Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Taylor Dean
228 Plays4 years ago
Taylor Dean tsi dsdaʔ. pastəd čəd. spuyaləpabš čəd. ʔaciłtalbixʷ čəd.
My name is Taylor Dean. I am white, I am a Puyallup, I am Native American. I am in a unique position to critique the colonization of America from both a colonized and colonizer perspective. My art work explores this duality via performance, installation, sculpture, and printmaking.
https://taylorartdean.wixsite.com/website/bio
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Volante. Editor and producer Peter Bauer. This is Ken Volante with something rather than nothing.
Meet Taylor Dean
00:00:21
Speaker
Really blessed to have the opportunity to talk to Taylor Dean, who's an artist that I just recently encountered and find her work to be amazing. She also just graduated, but I'm not gonna talk too long. Taylor Dean, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Nice meeting you. And big, big, big day just recently in your art studies.
00:00:46
Speaker
Yes, I just graduated with my MFA from Pratt Institute yesterday. Congratulations. Thank you. It's a special, special time. I can't imagine how much effort and time and mental energy you put into that. Absolutely. That was a lot. All right, Taylor, to the beginning.
Creative Journey
00:01:10
Speaker
Were you an artist when you were born? I've been thinking a lot about this question.
00:01:16
Speaker
I do think that I have always had a propensity for the creative. I can remember being a kid and being so unwrapped in my own created world and loving my imagination. And I was talking to my younger cousin the other day and he was like, I'm bored. And I was like, you know, I never really got bored as a kid because I was always so unwrapped in my imagination and I never really felt
00:01:45
Speaker
like there was a moment that was dull because of that. And I think that that is what made it easier to become an artist. Obviously, I think our environments also helped.
00:01:57
Speaker
And that if people encourage you to become an artist or at least are open to the idea that it's easier. But I think I always needed that outlet. And so I got really into cartooning when I was a teenager. And I tried to be a musician for a while and that did not work for me. I wasn't very good at it. But art stuck. And I think that I was very much naturally apt to working with my hands and drawing.
00:02:26
Speaker
rather than other types of creative activities, which I find kind of interesting. Yeah. And just to give listeners a sense of things, maybe we can just chat about a couple projects, a couple pieces that you've done. Like I said, I recently encountered your work and
00:02:50
Speaker
just really, really, uh, drawn in and it's, it's evocative. I don't want to describe your art. I want you to kind of tell us like what, what you're up to.
Artistic Development at Pratt
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah. Um, so when I was in a Pratt and things were online for a period of time, I was taking a bookmaking class.
00:03:09
Speaker
Um, and I'm kind of bad at following the rules and I was just kind of like seeing how far I could push the boundaries of what a book is. And, um, for my final project, I started making paper sculptures that were like folded and still using kind of the framework of a book. But, um, kind of me kind of trying to break the rules as much as I could with it. And so I ended up making this kind of paper lantern like thing.
00:03:37
Speaker
Or maybe it looked like a kite. I don't know. I've had it described both ways. But I had these watercolor paintings on every side of this paper sculpture that I made. And it was made of three boxes connected to each other, kind of like the tears of a cake almost.
00:03:55
Speaker
And not each watercolor painting was paintings of landscapes I've seen in the last year in Oregon. I've been conducting anthropological studies on indigenous ancient art in the Pacific Northwest.
00:04:12
Speaker
And a lot of the paintings came from these archaeological sites that I had seen the beautiful views of these places where people had lived for thousands of years before I had been there. And the spiritual power at these sites is very intense.
00:04:31
Speaker
And a lot of these sites, I didn't feel comfortable using the imagery because it didn't feel like it was necessarily for me. But I felt that the landscape also held the same power or a similar power that these ancient art pieces held. And yeah, I really wanted the viewer to feel the
00:04:55
Speaker
the sublime that I felt in that moment while also kind of getting into this weird paper sculpture moment. And that's kind of what drove the rest of my MFA thesis were these paper sculptures. I made two other paper sculptures for my thesis. One was a pretty large paper star. And then the other one was like a nine foot tall paper hexagon.
