Anita Taylor

Anita Taylor is a figurative painter, exploring identity, emotion and narrative through tableaux and interactions which are at once highly theatrical, but also intimate and symbolic. In recent years she has produced several series of large-scale works based on mythological subjects, for example the tale of Tristan and Yseut (A mon seul desire: Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch, Sound and Sixth Sense, 2005-6). In Oyster-catcher (illustrated), the identity of the artist’s model becomes the subject of the painting. Surrounded by objects which carry a personal significance, time stands still for her, providing the cat (a reference to Chardin) with its opportunity.

Oyster-catcher oil on canvass 152 x 152 cm 2005

Anita’s charcoal drawings form part of a continuous strand of pieces which document 20 years of postgraduate development, often using herself as the model. They are not self-portraits in the traditional sense, but use the figure as a vehicle for communicating complex and universal feelings; the viewer becomes complicit in each piece as it mirrors their own mood or preoccupations.

Alongside her practice as an artist, Anita Taylor has worked in art education in numerous roles, including: Director of The Centre for Drawing at the University of the Arts, London; Dean of Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts, London; and Deputy Head of School, School of Art, Media and Design at the University of Gloucestershire, where she was first awarded a Professorial title. She is currently the Director of the National Art School in Sydney, Australia.

Anita also co-founded and is co-director (with Paul Thomas) of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, a prominent annual award and touring exhibition that showcases current drawing practice in the UK.

EDUCATION

FELLOWSHIPS & RESIDENCIES

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Glance charcoal on paper
38 x 28 cm 2004

COLLECTIONS

Victoria & Albert Museum
Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum (V&A Purchase Award)
Royal West of England Academy
The Jerwood Foundation (on loan to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University)
National Art School, Sydney, Australia
University of Gloucestershire
University of Sunderland
Durham Cathedral
Leicestershire Collection for Schools and Colleges
Leeds Education Authority
Private collections in UK, Europe & Australia

AWARDS

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Jerwood Drawing Prize, catalogues 2004/5/6/7/8, Introduction, editor

Writing on Drawing, Foreword, edited S. Garner/ J.Steers, Intellect Books/NSEAD, 2008

Drawing: The Network, Introduction, published Chelsea Space, UAL, 2007

Garageland, article, Whose story? The struggle of memory against forgetting Facts, fictions, journeys and histories, in storytelling through painting, guest edited by Emma Talbot 2007

Drawing Breath, an exhibition of contemporary drawing marking ten years of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, author & editor, 2007, ISBN 0-948327-25-1

A mon seul desir: reveries & other series, monograph with essays by Anita Taylor & Nicholas Usherwood 2007

Drawing, foreword, Discerning Eye Catalogue, Mall Galleries/ING 2006

The Drawing Book, Sarah Simblet, Dorling Kindersley, All and Nothing (full-page illustration & descriptive text by author), p114-115, 2005, ISBN 1405306300

The Hunting Art Prize 1990-2005, William Packer (illustration of ‘Containing Things’ & text by William Packer) 2004

Drawing, co-author Paul Thomas, Foundation Course Series, Cassell Illustrated, published UK, September, 2003, ISBN 1844030849; Cassell Academic, USA, September 2003;

Apprendre le Dessin, co-author Paul Thomas, Octopus/Hachette Livre/Octopus Publishing Group Ltd France, November 2003, ISBN 201260217-7

The Jerwood Drawing Prize/Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition, catalogues 1996-2003, editor

The Millennium Bestiary, illustrated page and text (Peau d’Ane), artist’s book, UWE, 1995, ISBN 1860430236

Durham Cathedral Artists & Images, Patricia R. Andrew, published Arts, Libraries and Museums Department, Durham County Council, 1993, ISBN 0952083604