11 minute read
Art of Linda Taylor
Nestled in downtown ojai, I wandered through Ojai studio artist Linda Taylor’s backyard garden and caught glimpses of dark silhouettes darting under distant bushes with the sound of occasional quacks cackling from afar. her outdoor patio was set with working tables and a mannequin dress form collaged with printed-paper.
Linda greeted me fully aproned and ready to create as we entered her bright and airy printmaking studio. She worked on a print in progress while we chatted. Placed on top of a large table was a hardboard-wood line carving (called “a plate” in printmaking lingo) of “Sartousse.” He was an interesting gentleman who used to play in drum circles on Sunday afternoons in Libbey Park. Artist Marta Nelson invited him to model at the Ojai Art Center for a fi gure drawing session and he came with his drums and played for the artists while he was modeling. Linda was making a collagraph print of him using two plates. Swirling and pressing a mix of brown and purple ink with a squeegee, she pressed the ink into the cut grooves of the varnished board. “I like taking a print and changing it to make each work a unique monoprint. One collagraph is made of collage pieces printed in layers for textures and tones,’’ explained Linda. Chin collé is another printmaking method she loves to explore where di erent papers are attached with glue during the printing process. After rubbing the ink into the surface, she used a tarlatan cloth to wipe o the excess ink to reveal the lines of the portrait. Then she carried the board across her studio to a large etching press and placed a sheet of Japanese paper, a pad and blanket on top of the panel. Going to the large handle, like the helm of a ship, with great enthusiasm and strength, she turned the handle as we watched the blanketed art in-the-making pass under a large steel roller that presses the paper into the inked plate to transfer the design onto the paper. This was the fi rst plate pull, and she will press
another plate with texture and color as she builds up her layers for a fi nished piece. Walking around her studio as she worked and talked, I noticed a wall of a variety of handmade masks, a globe, bundle of feathers, bird nests, stacks of all di erent types of drawings of fi gures, animals, knots and fl ora. Throughout her studio were several areas of works in progress, which she explains, “ allows her mental space for contemplation, rather than working on one image at a time.” And although it may sound chaotic, there was a very organized sense of clarity and purpose throughout her studio. I was quite amazed by her carving section with an array of di erent tools as she demonstrated the intricate technique of carving the groove from a line drawing onto a wooden board for a woodcut print.
Above: Taylor removes a print from a hand carved “plate.”
Alongside the same table was a tall stack of drawings on tracing paper. Having the translucent papers on top of each other helps her see how she will do her layering in the printing process. The top drawing was of a man and woman looking at each other from upside down with the title “Never and Always,” inspired by a book purchased during a trip to Palau, in Micronesia, where Linda demonstrated and taught printmaking at the Palau Arts Festival.
I noticed a recurring theme in her works with feathers and nests and I was curious about her fascination with our feathered friends. Her father was in the Navy and they moved often, about every two years. In her early childhood, as she stood waiting for the school bus in Tennessee, she watched birds on the Mississippi Flyway fl y overhead and she always wondered where they were going. To say the least, she is enamored with the life of birds, how they build their beautiful nests with only beaks and feet, and has been a bird watcher since seventh grade.
With her family on the constant move around the globe, including to
by Life Ojai artist LindaTaylor intertwines drawing with printmaking. story and photos by VALERIE FREEMAN
the Azores during her freshman and sophomore year of high school. It was di cult for Linda to have hometown friends, so she spent much of her solo time reading, drawing and teaching herself to paint with her dime-store watercolor set. Travel opened up her life to all kinds of opportunities to go and see and be a part of the world. At age 15, during a trip to Italy, Linda visited her fi rst museum, the U zi, where she saw “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” by Botticelli, At that very moment, she knew she wanted to be an artist.
Determined to pursue a career in art, she graduated from San Diego State University in 1962 with a degree in general art with an emphasis on drawing and printmaking. Can you believe the cost of her education was only $27 per semester?! Linda taught art at secondary school for several years, then went on to receive her Master of Fine Arts at UCSB and began teaching stone lithography at Ventura College. From the frequent visits to Ojai, in 1978 she decided to settle down in the Ojai valley. In 1980 Linda joined Ojai Studio Artists and helped revive the organization with Vivika Heino, Gayel Childress and Marta Nelson. In 1985 she began teaching art at Nordho High School.
Linda expressed the importance of instruction in the visual and performing arts. “The arts exercise parts of the brain that traditional academics do not. Creative thinking is a necessary skill in the 21st Century. The arts allow students to problem solve with hands-on experience. A student that may be challenged in other subjects is often able to acquire status through art” she stated. Linda retired from teaching at Nordho in 2004, and was elected to the Ojai Unifi ed School District School Board. She created a printmaking studio in the NHS art room and regularly volunteers working with art students, bringing in all her own supplies for the students to use during class. The students make professional quality original prints and linoleumprint greeting cards for their school fundraiser. In 1986 Linda purchased her current studio in Ojai and began hosting guest-artist printmaking workshops in 2005. She began inviting renowned printmakers from around the world to come to Ojai to teach fi ve-day workshops two to three times a year. Visiting guest artists have included Michael McCabe, Navajo artist from Santa Fe, NM; Ron Pokrasso, from Santa Fe, NM; Lennox Dunbar, from Aberdeen, Scotland; and Irena Keckes, from Croatia. The artists share their techniques such as viscosity
Above: Artwork of Lynda Taylor.
