Book Artist – Dunedin
Lynn is joining with Julz Coffey and tracy sullivan in ‘the Poetics of Place’ scheduled for the gallery from 12th Nov – 21st Dec 2026
Here is her updated CV
Dunedin artist, Lynn Taylor (Dip Tch, BEd, BFA, MFA dist.), focuses on place, nautical and historically themed artwork through mapping memory across multiple mediums with the aim of evoking narratives. Applying techniques from one field of practice to another ruptures the predictability of results and invites materials in as active collaborators, creating reciprocal back-and-forth process. Dialogue between ideas and materiality are underlined with her ‘printmaker’s sensibility’, specifically an appreciation of surface, tactility, repetition, transfer, textures, shadows and light.
Teaching and facilitating workshops in the community forms a dual career path to her studio research. She has a long history of mentoring, teaching at the Schol of Art and Architectural Studies (Otago Polytechnic) and facilitating many community workshops. Part of the Collective Sandpit her praxis revolves around SciArt collaborative projects with attention to how audiences and groups from different sectors can be involved in art experiences and contribute to exhibitions.
Taylor’s work is held in numerous collections, and her work is frequently represented in local fundraising and charity auctions. Many exhibitions, national and international residencies, scholarships, grants and awards have supported her career.
Lynn has kindly answered our written interview questions:
Can you briefly describe to us your art practice
My artwork is project based, explored through a lens of poetics of place, which in my practice is exploring the relationships between things and the qualities of those things, some of which may be invisible, sensations and feelings. Nautical and historical themes are often obvious, and my underlying currents are concerned with the mapping of memory and erasure. I primarily work across multiple mediums with a printmaker’s sensibility, referencing elements of mapping, memory, texture, surface, repetition and tactically. My pattern is to learn traditional skills and then intentionally break the rules; I’m driven to challenge the boundaries of disciplines through combining techniques and mediums together.
I also facilitate art workshops as I believe in the power of art to heal, embody experiences, connect, communicate and act as a platform for change.
What initially attracted you to the methods you use for your art practice?
While I am easily seduced to the many new materials and techniques visible on internet platforms, I am primarily interested in transformation, altering materials from their original intent to reflect a new vision. This has the potential to change the way a material is valued and challenges the saying “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. Oil paintings have inherent value, Instead I look to include utilising the discarded, like collagraph printing wallpaper scraps or tetra packs, recycling old book pages into new books, printing with rust, incorporating pieces of a friends an unfinished embroidery work into my patches.
I am attracted to the democratic quality of printmaking and it’s long history, even though it is a challenge to explain ideas of original and reproduction to viewers.
What or who were your early artistic influences?
I have significant childhood memories of family members crafting, my Grandmother sewing (her sewing scraps bin was the first destination on a visit), my Dad creating a model of a bird over a sculpted carrot and papier mache, and my Mum dyeing fabrics in a pot of tea to make dolls. Television was a later introduction into our household, and I remember my excitement to watch a series on Leonardo da Vinci. As a young adult I saw a Monet at Dunedin Public Art Gallery and felt the sensation of my feet leaving the ground.
Was there a specific life event that has most strongly influenced your artistic journey? If so can you explain how please?
Studying at the Dunedin School of Art at age 30. I completed an undergraduate degree and a Masters of Fine Art. My time there introduced me to the contemporary art world, art theory and different ways of seeing. The opportunity to explore many disciplines, techniques and ideas at undergraduate encouraged my practice of mixed media. Post Graduate study gave me the ability to pull together different threads of a project, to communicate more confidently and basically created a structure for me to operate in the world. The DSA has continued to be a strong pillar in my career.
What was your route to becoming an artist.
I was always interested in becoming an artist, but my small rural school had no art teacher, although I did a year of art history through correspondence. On leaving school I chose teachers’ college and included art papers as part of my training. I worked as an art teacher in Intermediate Schools when the longing to make my own art took over. I took a year of leave to study on the Craft Design Course, it was all so fulling that I continued, completing a BFA, then an MFA specializing in printmaking. I am thankful I did educational training as it has created a dual career, which means I can share skills and facilitating workshops supports my experimental and less commercial art making,
Tell us a bit about your creative process from conception to realisation please.
