Anita Taylor

www.thedrawinggallery.com 10-10-11Anita Taylor (b1961) studied at Mid-Cheshire College of Art (1980-81), Gloucestershire College of Art (1981-84) and the Royal College of Art (1985-87). She was Artist-in-Residence at Durham Cathedral (1987-88); Cheltenham Fellow in Painting (1988-89), and Artist-in-Residence at the National Art School Sydney & the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (2004). Solo exhibitions include: A mon seul desir: the tapestry paintings & drawings, The Drawing Gallery, Shropshire (2009), A mon seul desir: reveries & other series, NAS Galleries,Sydney, Australia (2007); Seeing Something Else, The Drawing Gallery, London (2004);Playing The Muse, Lanchester Gallery, Coventry (1989);Anita Taylor - paintings, Berkeley Square Gallery, London (1989); An Artist’s Residency at Durham Cathedral, DLI Museum and Art Gallery, Durham (1988). Awards include: The Malvern Award for Drawing (1993); Hunting Art Prize for Drawing (1999); Major Award, Cheltenham Open Drawing (1999); Hunting Art Prize (2000). Work is held in the collections of: The Victoria & Albert Museum; 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; Leicestershire Collection for Schools and Colleges; Leeds Education Authority and private collections in the UK, Europe & Australia.She is a Professor of Fine Art and, and up to March 2009; Director of The Centre for Drawing, a University-wide Research Centre of the University of the Arts London. She was the founding Director of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK, established in 1994. In April 2009, she becomes the Director of the National Art School in Sydney, Australia.http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/drawingfromturner/artists/taylor.htm (June 22, 2009)Anita Taylor RWA is currently Dean of Wimbledon College of Art and Director of the Jerwood Drawing Prize project. She studied at Mid-Cheshire College of Art (1980-81), Gloucestershire College of Art (1981-84) and MA Painting at the Royal College of Art, London (1985-87). From 1987-88 she was Artist-in-Residence at Durham Cathedral, and Fellow in Painting at Gloucestershire College of Art (1988-1989) prior to returning to be Head of Painting there in 1991 and subsequently Deputy Head of School for Art, Media and Design. She was Vice Principal at Wimbledon (2004-06). In 2004 she was Artist-in-Residence in Drawing at the NSW National Park & the National Art School Sydney, Australia. Awards include the Malvern Award for Drawing 1993, the Hunting Art Prize 2000, the Hunting Art Prize Award for Drawing 1999.http://www.wimbledon.arts.ac.uk/35178.htm (June 22, 2009)Taylor makes drawings and paintings, which explore the representation of female identities, notions of pleasure and sensuality, the private and the public, decoration and allegory, and the influence of scale on the reading of a work; this includes exploratory and realised work in the form of invented paintings, drawings, prints, sketchbooks, notebooks, work from the model and self-portraiture. She is also concerned with the development of the knowledge and understanding in contemporary drawing, and is the founding Director of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the annual exhibition for drawing in the UK.Biography Anita Taylor (b1961) studied at Mid-Cheshire College of Art (1980-81), Gloucestershire College of Art (1981-84) and the Royal College of Art (1985-87). She is Professor of Fine Art, Dean of Wimbledon College of Art, and Director of The Centre for Drawing at the University of the Arts London. She was Artist-in-Residence at Durham Cathedral (1987-88); Fellow in Painting at Gloucestershire College of Art (1988-89) and Artist-in-Residence in Drawing at the National Art School Sydney, Australia (2004). She has exhibited, taught and examined nationally and internationally. She was elected an Academician of the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in 2005. Email address a.p.taylor@wimbledon.arts.ac.ukCurrent Research Drawing is, for me, a fundamental discipline for creative development, used both as a tool to encounter and examine the world, and as a departure point for the understanding and identification of individual content and the understanding of a particular relationship to the world. For several years I have been making a series of large-scale drawings, which explore the relationship of female subject as artist, model, and the defining acts of scrutiny, gaze and feeling. These drawings are made alongside paintings that embrace more expansive ideas of construct, content and context, with reference to historical precedent, narratives and event. The paintings explore female identities, notions of pleasure and sensuality, the private and the public, decoration and allegory. Recently I have been exploring, through transcription, the iconography and meaning of the Unicorn tapestries held in the collection of the Musee du Moyen-ages, Paris. Through these paintings I aim to develop new understanding