the University of Utah under University of California-Berkeley instructor Marvin Lipofsky
Marvin Lipofsky
Marvin Lipofsky is an American glass artist. He was one of the six students that Studio Glass founder Harvey Littleton instructed under an independent study program for the University of Wisconsin-Madison in fall 1962 and spring 1963...
. In the fall Taylor returned to Tusculum College
Tusculum College
Tusculum College is a coeducational private college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church , with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee, United States, a suburb of Greeneville...
in Greenville, Tennessee, where he was working as a part-time art instructor, to take a full-time teaching position.
In 1970 Taylor attended the Toledo Museum School's Glass Workshop, where he met a number of the artists involved in the Studio Glass Movement, including Dominick Labino
Dominick Labino
Dominick Labino Dominick Labino was an internationally-known scientist, inventor, artist and master craftsman in glass. Labino's art works in glass are in the permanent collections of more than 100 museums throughout the world...
, Harvey Littleton
Harvey Littleton
Harvey Littleton is an American educator and glass artist. Born in Corning, New York, he grew up in the shadow of Corning Glassworks, where his father headed Research and Development during the 1930s...
, Harvey Leafgreen, Jack Schmidt, Doug Johnson, Tom McGlauchlin and Henry Halem. Returning to Tusculum College, Taylor won a Louis Comfort Tiffany grant to work with Harvey Littleton at Littleton's studio in Verona, Wisconsin. In 1977, while serving as the chair of the art department at Peabody College, Taylor returned to graduate school at East Tennessee State University, where he was awarded an M.F.A. in sculpture.
Teaching
Taylor accepted his first teaching position in 1968 at Tusculum College, where he built a glass facility in 1971. He left Tusculum in 1972 for a job as an associate professor of art at Peabody CollegePeabody College
Peabody College of Education and Human Development was founded in 1875 when the University of Nashville, located in Nashville, Tennessee, split into two separate educational institutions...
of Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
. In addition to his duties at Peabody, Taylor lectured at Penland and taught during the summer at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, commonly called "Haystack," is a craft school located on the coast of Deer Isle, Maine.Haystack was founded in 1950. It took its name from its original location near Haystack Mountain, in Montville, Maine...
and Naples Mills School of Arts and Crafts in Naples, New York. He also found time to begin glass programs at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art is an art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation...
in Baltimore and Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, New Jersey.
From 1979–80 Taylor was an associate professor of art at the College of Idaho. During this time he also lectured and presented workshops at California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
at Chico and the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
campuses at Davis and San Luis Obispo. He taught at Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
in Ohio in the summer. In 1981 he was hired by the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
to head its glass program, a position that he held for 19 years. In 1988 he took time out to teach at the Tokyo Glass Art Institute in Japan, and in 1991–1994 he served with the United States Department of Information Services as a specialist to the glass community in Monterrey, Mexico. In 1998 he lectured in Seoul, Korea at Namseoul University. In 2000 he retired from Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2005 he was awarded a professorship at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Facauldade de Ciências e Tecnologia in Lisbon, Portugal.
Glass artists who studied under Michael Taylor include Jiyong Lee, Jonathan Schmuck and Sam Stark.
Early work
Taylor began his career as an artist in ceramics. His earliest series, "Analytical Perspectives" of 1965–66 , focused on the vessel format. In the "Libidinous Manifest" series of 1969 Taylor sculpted organic ceramic forms that he placed open-end down on wood pedestals to proclaim their alliance with sculpture. In contradiction to the sensual knobs and bulges of his forms, Taylor painted the sculptures with shiny enamel in eye-popping colors. The addition of hard-edged geometric shapes and stripes painted on the forms further challenged the biomorphic forms while the addition of rayon flocking and in, one case ("Libidinous Manifest #10"),a clinging web of red crocheted yarn placed the works firmly in the era of psychedelic imagery.Also in 1969, Taylor took his first foray into glassblowing. Early works included the "Glass Fabrication" series, in which Taylor combine blown glass forms with grommets, plate glass and automotive products, such as motor oil and anti-freeze. A trip to Scandinavia in 1974 gave Taylor the opportunity to work at the Johansfors Glasbruk in the province of Småland, Sweden where he developed his "Johansfors" series. There he created sculptures by cutting and assembling clear glass forms manufactured by the factory. Upon his return to his Nashville, Tennessee studio Taylor continued his exploration of cut and assembled clear glass forms in his 1975–76 "N-Sequence" series. The artist found that the soda-lime glass
Soda-lime glass
Soda-lime glass, also called soda-lime-silica glass, is the most prevalent type of glass, used for windowpanes, and glass containers for beverages, food, and some commodity items...