00:05:24
Speaker
sculpture that I hung from these series of ropes for my thesis that I had made myself. And yeah, I think that paper sculptures are really kind of a new direction for me that I'm really excited about.
00:05:39
Speaker
And I love how it works really well with kind of the graphic design, the Coast Salish design that I've been working in. So I like silkscreen printing a lot. And there was a silkscreen lab at my college, and I was in there all the time. And so I would do digital drawings on my computer using the elements of Coast Salish design.
00:06:06
Speaker
And then I would go onto the silk screen and just silk screen that out onto the paper and then glue it all together. So yeah, that's kind of my most recent body of work right now. Yeah, thank you. I've had the opportunity to learn more about Salish art and come in contact with artists. And it's been a real blessing for me to be able to do that.
00:06:38
Speaker
to see that world and connect to it. Here's the thing, it seems so readily available to me on Instagram and I'll get to enjoy it and all this type of things. I kind of look behind me and be like, do you understand this incredible art that's being produced?
00:06:57
Speaker
I've had guests from all around and some in Oregon, but just I've appreciated the ability to connect with Washington State tribes and such.
Heritage and Opportunities
00:07:11
Speaker
Taylor, what or who made you who you are?
00:07:19
Speaker
I think my life would not be the same if it wasn't for being a member of the Puyallup tribe that has made my life so different than what it would have been like because it's given me a community that I can connect with in a way that I feel a lot of people don't have. And I also have been given a lot of opportunities that I think everyone should have in this country, but they don't.
00:07:49
Speaker
Um, because of the way that our system is set up. And, um, you know, I know that I couldn't have gone to college if it wasn't for the opportunities given to me by them. And, um, I really am so thankful for that. I, it's, it would be very difficult to be the artist that I am today without the training that I've had in the institution.
00:08:15
Speaker
I think that it's really helped me hone my skills and be able to focus on that in a way that I think might have been more difficult if I hadn't have had those opportunities. And also just the philosophy of the tribe of, you know, you be generous, be giving. I think that's really at the core of my own personal philosophies is that, you know, you should always give more than you take.
00:08:45
Speaker
and that you should always be generous with everybody around you. And I think that that's not really a lesson that's generally taught in the broader society. And I really try to bring it into my own life however I can. Yeah. And so the kind of reciprocity and investment and support, gosh, artists are going to be so sensitive to that, right? Because I mean,
00:09:13
Speaker
I think there's a huge part of reciprocity in art that I see in my own life, artists giving to each other, artists teaching each other. And I think that specifically printmaking is really apt for that because you can make so many and then printmakers will trade art with each other all the time. And so that's something that I've kind of become keen to as I've gone older. Hey, tail, I get it. Let me know. All right, we're good. Yeah.
00:09:45
Speaker
that um that that again uh i appreciate your comments around the support i see artists you know the question comes up a lot of time when like i ask where you're an artist when you were born and the answer that artists give a lot of time can like be really indicative of like how you develop right like i was born into a family of artists but they all like impressionism or you know yeah that wasn't me yeah no
00:10:10
Speaker
No, my parents are not artists. They're very much so working class folks who, you know, don't really know much about art, but my mom knows a little bit.
00:10:23
Speaker
And, you know, I was always trying to help me learn about things I was interested in, even though, you know, she didn't know how to make art herself. But going to graduate school, I did realize,
Family Influence
00:10:36
Speaker
like, when I would talk to people, they'd be like, oh, yeah, well, my mom's an artist, or like, whatever. And I'd be like, wow, like, you're so lucky. Like, I never
00:10:44
Speaker
I can't imagine what that must have been like. It must have really helped you. My parents were always very into sports and I really appreciate them trying to find something I could be interested in. But I think they wanted me to like sports more than they wanted me to like art sometimes. So it was definitely what I focused on more as a kid. I was a volleyball player instead of, you know, spending all my time making art.
