Artist: Taylor Whyte
Taylor Whyte, ILLINOIS
BIO:
Taylor Whyte is a ceramic artist based out of Augusta, GA, where she works at a College Preparatory School teaching Ceramics, and 3D Art. She lives happily with her husband and two cats Pixie and Penelope. Working primarily with soft slabs to create the cloud-like forms that characterize her practice.
Taylor received her MFA in Ceramics from Ball State Univeristy in Muncie, IN where she continued her love of functional work with a twist. Her work examines ideas of comfort, emotional expression, and emotional dysregulation, using clear, intentional construction methods to translate these themes into three-dimensional shape.
Within her studio practice Taylor’s intention is to create work offering steadiness and familiarity, pieces meant to be held, used, lived with and to be comforted by.
Artist Statement:
We are often told that "less is more" and to "leave something to be desired". Ideas like these are applied to a variety of things in life, but they also extend to how we express ourselves and our emotions, and therefore extend to how we are supposed to engage with the people around us. We are often told to smile, to not show our anger, and to only cry in private. We are conditioned to think that those of us who are emotional are somehow less than; the label only comes with negative connotations and is often applied to women. I believe people should be allowed to express their emotions without fear of rejection or being seen as a pariah.
When people are faced with an emotional individual they often attempt to offer up small gestures of comfort, such as a tissue, or an apology for what they are going through. However, those gestures are conditioned responses and intended to dig as deep as a "how are you?" in casual conversation. What happens when we really get to the root of someone's sadness and attempt to supply comfort? What happens when we allow others to exist that way without the expectation of them keeping it bottled up inside or immediately acting better?
The work contains my empathy and seeks to comfort others in the ways I know how beyond words. It references what I reach for in order to cheer myself up and the items I extend to those I care about when they are sad. Through the use of weather-based imagery, I am able to get my point further across; the accessibility extends it out to everyone. The stormy surfaces hint to something more somber with the hopes of lessening your burden or the opportunity to simply sit with your feelings in solace. This work simultaneously comforts myself through the act of making and, for others, it exists to extend comfort even without my physical presence. With this work I am putting my emotional state at the forefront and confronting you with it or inviting you to sit in on it with me.
EDUCATION
2018-2021 MFA Candidate in Ceramics: Ball State University
2017 B.F.A and BA/BS Psychology: State University of New York
at Plattsburgh
TEACHING
2022-2023 Throwing; Beginning, Intermediate and Altered
Forms, Beginner Hand building, Ceramic Jewelry,
Lillstreet Art Center
Chicago, IL
2021 Throwing I, II & III, Spring Semester, Ball State University*
Muncie, IN
2020 Introduction to Ceramics, Spring & Fall Semesters, Ball
State University* Muncie, IN
2018 Adult beginner, intermediate and advanced classes
Saratoga Clay Arts Center, Schuylerville, NY
*Ball State does not recognize graduate students as professors on record, however all the class
content was my own.
EMPLOYMENT
Present Artist-in-Residence at Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago,
IL
2018-2021 Graduate Assistant at Ball State University, Muncie, IN
2017-2018 Artist-in-Residence at Saratoga Clay Arts Center,
Schuylerville, NY
2016-2017 Printmaking Studio Technician, State University of
New York Plattsburgh
2016-2017 Summer Intern at Saratoga Clay Arts Center,
Schuylerville, NY
EXHIBITIONS
2024 Cup: The Intimate Object, Invitational
Gainesville, FL
2024 Material Mugs, VIII, Companion Gallery, Invitational
Humboldt, TN
2023 Northern Illinois Pottery Tour, Invitational
Aurora, IL
2023 Last Call VIII, Companion Gallery
Humboldt, TN
2023 Contemporary Narratives, NCECA Exhibition
Cincinnati, OH
2022 Material Mugs VII, Companion Gallery, Invitational
Humboldt, TN
2022 Cloud 9, NCECA Exhibition, Invitational
Sacramento, CA
2022 Last Call VII, Companion Gallery, Juried by Tim Kowalczyk
Humboldt, TN
2022 Mug Madness, Saltstone Ceramics
Seattle, WA
2021 Cup Exhibition and Sale Invitational, Artlink Contemporary
Fort Wayne, IN
2021 Sweet Things Invitational, Riverside Pottery Studio, Cape
Girardeau, MO
2021 i’m sorry i’m sad: and other platitudes i tell, MFA Thesis
Show, Ned and Gloria Griner Gallery, Ball State
University, Muncie, IN
2021 Last Call VI, Companion Gallery
Humboldt, TN
2021 Mug Madness, Saltstone Ceramics
Seattle, WA
2020 Form and Function, Gulf Coast State College, Juried by Mike
Cinelli
Panama City, Florida
2020 Constructed Ceramics, Applied Contemporary, Juried by
Yoonjee Kwak
Oakland, CA
2020 Queer and Dear Invitational Show, Saltstone Ceramics
Seattle, WA
2020 Last Call V, Companion Gallery
Humboldt, TN
2020 Mug Madness, Saltstone Ceramics
Seattle, WA
2020 SIP!, Savanna Clay Community
Savanna, GA
2020 Artlink Cup Show Invitational, Artlink Contemporary Gallery
Fort Wayne, IN
2019 Working Pots IV, Juried by Nick Devries
James May Gallery, Algoma, WI.
2019 1 st and 2 nd Year MFA Show, Atrium Gallery
Ball State University, Muncie IN
2018 Parts Assembled, Collaborative Exhibition
Seattle WA
2018 Welcome Home, Solo Exhibition, Schacht Gallery
Schuylerville NY
2017 Senior B.F.A. Exhibition
State University of New York at Plattsburgh
WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES ATTENDED
2021 Amaco Brent Kiln Repair Workshop
2017-2022 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
(NCECA) Attendee
2019 Mark Errol Workshop, Arrowmont School of Crafts,
Gatlinburg, TN
2019 Melanie Sherman, China Painting Workshop at 323 Clay,
Kansas City, MO
2018 Gretchen Goss, Sodium Bichromate Photo Transfer
Workshop, Muncie, IN
2018 Jen Allen Workshop, Arrowmont School of Crafts,
Gatlinburg, TN
AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS
2022 Best in Show, B.Y.O.T., Last Call VII, Companion Gallery,
Humboldt, TN
2021 ASPIRE Grant Recipient
2019 Windgate University Fellow Scholarship Recipient