Michael E. Taylor
(b.1944) born in Lewisburg, lives in Rochester New York
Vase, 1977
glass, 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches, 77.36.48
Known more for his geometric, translucent colored glass sculptures, this vase is an early example of Taylor’s more bulbous, organic forms. In 1967 Taylor received a B.S. in art education at Tennessee State University (Now, Middle Tennessee State University) in Murfreesboro. He then moved to Johnson City to earn both an M.A. in sculpture and ceramics in 1968 and an M.F.A. in sculpture in 1977 at East Tennessee State University. After graduation, Taylor instructed glass making at Tusculum College in Greeneville then taught in the Visual Arts Department at Vanderbilt University, Peabody College for nine years. He then moved to New York to head the Glass Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences for twenty years. Most recently he served as a Professor at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia in Portugal.
Taylor has been the recipient of national and international scholarships and grants including a Fulbright-Hayes Research Grant to Sweden and Central Europe, National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Fellowship; New York State Foundation for the Arts Grant, New York State Council for the Arts, Visual Artist Fellowship; Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, The Thord-Gray Fellowship of the American-Scandinavian Foundation, Korean – American Cultural Exchange, Samsung – Corning Foundation; and many more.
His work can be found in Tennessee collections such as the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, and the Vanderbilt University, Peabody College, and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. Nationally, his work is in the collections of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, NY; National Collection of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.; Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA; Racine Art Museum in Racine, WI; Luce Center for American Art in Washington, D.C.; Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, LA; Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY; Toledo Museum of Art, OH; Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC; Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY; Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, NY; Coca Cola Corporation, in Atlanta, GA; Eastman Kodak Corporation in Rochester, NY; Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, DE; High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA; Standard Oil Corporation in Chicago, IL; The Lannon Foundation in San Francisco, CA; and the University of Texas in El Paso, TX among others. Internationally, His work is in the collections in Canada, Spain, Hungary, Korea, Portugal, Japan, Mexico, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany.