00:11:10
Speaker
But I still learned a lot from volleyball, like how to work in a team, which is something I do all the time now. A lot of my work ends up being collaborative, especially as a printmaker. You're always working with other people to try to make the print happen. And you're never isolated in a print lab. You're always around somebody else.
00:11:30
Speaker
And a lot of my work has become collaborative because I'm interested in the social world. I'm interested in justice. And because of that, and I'm interested in politics, frankly. So I've I think that the skills I learned as a kid still transfer over into being an artist today. Yeah, yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
I picked up on a particular point you're saying about like when you went to school and experience I had as well where you're talking to people and like, oh, my dad did this and my mom did this, particularly in the art world. And it cuts both ways. You know, I mean, I found that like when I talk to people about that, they can be so weighed down by their history. Like, like, fuck art. Like, I don't want to do anything related to art and they might be an artist or it can be for me, I felt not coming from that background.
00:12:20
Speaker
I felt that I've had freedom, which is scary a lot of the times, like, what do I even do? But I feel it cuts both ways. And I've actually liked the liberation and freedom of not coming from that. Yeah, I've known so many people who feel like they're in the shadow of their parents. And I can't imagine how difficult that must be.
00:12:42
Speaker
to feel like I have to measure up to them. I don't feel that way about my parents. We're doing our own things. Yeah, yeah. My dad does construction. So we're kind of in like, he does a lot of like commission work and things that he would put as artistic. So we have like that in common, but it's not the same at all. So Taylor, we're talking about art from the term around.
00:13:12
Speaker
I wanted to ask you, what is art? I think it's a very complicated question because you could say art is any sensory experience, but then, um,
00:13:34
Speaker
that qualifies a lot of things that might not be art to be art. Especially since I've gotten into art that's more intangible and more of just an experience or an interaction, I'm like, well, what is art? It's so hard to define because I think we've moved beyond art just being an object and being in the realm of objects. So, for example, in the 90s when we started, when artists started making relational art,
00:14:02
Speaker
art became an interaction between individuals or people who wanted to experience something in an aesthetic realm, but that wasn't just objects that was something more social. And so I think that we've kind of moved into this realm where most
00:14:22
Speaker
things can be art if they have any kind of aesthetic experience, even if it's in a very abstract way. So yeah, I guess that's my answer. I think that we've really moved into a weird place with art since we've started making social interactions art. And I think it's really hard to define art once you can kind of say everything in the everyday can potentially be art. It becomes how we perceive it and how we categorize it.
00:14:53
Speaker
Yeah, I got another question and it has to do about you as an artist in the world is what do you think your art is and what do you think others think your art is?
Political Artistry
00:15:11
Speaker
Good question.
00:15:19
Speaker
I think my art is still very based in the object for the most part. I think my art always has political undertones, even when it is something in the more abstract
00:15:38
Speaker
because when I make art about Coast Salish design, I'm making art about a history that is very political inherently, and I'm making art about spirituality in a way that is, that has these messages that are like,
00:16:03
Speaker
I'm trying to convey something about my belief system, not just in the spiritual realm, but about morality and ethics. So when I make an art piece about an oral story about salmon, what I'm really talking about is the relationship that human beings have to the natural world. I'm not just talking about, oh, this story, because these stories were made for us to learn and to teach.
00:16:30
Speaker
And I think that that's maybe what my art is about, is trying to convey a message through the various types of mediums that I'm using, because I think that, you know, it's easy to just tell people something, like, you should believe this. But to tell a story that has a message or to make artwork that is about a story, I think you can kind of subliminate
00:16:59
Speaker
those authoritarian ways of telling people how to believe. How do other people see my art? I don't know. I mean, it's hard to be in the shoes of another. I think that it's kind of hard for a non-Indigenous person to exactly understand what I'm talking about, or even maybe a non-co-salish
00:17:25
Speaker
But I think that you can get hints because you do see things in the natural world coming up. And sometimes I am very blunt about what I'm trying to say. And so if you kind of look at my body of work together, you can piece everything into a wider narrative about, OK, here we're talking about environmentalism. Quite often we're talking about revitalization of indigenous culture. We're talking about mixed race issues. We're talking about whiteness. We're talking about colonialism.
