A new post-modern exhibit of unique steel sculptures created by Temecula art teacher James Jared Taylor opens at a Palm Springs gallery on Jan. 5.
A new post-modern exhibit of unique steel sculptures created by Temecula art teacher James Jared Taylor opens at a Palm Springs gallery on Jan. 5. (Courtesy photo)
Taylor, an artist for 35 years, created his Intermodulation Project from steel, glass, bronze and mirrors.
“It’s sculpture that uses natural sunlight as a vehicle,” explained Taylor, 54, who created the works at his studio home in Desert Hot Springs.
Taylor integrated mirrors, prisms and glass into the linear steel works to focus light on certain points and create shadows. The sculptures reflect and diffuse natural light, which Taylor said plays a large role in how the sculptures look because, “When the sun moves, those lines and forms change,” he said.
Different people will see the work differently as the light changes, he said. “You’re using light and material and space in a different way.”
Taylor is an art teacher and the Dean of Curriculum and Instruction – Visual Arts at Chaparral High School in Temecula, where he teaches two- and three-dimensional arts and Advanced Placement Studio Art. Taylor also serves on the Visual and Performing Arts Plan Task Force for the Temecula Valley Unified School District. The panel of teachers is working to develop a Fine Arts Master Plan for the school district.
Taylor’s new sculptures will be displayed from Jan. 5 through Feb. 2 at the Lifework Gallery, 333 North Palm Canyon Drive, #118, in Palm Springs. The gallery is owned by Taylor’s former student Marnie Navarro.
Visitors can meet Taylor from noon to 9 p.m. at an opening reception on Jan. 5.
Taylor said his Intermodulation Project evolved over time as he worked on the series of steel abstract sculptures that range in size from 18 inches to 12 feet high.
“The work is really about an evolution. The show will contain drawings and models and also a slideshow,” he said.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Taylor has been living and working in Southern California since 1988 as both an artist and an art teacher. His artwork has won awards, been shown in scores of galleries nationwide, and is included in various public, private, and corporate collections around the country.
After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1981 from the Kansas City Art Institute, Taylor moved to New Jersey to join the Johnson Atelier as an apprentice and later as a staff member working in foundry and metal fabrication. He also attended the New York Studio School as a mobility student in 1980. While living in New Jersey, he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Rutgers University- Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1986. Although primarily trained as a sculptor, Taylor has created artwork in several media, including bronze casting, painting and printmaking.
“Metal work is kind of in my blood,” said Taylor, whose grandfather had a metal fabrication plant in Cincinnati to make industrial equipment.
Taylor was an adjunct professor of Art Education at California State University, San Bernardino, and also in Sculpture and Art History at the College of the Desert. In 1999, he was the founding Art Department chair at Desert Hot Springs High School. He received a Bravo Award-Honorable Mention in 2004 for Excellence in Art Teaching.
In 1994, Taylor received an Anderson Children’s Foundation Grant to establish a printmaking program at Mt. San Jacinto Continuation High School, an alternative high school in the Palm Springs Unified School District. The printmaking program was also part of an Exemplary Program Award from the California Continuation Education Association.
To learn more, visit www.jamesjaredtaylorarts.com.
Amy Bentley is a local writer and regular contributor to SWRNN.
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