It didn’t seem like something I would do, but it was like, “Well, you should challenge yourself.” To tell you the truth, from the first season, I didn’t think too much of making work that way. Lauren Daley: So what made you want to sign up for “Blown Away”?Ĭhris Taylor: I knew about the show, and some people had encouraged me to apply. I caught up with the artist to talk about his process, inspiration and his experience on the Netflix reality competition. “ just being curious about how far I can get the texture to be believable, even to myself.' “Being able to be fooled is interesting to me,” Taylor says. (His Bubble Wrap glasses and lighting fixtures are so lifelike, I dare you to know they’re glass without touching.) Taylor founded the Rhode Island-based Craft Advisory, “a studio practice that challenges conventions of art and design,” according to its website. Along the way, he’s been an artist-in-residence at museums and universities in Nairobi, Kenya to Nagoya, Japan - and closer to home at MIT. Taylor earned his bachelor’s from Ohio University in 1999, and his MFA from RISD in 2002. Detail view of Chris Taylor's 2016 'Assorted, as installed in MASS MoCA's 2016 exhibition 'Explode Every Day: An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Wonder.' (Courtesy Tony Luong) His mom, Charlene Taylor, was a Spanish teacher from Cranston, Rhode Island. His dad John Taylor, a Pawtucket, Rhode Island native, worked in the foreign service. Because you asked me that question.’ I want to challenge perceptions.”īorn in Iran, Taylor lived in Argentina, Spain, the Philippines, Oman, Mexico, Belgium, the Ivory Coast and Honduras growing up. “People ask ‘Why would you make garbage out of glass?' And the answer is, ‘Right there. People tend to see glass “as decorative art,” Taylor says. Talk about daredevil: He’s also tried upside-down glassblowing. (Contestant Elliot Walker, says, “I’ve read about this technique so it’s beautiful to see it.”) In another, he uses a technique called “the French pull” - creating a thin membrane of glass that looks exactly like shrink-wrap. In one episode, Taylor takes off his own sneaker to mold molten glass. I would say it’s both,” Taylor says to the camera with a smile. He’s actually the first contestant we meet in episode one: “Some people call me arrogant, and some people call me a daredevil. I was introduced to Taylor’s work from Netflix’s art competition, “ Blown Away.” On the show, 10 glassblowers compete for a chance to win a prize package worth $60,000, including a residency at New York’s Corning Museum of Glass.įrom the first episode of season 2, released in January, we get the sense Taylor - a senior critic at Rhode Island School of Design - is revered in the glassblowing community, a rogue who does things his own way. I have to check it on my teeth,” says Taylor, who lives in East Providence, Rhode Island. “I have to be careful sometimes because I make aspirin and chalk - I throw it away. Welcome to the wonderful world of Chris Taylor, where glass might resemble anything, and anything - from a deflated basketball to rubber bands - might be inspiration for his next piece. Installation view of Christ Taylor's 2016 work 'Untitled,' seen in the exhibit 'Explode Every Day: An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Wonder' at MASS MoCA in 216. Artist Chris Taylor (Courtesy Netflix) This article is more than 1 year old.Ĭollectively, they could be the remains of a wild party: Birthday candles, Solo cups, plastic picnic knives, drink stains, bubble wrap.Įven up close, these works of blown glass look like discarded everyday items.

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