00:17:55
Speaker
So I think that things, I really hope that my viewer does, even if they don't know all of the specifics of what I'm trying to say, you know, they might not know this story that I'm alluding to in this piece, but they will see there's a connection between my identities, my belief systems and the imagery that I'm using. Yeah. Can you talk about your, you know, I like to, um,
00:18:22
Speaker
I like to, when it's appropriate and it's proper, you know, talk about and have a question around, you know, does art have a duty to disrupt, right? The politics of it, the object itself, your history. I know artists can be frustrated by like where they come from and trying to create something like it's political because of where it comes from or who I am or what I said somewhere. Do you find that a difficult or problematic dynamic of like,
00:18:53
Speaker
Here's what I want to say. If you're trying to make a political statement, not a statement, have it be political, do you get frustrated with how you do that or how other people are trying to see it? How do you deal with the political dynamic of it?
00:19:11
Speaker
Right. I see what you're saying. And I know a lot of people experience feeling frustrated about like, oh, just because I make art about my identity, that's political to you. And yeah, I hear that. And I think that that's a really valid feeling. I feel complicated about it. I think I am very excited about the political world. I see the implications it has on the social.
00:19:42
Speaker
And I think that there's something that really drives me there. But a lot of people are like, you know, I don't want my work to be perceived that way. And I understand that feeling because it feels like your identity maybe is being put into a box.
00:20:02
Speaker
And I don't want to feel that way either. But at the same time, I feel very engaged with the political world. And I also believe that the personal just ends up being political for almost everybody. You might just be making work about being a housewife, but that is apparently political. Because when we talk about the domestic, we're talking about a history of gender interactions.
00:20:31
Speaker
And that is inherently a part of our political world. And I feel the frustration with it, and maybe someday that won't be the case. But I feel personally very excited about the opportunity to talk about politics in my work.
00:20:51
Speaker
I don't know, I respect how other people feel though, because I do think it is frustrating. And I do get kind of frustrated with the idea that there can't just be an aesthetic quality for Indigenous artists.
00:21:05
Speaker
Um, and I would really hope that my work wouldn't perpetuate this idea that, you know, just because you're making art about your identity, that it there, therefore it's political because, you know, there are people who are whatever identity and they just want to make abstract paintings because they love abstract paintings. And that's amazing. I want them to be able.
00:21:27
Speaker
to not have to talk about their race, their gender, their whatever in a discussion about their art, because that's not what it's about. They just want to make a beautiful painting. And I think that that is inherently valid as well as any political artwork. But there's just something about me that I have a drive for politics.
Mixed-Race Identity Exploration
00:21:48
Speaker
I love engaging in local politics.
00:21:52
Speaker
And I want, I want to be a part of that so badly. There's something about it that I'm just like drawn to in a way that I can't describe because I feel like there's an opportunity there to make a difference in the world. And I really want to be a part of that opportunity because I think I'm apt for it.
00:22:11
Speaker
Yeah, I appreciate your thoughts. I know it's a thing to grapple with and tied to identity as well. There was something that you had said earlier about categories of the work you were doing, like what is a book, right?
00:22:25
Speaker
And I find that philosophers and people can find like a lot of fertile stuff in like, what is it? Like, is it this or is it that? And I find that a lot with like identity, like in America, it's like, are you this or are you that? And it's like, no, neither. And I think I'm encouraged recently how there's just,
00:22:51
Speaker
greater openness and expression and comfort in moving out of that politically.
00:23:02
Speaker
gosh, our system seems dominated by dualities. And I am interested in the boundaries. I'm interested in the borders. Thank you. I mean, that's my life, you know, I obviously am extremely white passing. And I've gone through the world assumed a white person most of the time, unless I tell you otherwise.
00:23:22
Speaker
So that puts me in a very interesting, different position than a lot of other people. And it's like, I can't divorce my whiteness from who I am. And I can't divorce my nativeness from who I am. And I think that makes people really uncomfortable. And I know I've made a lot of people really uncomfortable in my lifetime. And part of me feels really bad. And then part of me is like, no, screw you. This is a conversation that we need to have.