that he used to make the forms for this series had impurities in it that caused striations in the glass; these he felt, distracted from the appreciation of the sculptures. In subsequent series of fabricated glass sculptures Taylor created his forms in borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass is a type of glass with the main glass-forming constituents silica and boron oxide. Borosilicate glasses are known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion , making them resistant to thermal shock, more so than any other common glass...
, the same substance of which Pyrex
Pyrex
Pyrex is a brand name for glassware, introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.Originally, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass. In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda-lime glass, which is the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware in the US and has...
laboratory glass is made.
Transitional work
At the beginning of the 1980s Taylor's work in glass turned to classic vessel forms based on ancient Greek kraterKrater
A krater was a large vase used to mix wine and water in Ancient Greece.-Form and function:...
s, lekythoi
Lekythos
A lekythos is a type of Greek pottery used for storing oil , especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel. The lekythos was used for anointing dead bodies of unmarried men and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often...
and amphora
Amphora
An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...
s. At first the surfaces of these bulging forms displayed colorful spots and splotches that contrasted with the solid body color of the vessels; but a trip to the desert regions of Idaho and Oregon influenced Taylor to wrap the surfaces of his vessels in landscape-like configurations of color. In 1980 Taylor returned briefly to ceramic, folding and draping slabs of porcelain into twisting, gestural forms. These he airbrushed in black and brown glazes to emphasize the forms' depth.
Mature work
In 1982 Taylor moved to Rochester, New York to head the glass program at Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Fine and Applied Arts. He returned to the to the symmetry and precision of his machine-like glass constructions, this time finding inspiration in the world of medicine and surgery. His "Surgical Expansion" series, fabricated from factory manufactured plate glass and glass tubing, featured scalpel-sharp pieces of beveled glass sheathed, and yet perfectly visible, inside transparent glass cylinders. Color began to come into these transparent pieces with the use of tinted industrial glass in peach, solar gray, solar bronze and blue as well as colorless glass. By 1983 he was laminating squares and rectangles of different colors of glass together to create tonal variations within a single work. In the mid-1980s Taylor was using bright color in small sections to focus the viewer's attention on central or connecting parts in a sculpture's composition. At that time he used the prefix "photo-" in his titles, as in "Photogenesis," "Photoreceptor" and "Photogenerator," to emphasize the interaction of light with his prismatic creations. Since that time Taylor's work has increased in compositional complexity. Cast pieces of flawless cast optical glass came into his repertoire in the late 1980s, and these, laminatedLaminated glass
Laminated glass is a type of safety glass that holds together when shattered. In the event of breaking, it is held in place by an interlayer, typically of polyvinyl butyral , between its two or more layers of glass. The interlayer keeps the layers of glass bonded even when broken, and its high...
with thin layers of brilliant color, became the basis of his work after 1991.
Influences
The artist has said that the off-center balance of his sculptures was influenced early on, when he saw the series "Bottled Spirits" by the German glass artist Erwin EischErwin Eisch
Erwin Eisch is a German artist who works with glass. He is also a painter, draughtsman and printmaker. With that of his friend and colleague in glass, Harvey Littleton, Eisch's work in glass embodies the ideas of the international Studio Glass movement...
