Artist Statement:
I began creating rectangular hand-built bottles in the mid-2010s, first decorating them with simple images of flowers, trees, and other everyday subjects. Soon, I introduced portraiture—often self-portraits—rendered as linear drawings in cobalt oxide and black stain. Around 2020, color entered my work, and with it came an expanded interest in glaze, stain,
and layered surfaces. This exploration led me to flat slab wall pieces, where heat, color, and material interact in increasingly complex ways.
As my practice has evolved, so too has my awareness of politics and representation. My portraits reflect both personal presence and a sense of exclusion—images that feel unwelcome within an art world where I often find myself marginalized. Making this work is both an act of acceptance and a battle: to claim space, to challenge erasure, and to transform clay into a record of persistence.
Artist Bio:
Born and raised in Jersey City, NJ, George Taylor discovered art as a freshman at Rutgers University, where he studied painting along with sculpture and art history. His exploration of clay began after college and deepened during graduate studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he studied painting, ceramics, performance art, and critical studies.
George’s professional path has been as varied as his artistic one—spanning roles as a clerk, salesman, marketing associate, therapist, and professor. These experiences inform his multidisciplinary approach and the themes of resilience, identity, and transformation in his work.
Now based in central New Jersey with his spouse, Abby, George continues to create at the intersection of art and craft.