00:23:48
Speaker
because we're stuck in these like binaries like you said of like you are this you are that with everything about human beings you know you can't be two things at once when the world is so complicated it's really hard to have any kind of black and white in a world that's like so gray i think yeah um i want to ask now uh about like um
00:24:14
Speaker
You had graduated and I heard a lot of what you have to say, which is something that I'm very interested in is like our community and creation and support. Do you feel like
00:24:34
Speaker
uh, confident in like that. And in that support over time in building the relationships, um, uh, amongst artists, um, in, in a community, like, it seems like you really felt that. And there's been a lot of, I know for myself, when I'm interacting, the creativity of them runs through me. It's not try to take theirs, but that seems to be a very healthy environment at the start being around that community.
00:25:03
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, I come from a printmaker tradition and that is just inherently people who need community to make their work and are thrust into it. And maybe I'm a little bit more of an introverted individual, but I also really enjoy the community aspects of the work that I've made.
00:25:27
Speaker
And I recently ended up doing a project where I collaborated with a nonprofit group called Recess. And the community that they have is really incredible. They help expunge youth's records from the prison system and they give them a job and they give them training in the arts.
00:25:55
Speaker
And so it's this really amazing organization that's working through arts and education to really make a difference in the world. And through that community, I've really been excited to work with art and politics. And I think that that is what art can do is we can build this ideal world. You wanna see the end of the carceral state. Well, here's an example of how we can do this through art.
00:26:24
Speaker
because they're literally helping people restructure their lives in a way that we can stop the cycle of abuse. And it's empowering, too, because they're not just telling you how to be. It's a very collaborative environment where people have authority over their own lives in a way that I think that the prison system never gives you.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I think that that is really motivating for people to take better control of their lives. And so yeah, I'm like really into this group because I feel this like sense of community and this like amazing opportunity that we could translate into the rest of the world of how art can
00:27:13
Speaker
become a vehicle for change in your individual lives and in a bigger structure.
Art and Community Empowerment
00:27:20
Speaker
And they also have a print lab and they use printmaking often. And I think that that's very indicative of how printmaking is this like community space that is very healing. That is very positive for artists because when I hear other people talk about my work or talk about their work, ideas go off in my head too.
00:27:40
Speaker
And I think that when we're all sharing our ideas rather than like, you know, in our isolated spaces, I think that all of our work gets better. And so through PRAT and through this organization recess, I think I'm really gained a lot in friendships and in professional relationships that I hope to take forward to the rest of my life and continue to work with people in those organizations
00:28:11
Speaker
for as long as possible. Yeah. Thank you. And you mentioned of the prison system, of course, its connection to capitalism. I thought of a book, the Carceral
00:28:26
Speaker
Capitalism, I believe it's by Jackie Wang. And I think on the back of it or somewhere, this is not gonna be an exact quote, but it's a beautiful, beautiful, mind blowing thing. What do we make of the beautiful vine along the trellis of the prison walls? It's like, what do we do with that? It's beautiful.
00:28:55
Speaker
It's in on, it's in, it's in the house of pain, right? So, um, I love that. I love that analogy in her, her analysis. Um, thank you for your comments. Uh, yeah. Um, all right, Taylor. Why is there something rather than nothing?
00:29:14
Speaker
Yes, this question. Thank you. This is a really interesting question. I've been thinking, what is something? Okay, whenever you want to define something, what is nothing? I think nothing would be not having consciousness of the world around you.
00:29:34
Speaker
Like going like through the world as like a plant maybe or an animal in a smaller sense who arguably have more or less consciousness. The something is our ability to experience the world, remember it and learn from it.
00:29:54
Speaker
And I think that the reason why we have this is because human beings need other human beings. And we use our consciousness to connect with each other, to create communities, to create culture. And the culture becomes the expression of our something. And so, of course, as an artist,
00:30:14
Speaker
I'm like the art becomes the expression of the something because that's how we communicate. That's how we created culture. That's how we remembered our culture was carving on a rock wall. It's how we have become who we are and how we've expressed our consciousness. I guess there's a lot of ways you could go with that.