of the source material and related artefacts, and to establish new readings and meaning for the central subjects of these tapestries, which deal with the senses, sensuality, the notion of a suspended reality, and the simultaneous representation of freedom and imprisonment, linked to the early English narrative of Tristan and Yseut. While I make drawings for and from these developing images and subjects, I also work with models to develop characters for the narrative interpretation. The series of small ink drawings (all measuring 38 x 28cm) play with and explore the narratives underlying these themes.The other drawings serve as a touchstone within my overall practice, using myself as a source for the exploration of expression, gesture and observed information. These drawings seek to identify and visualise the relationships between what is seen, what is felt, and what we expect, disclosing an inherent paradox as the mind reveals the body it inhabits. Exhibitions - solo and groupSolo exhibitions:2007 A mon seul desir: reveries & other series, Gallery 2, National Art School, Sydney, NSW Australia*2004 Seeing Something Else - recent drawings, The Drawing Gallery, London *2004 Residency Drawings, The Ranger's House, Middle Head, NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, Sydney, Australia Group exhibitions:2007 Looking Forward: Thirty Contemporary British Artists, Agnew's, London *2007 Series & Sequences, The Drawing Gallery, London 2006-07 Drawing from Turner, Clore Gallery, Tate Britain, London 2006-07 Re: inventING, ING Collection, London & National Maritime Museum, London*2006 154th Autumn Exhibition, (A mon seul desir: Touch) Royal West of England Academy, Bristol * 2006 Drawing Inspiration, Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria* 2006 The Drawing Room, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2005-06 40 Artists - 40 Drawings, The Drawing Gallery London 2005 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2005 Triennial Open Painting, RWA, Bristol (A mon seul desir; Taste, invited to exhibit as selector) 2005 Hunting Art Prizes 2005, Royal College of Art, London* 2004 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London (invited by collector: Alan Grieve) *2004 Naked, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (invited artist)* 2003-04 Hunting Art Prizes 2003, Royal College of Art, London & tour 2003 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2002 150 years of Art Education in Gloucestershire, Pittville Gallery, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham *2002 The Female Line, Sherborne House, Dorset * 2002-03 The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2002, East Wing Studios, Cheltenham; The Jerwood Space, London; mac, Birmingham; Glasgow School of Art; EICH, Hull; The Lowry, Salford Quays*2001 Mindscape, Cavanacor Gallery, Co. Donegal, Rep.Ireland 2001-02 The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2001, East Wing Painting Studios, CGCHE, Cheltenham; The Prince's Foundation, London; EICH, Hull * 2001 Winners Collection, Hunting Art Prizes 2001, Royal College of Art, London 2000 Hunting Art Prizes 2000, Royal College of Art, London (First Prize)* Publications2007 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2007, Introduction. Editor, essay by Paul Bonaventura, Avis Newman, Catherine de Zegher ISBN 978-0-9556646-0-1.2007 Drawing: The Network, Introduction, published Chelsea Space, UAL, ISBN 978 1 906203 05 42007 Garageland, article,'Whose story? The struggle of memory against forgetting Facts, fictions, journeys and histories, in storytelling through painting', Special edition on painting, guest edited by Emma Talbot2007 Drawing Breath, an exhibition of contemporary drawing marking ten years of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the annual open drawing exhibition in the UK, author & editor, 160pp, paperback catalogue, colour illustrations, published Wimbledon College of Art, selected essays include Tony Godfrey, David Alston, Frances Carey, Ken Currie, Martin Kemp, Stephen Farthing, Sarah Simblet. ISBN 0-948327-25-12007 A mon seul desir: reveries & other series, exhibition catalogue, essays by Anita Taylor & Nicholas Usherwood2006 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2006, Introduction, Editor, essays by Dr Yvonne Crossley, Paul Thomas, published Wimbledon College of Art, London, ISBN 0- 948327-24-3 2005 Drawing, foreword, Discerning Eye Catalogue, Mall Galleries/ING2005 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2005, Introduction & Editor (with Karen Bateson), essays by Stephen Farthing, Martin Kemp, Sarah Simblet, published Wimbledon School of Art, London, ISBN: 0-948327-20-02005 The Drawing Book, Sarah Simblet, Dorling Kindersley, All and Nothing (full-page illustration & descriptive text by author), p114-115, ISBN 14053063002004 The Hunting Art Prize 1990-2005, William Packer (illustration of Containing Things & text by William Packer) 2004 