printmaking, moku hanga printmaking (a Japanese woodblock printing process), collagraph printmaking and creating unique monotypes. Linda also occasionally hosts workshops in the above techniques. An active member of Rotary Ojai West since 2005, Linda fi nds exciting opportunities with the organization and has traveled to India several times for polio immunization and a Group Study Exchange month. Some of her fondest memories are captured in her many sketchbooks, and I had the pleasure to see her leaf through her India sketchbook. Each page is a di erent street scene, from oxen to portraits to the Taj Mahal — simple line drawings which can translate into carved wooden panels. On December 6, 2015 a gas wallheater set her studio attic ablaze and
destroyed 40 years of art, including graduate artwork in storage. Karen Lewis, a close artist friend, visited her that very next morning and cried when she saw Linda’s studio. It was a mess, even her printing press was covered with melted plastic from the skylights. But Karen was a real lifesaver, coming to Linda’s rescue and o ering to share her studio and printing press with Linda. They shared the same studio and enjoyed each other’s camaraderie for the years it took for Linda’s studio to be rebuilt. At 5:30, Karen’s husband Craig would bring wine to celebrate another day of creative activity. It took three years for the rebuild of Linda’s studio to be completed and her endearing husband, Ray Magee, supervised and helped with the reconstruction of the studio, built by Reggie Wood. Between her own studio fi re and the Thomas fi re two years later in 2017, the heroic energy of the brave fi refi ghters is very close to her heart. “HERO,” a tribute to fi refi ghters, is an in-progress series of large, paper, alphabetic letters of sign language hand positions. Paper cut-outs of the sign language for “HERO” are placed across the top of a print with portrait drawings of fi remen. In her installation for the “Insight: 2020” OSA exhibit at the Ojai Valley Museum, Linda created “Homage to Botticelli.” Inspired by “Primavera” from her childhood realization to become an artist, she made over 30 plate images drawn from the fl owers in her garden. Four months in the making, with these images Linda created a magnifi cent, full size, delicate paper dress suspended from the ceiling. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the museum was closed for most of the duration of the exhibit, though it was available online for viewing.
Linda has always been interested in continuing education, and so during the Covid-19 lockdowns she enrolled in a woodcut Zoom class through Zea Mays Printmaking studio. She is also working on a series of selfportrait prints. The most recent is a woman standing with her entire head made of knotted strings and silhouettes of scissors trying to cut the strands. Linda explained, “the brain is all tied up in a ball of knots and the scissors is the way to get out.” She actually has a wad of knotted twine and ropes that she created to use as a drawing model. As we walked to leave her studio, Linda was very excited to show me her greatest prize of all time. She glowed as she held to her heart a colorful glass trophy from the City of Ojai — the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts, awarded in 2015.
As we strolled out into her orchard through her latched gate to keep her feathered friends from getting into her garden, a white dog with black spots joined us, who Linda called “The Spotted Dog.” She called her chickens, and from afar, brown hens came dashing happily, eager to eat the fresh kale she pulled from her garden bin. Standing in the garden, she sketched the chickens, amazed by their feet, as ducks came and gargled from her pool pond. Then she sketched the fl owers from her loquat tree, the same loquat fl owers used in her “Homage to Botticelli” dress, as she told me about her 60 orchard trees and the apple butter and preserves she makes every year. Linda is constantly doing, making everything seem e ortless — with the exception of carving the panels and turning the printmaking wheel. Her studio is a delight and fi lled with so much inspiration and works of art in all phases of completion. If you would like to see Linda’s contemporary works on paper or arrange a studio tour, please visit www.ojai-spotted-dog-studio.com or email her at ltaylorart@aol.com. Linda is also on the Ojai Studio Artists Tour and you can see her works at www.ojaistudioartists.org.
Above: Fuga. Ita volo qui aut experit atibus aut qui offi cilit voluptin nest, cum fuga. Left: Et aut qui voluptinum et quasped molesti dit exceate voluptiati nullut disit andignimin.
artists&galleries
DAN SCHULTZ FINE ART
GALLERY & STUDIO
Plein air landscapes, figures and portraits in oil, with a special focus on California landscape paintings. 106 N. Signal St., Ojai
805-317-9634 www.DanSchultzFineArt.com ROBERT LLOYD
THE ART OF VENTURA COUNTY
Paintings and drawings of California and beyond. Viewings available by appointment.
805-798-3172 www.artofventuracounty.com MARTHA MORAN
THE OJAI ROCKSTACKER
Sculptures, fountains, custom shower installations and more. Studio visits by appointment.
805-279-7605 www.OjaiRockstacker.com PORCH GALLERY
Open: 11-5, Sunday: 9-1:30 Closed: Tuesday and Wednesday
lisa@porchgalleryojai.com 805-620-7589 Instagram: porchgalleryojai FIRESTICK POTTERY
Creative workspace or clay artists & students. Open 10-6 daily. Closed Tuesday. 1804 E. Ojai Ave.
805-272-8760 www.firestickpottery.com
KAREN K. LEWIS
Painter & printmaker; etchings, monoprints, figure drawings, plein-air landscapes, still lifes and large-scale oil paintings.
805-646-8877 www.karenklewisart.com STEPHEN ADELMAN
freedom of perception and expression through an active and calming process
805-272-8760 LATITUDES
Fine Art Gallery
Transform your space with fine art photography. 401 E. Main St., Ventura, CA 93001
805-642-5257 www.lattitudesfineart.com PAMELA GRAU
949-903-9743 pamelagraustudio@gmail.com www.pamelgrau.com OVA ARTS
Your Go-To Place For Gifts. Thursday - Monday. Hours: 11-5
238 E. Ojai Ave. 805-646-5682 www.ojaivalleyartists.com
The Upper Ojai Search and Rescue team and Air Squad 6 take a break from training at Thomas Aquinas College, at the entrance to Santa Paula Canyon.