00:30:39
Speaker
I'm always thinking about culture and what its role is in society. And so I think that's kind of immediately where my brain goes is something is consciousness and consciousness happens because we need a culture.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. And I was based in this. You just graduated yesterday. I'm smart enough to go right to the MFA. And now I'm going to ask the question. Yeah, yeah. We're always asking those types of philosophical questions in our degrees. So yeah, I was ready.
00:31:23
Speaker
Taylor, I want people to connect with your art and finding you. And can you tell us, I mean, physical places to find things, online. I want people to, I want the listeners to be able to see your work. Where do they go? How do they navigate? Okay, so the best place to find my work on the internet is my Instagram, Taylor Dean Art.
Where to Find Taylor's Work
00:31:50
Speaker
And I also have a website, but I don't remember the URL. It's a Wix website. Hey, Taylor, it'll be in the show notes. You're off the hook. OK, cool. Yeah, I'll send that to you. Yeah, I recently made a new website for myself with all my MFA work on it.
00:32:10
Speaker
And in person, I kind of have a lot of stuff going on. So I have a exhibition happening in Astoria, Oregon. It's a group exhibition, and it is an all indigenous artist exhibition curated by an indigenous artist. And it's going to be at 1312 Commercial Street in Astoria, Oregon. I want to make sure that's the right address, which maybe we could put that in the
00:32:40
Speaker
Bio as well. I love this story and here that's all in indigenous show. That's really exciting Yeah, it is 1312 commercial Street. So I remember But yeah, I'm really excited I've actually I don't think I've ever been to Astoria weirdly enough and I've you know lived in Portland for over 20 years It'll be fun. I want to like take a road trip and kind of go up and down the coast for that show but and then I
00:33:10
Speaker
I have another work in Washington. I'm going to be a part of what's called the Bellwether Festival. And I'm going to be having a large scale mural in this festival. And I believe the dates for that starts on September 10. And it's going to be in Bellevue, Washington. And I can get the exact locations on that as well. Yeah. And when's the story I want to open up? I believe June 12.
00:33:40
Speaker
June 12, so soon. Wonderful. Wonderful. I'm glad to hear about that. I like the story. I grew up in Rhode Island, drawn to the oceans, and there's kind of that wild, violent ocean history. And it feels different there. It feels different there. I think you'll pick up on it, but very excited to hear about that show.
00:34:07
Speaker
For sure, I will be going to Astoria for that. So we, yeah, I'm definitely going to be there on the opening. I have one other work that's going to be on the East Coast for our East Coast listeners.
Current Exhibitions
00:34:21
Speaker
It's going to be on Roosevelt Island near the FDR for freedoms statue.
00:34:28
Speaker
And it's a collaborative piece with artist Sean Leonardo, and it's going to be a sculpture. So that's my three pieces that I have on display right now. Amazing. Well, you do have a lot going on within that. I do, I do.
00:34:47
Speaker
I'm happy to have had the time with you to be able to talk about these questions and connect the listeners to what you're up to because it's exciting. It's exciting. And I like a lot of what you had to say as far as I was able to connect to as far as the art process, which I'm still new to. So I'm a learner. I'm a learner.
00:35:14
Speaker
And I appreciate learning from you. I wanted to thank you so much for taking some time and coming on to the podcast. It's been great to meet you. And I really look forward to seeing a lot more of your artwork. Me too. And I'm excited to continue to listen to your show. I'm really glad that you reached out to me. And it's just such an amazing opportunity to just kind of think through what is really going on with me. What am I thinking about? Yeah.
00:35:44
Speaker
It's a cool thing to think. I know it's not a cool 2021 thing. I mean, everybody's screaming like, nobody's thinking, but we can take some time to think together. It's totally fine. Absolutely. I agree. Thank you so much, Taylor. Talk to you soon. This is something rather than nothing.