. Taylor said that Eisch's series was "about controlled pandemonium," or "tranquil chaos," a spontaneous quality that he tries to apply to his own work. The twentieth century Russian art movement, Constructivism
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
has been a major influence on Taylor's art, not only because "it is deliberately composed" and non-representational, but also because the Constructivist seeks to touch human emotions and intellect through the highly formalized language of graphic art and architecture. Taylor feels a kinship with the minimal
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
artist Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures.-Early life and career:...
because of that artist's professed interest in Russian Constructivism. Artists James Turrell
James Turrell
James Turrell is an American artist primarily concerned with light and space. Turrell was a MacArthur Fellow in 1984. He is represented by The Pace Gallery in New York...
and Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin (artist)
Robert Irwin is an American Installation artist. He lives and works in San Diego, California.-Beginnings:Robert Irwin was born in 1928 in Long Beach, California to Robert Irwin and Goldie Anderberg Irwin...
also influenced Taylor because of their environmental use of light and light-sensitive materials.
Taylor has expressed admiration for the modern artists Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
, Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
, Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
and Louise Nevelson as much for the revolutionary effect of their ideas on the course of art history as for the formal and visual qualities of their oeuvres.
In a general way the structural model of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
and electronic circuitry bear a visual resemblance to Taylor's constructions in glass. Taylor says that his work represents no one technology, but refers to modern technology as a whole.
Awards and grants
In addition to the 1970 Tiffany Foundation grant that allowed him to study with Harvey Littleton, Taylor received a Danforth Foundation grant in 1971, a Thord–Gray Memorial Scholarship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation in 1973, a National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
(N.E.A.) Fellowship in 1984 and a N.E.A. Forums Grant in 1985. In 1987 Taylor was presented with the New York Governor's Art Award; a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts came in 1987 and a grant from the same institution was awarded in the following year. In 1998 a grant from the Samsung Corporation allowed Taylor to work at the Sung-Jin Glassworks in Kimpo.
Personal
Michael Taylor has been married three times. The first marriage was to Jane Powell, a classmate at Middle Tennessee State University, in 1963. The couple had two sons: Michael Christopher Eric, born in 1966 and Nathaniel Saxon, born in 1970. Taylor's second marriage, in 1977, was to Patricia Allred, a political science graduate student at Vanderbilt University. That union produced a daughter, Austyn Hillary, in 1984. In 1992 Taylor married Deborah Haber of Rochester, New York.Taylor underwent successful surgery in 1990 to remove a tumor from the left frontal lobe of his brain.
Public collections
Michael Taylor's work in glass is included in the public collections of Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, New York, New York; Chrysler Museum of Art
Chrysler Museum of Art
The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum in the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was originally founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. , donated most of his extensive collection to the museum...
, Norfolk, Virginia; Corning Museum of Glass
Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, New York, explores every facet of glass, including art, history, culture, science and technology, craft, and design....
, Corning, New York; High Museum of Art
High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
, Atlanta, Georgia and the National Collection of American Art, Renwick Gallery
Renwick Gallery
The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, located in Washington, D.C., and focuses on American craft and decorative arts from the 19th century to the 21st century...
, Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, Washington, DC. Taylor's work can be found in the corporate collections of Bausch & Lomb
Bausch & Lomb
Bausch & Lomb, an American company based in Rochester, New York, is one of the world's leading suppliers of eye health products, such as contact lenses and lens care products today. In addition to this main activity, in recent years the area of medical technology has been developed...
, Rochester, New York; Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, Atlanta, Georgia and Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
, Chicago, Illinois, among others. Internationally his work can be found in the Düsseldorf Museum of Art, Germany; Glasmuseet Ebeltoft
Glasmuseet Ebeltoft
Located in Ebeltoft, Denmark, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft is a museum dedicated to the exhibition and collection of contemporary glass art worldwide. Its mission is to educate a broad audience in the appreciation of glass as an art form.-Establishment:...
, Ebeltoft, Denmark and the Tokyo Glass Art Institute in Kawasaki-Shi, Japan.