The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2004, Editor, (with Karen Bateson), essays by Basil Beattie, Mary Doyle, Tony Godfrey, published Wimbledon School of Art, London, ISBN 0-948327-19-7 2003/2006 Drawing, co-author Paul Thomas, Foundation Course Series, Cassell Illustrated, published UK, September, 2003, ISBN 1844030849, 144pp, 25000 words, plus captions, 200 colour illustrations; world-wide distribution, including, Cassell Academic, USA, September 2003; 2006, Republished in hardback, Bounty Books, ISBN-10: 0 7537 1360 8 ISBN-13: 9780753713602003 Apprendre le Dessin, co-author Paul Thomas, Octopus/Hachette Livre/Octopus Publishing Group Ltd France, November 2003, ISBN 201260217-7, 143pp + 200 colour illustrationsAwards2004 Artist-in-Residence in Drawing, National Art School Sydney & NSW National Parks, Australia 2000 Hunting Art Prizes, First Prize Funded Research Projects1994-present The Jerwood Drawing Prize (Formerly known as Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition) Co-founded in 1994 with Paul Thomas. Director from inception. Annual exhibition of 40-50 drawings selected from a submission of 2-2,5000 by independent panel of 3 subject experts, including: Deanna Petherbridge, Peter de Francia, Andrew Brighton, Isobel Johnstone, Cornelia Parker, Marina Warner, Marco Livingstone, Doris Lockhart Saatchi, Timothy Hyman, William Feaver, Ken Currie, Mel Gooding, Richard Cork, Graham, Crowley, Estelle Thompson, Anthony Green, Angela Flowers, Alexander Moffatt, Tony Godfrey, Basil Beattie, Mary Doyle, Martin Kemp, Stephen Farthing, Sarah Simblet. Jason Brooks, Yvonne Crossley, Paul Bonaventura, Catherine de Zegher, Avis Newman. Accompanied by illustrated catalogues, tours widely, including The Jerwood Space, London; The Lowry, Salford; Midland Art Centre, Birmingham; Mackintosh Gallery, Glasgow School of Art; BayArt, Cardiff; Durham Art Gallery & Museum; Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery; Kunsthalle, Sierre, Switzerland; Galerie Bahnhof Westend, Berlin, Germany. Principal benefactor since 2001: the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. Annual public education programme, including Big Draw events at The Jerwood Space, London.2006-08 Drawing Breath: 10 years of the annual Jerwood Drawing Prize, touring exhibition: the gallery at Wimbledon College of Art, London; Gallery 1, National Art School Sydney, Australia; NAFA Galleries, Singapore; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; the Robert Gordon University Gallery, Aberdeen; Hatton Gallery, Newcastle. Supported by the British Council, Henry Moore Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Hong Kong Land, Exhibition includes artist-selectors & awardees 1994-2006.2005 Sarah Simblet Drawings, the gallery at wimbledon school of art, London 2004 Peter de Francia Drawings, the gallery at wimbledon school of art, London2002 150 years of art education in Gloucestershire, Pittville Gallery, CheltenhamCommitteesExhibition Selection Panels:2007-08 Jerwood Contemporary Painters 2008, with Stephen Farthing, Jason Brooks2005 RWA Triennial Open Painting Exhibition, with Maurice Cockrill, Nicholas Usherwood, Andrew Lambirth, Dereck Balmer2004 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, with Peter Randall-Page, Alan Grieve, Anne Robinson, Mark Lawson, Norbert Lynton2003 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2003, with Ken Currie & William Feaver2003 Art in Mental Health, Chair, Review Panel, with Steve Glynn, Katie Pratt, Tony Russell, Nicola Shane, exhibition toured RCA, London; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; Urbis, Manchester; Howard Gardens, Cardiff & Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (2003-04), sponsor, Pfizer.2001 Hunting Art Prizes 2002, Chair of the Selection Panel, with Nicola Shane, William Packer, Tom Coates, Jennifer McRae, Charles Darwent1996 Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition, with Deanna Petherbridge & Peter de FranciaResearch:2004-2007 AHRC Peer Review College Member 2005-08 HEFCE RAE2008, Art & Design Panel Member 2007- Appeal Committee, Royal West of England Academy2007- Trustee, Wimbledon College of Art Charitable Trust2007 Board Member, International Association of Independent Art Schools 2006-07 Governor, University of the Arts London2005-present Discerning Eye Charitable Trust, Educational Advisory Board 2004-06 Director, Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design (CLTAD) 1999-2001 National Association for Fine Art Education (NAFAE), Regional Chair, South West & Wales Region 1999-2001 NAFAE, National Steering Group Member CitationsCollections: Victoria & Albert MuseumRoyal West of England AcademyThe Jerwood Foundation (on loan to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University)National Art School, Sydney, Australia University of GloucestershireUniversity of SunderlandDurham CathedralLeicestershire Collection for Schools and CollegesLeeds Education AuthorityPrivate collections in UK, Europe & Australia