JOHN S. TAYLOR
				BIOGRAPHY: John received a degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia and has maintained a residential design practice for more than thirty years, along with many other design-related and educational activities. He authored and illustrated Commonsense Architecture, a collection of over 600 original pen-and-ink drawings describing practical folk building ideas from around the world (recently revised and republished as A Shelter Sketchbook: A Shelter Sketchbook, Chelsea Green Press, VT). He taught school for several years and founded Children’s Design Collaborative, a program to develop and present hands-on architecture-related projects for K-12 students. His graphic design work has included promotional materials for corporate clients ranging from small local businesses to Union Carbide Corporation, and creation of an educational card game called ERG: The Energy Resource Game: ERG: The Energy Resource Game. John has been involved in drawing and illustration for many years, and moved into painting several years ago, following a fortuitous encounter with a wonderful painter and teacher from Maine while traveling in Italy.  His primary interest now is plein air landscapes – and still life work when the cold and bugs become intolerable. In addition to many local subjects John has done a great many paintings while traveling across the US and abroad.
		ARTIST’S STATEMENT The work of the Impressionists has always held an especially strong attraction for me, and I have tried to bring their approach and principles into my work. My key objective is to use the direct expression of light and color to capture a visual impression of a scene, rather than paint a detailed factual report. Although I focus primarily on landscapes, I find that painting any subject requires this same process of distillation and simplification, which helps me to incorporate those things that reinforce the focus and mood of the painting, and play down or eliminate those that needlessly detract from it.   The scenes I choose to paint are ones that have a strong emotional draw for me, and I hope that I can create a rendition of that scene that makes a viewer feel drawn to it also. I grew up in rural farm country, and most of my conscious and unconscious memories are linked to that environment. So most times that I am captivated by a scene it is because it resonates deep within that place where I hold an ever present awe and abiding respect for nature. I feel that painting is an effort to achieve visual balance, harmony, rhythm, movement, and excitement, and the natural world is the quintessential embodiment of these principles.