I begin with researching, by this I mean going to archives, looking at maps, interviews, visiting a place taking photos and frottage etc. (Unfortunately, at times this researching has become so interesting I have omitted to produce any artwork! Also, because my mind is continually picturing what I could make, I am sometimes tricked into believing I have made it.) Keeping a physical sketchbook and pinboard are useful so I can catch up with my thinking. I need to get my hands making and a dialogue between materials what I have absorbed starts to flow. This evolves into choosing the medium and technique that suits the project. There is a push and pull between concept and making and I get a euphoric hit when something new to me evolves out of combining different disciplines and ideas. I’ve been trying to answer the same questions all my life.
You have a wide range in your portfolio of works can you please describe some of your chosen techniques and how you choose to use them in particular?
Printmaking is my constant process, mainly because there is a separation and translation between matrix and substrate. This separation and translation opens up a space between stable and unstable; a circulation space where rule breaking can occur, and flaws can rupture the intended outcome. We sometimes call this ‘graphic surprise’. The making of printing plates and screens means I can play with the matrixes in many different ways, there is freedom in fluidly drawing with the materials. I work in layers, and while a piece can become ’ruined’ I can achieve the depths I want.
The work grows as I make it. I often use a grid to edit and organize visual information – squares become windows into worlds and together from a narrative. I am increasingly drawn to the poetry of collaging and patching to combine paper and fabric pieces because that is the way I experience memories coming to me.
For this Poetics of Place exhibition, I initially struggled with identifying what ‘place’. I spent time at Wanganui last year on artist’s residency and visited Taranaki, which was a starting point, but it felt insincere to fully focus there as, of course, I am not an expert on the area. After sorting my textiles collection, I realised I collected fabrics from all the places I had travelled to art residencies. Combining these textiles and threads made sense after visiting the Boro exhibition at Otago Museum. I also made some little pouches as acknowledgement of the ones I use when travelling.
What currently inspires you?
I am continually inspired by the artist Do Ho Suh. His exhibition at the Tate in London The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House left my art cup full.
In a practical sense I am part of a South Island textile group, COOTS, who inspire me by their actions. The way they operate is supportive, constructively critical and a means to share workshops and exhibiting.
Is there a piece of your work that holds particularly fond memories for you and why?
For me it is a precious project, The Westland, one I did in collaboration with Scottish artist Joanne B Kaar circa 2011. From opposite sides of the world, we interpreted the 1879 sailing of the Westland from Scotland to New Zealand through artwork, photography and writing. We exhibited in both countries and had never met until last year when I travelled to the Orkney Islands to see her. Our bond continued over the years, and she is a truly valued artist friend and inspiration. (The ship’s journey took 83 days and I painted oars with a layer of paint each day to reflect Dunedin’s weather – one oar hangs in my home, the other in Scotland, so I guess I am answering the question at the end, it is the piece.)
How has your work developed since you began and how do you see it evolving in the future?
My work has moved away from being primarily represented by a gallery to more associated with events concerned with how art can benefit individuals and society. I have great respect for gallery owners’ work, but I am not the best fit: I am curious and have a short attention span, so I like making new work rather than production pieces. I’m interested in work that can be touched and want to develop my explorations of making work that can be displayed outside the frame in the future. I also want to combine paper and textiles together more. This exhibition at Out of the Blue Gallery has reignited my love of textiles.
What advice would you give young people considering following their dream of being a full time artist?
Follow your passions, there are diverse opportunities for artists, and the creative drive cannot be ignored. However, becoming a full-time artist is challenging for many reasons. In my early career I imagined being an artist was about working alone in a studio, making art for sale. This worked for a while, but I pivoted as the reality is I prefer working with people, researching and creating art experiences as an agent for change. The role of an artist in society is constantly evolving; artists create their own paths as they discover what works for them. Kōrero with some artists to learn from their s experience. Gain some art qualifications, find your community. Many times, I have wished I had a manager as I prefer living in my creative space, but a lot of time needs to be spent working on the business rather than in the business. Consider what skills you have that will support you, are you self-motivated, a good communicator, able to manage finances? Plan for an art full life.
What is something you cannot take your eyes off when you see it – that fascinates and mesmerises you?
Blueprints of a boat my father built, the Kakawai, are one of my prized possessions. Drawn in the 1950’s, the Prussian Blue has faded, the chemicals have begun to separate into stains, and the paper is worn along the creased folds and holes trail insect deterioration. I’m attracted to this light sensitive printing process, and these blueprints symbolize so much more, such as family connection, success against the odds, ingenuity in repurposing materials, longing and untold stories. My attraction to the Kakawai blueprints is accompanied by a complete inability to translate them into the three-dimensional vessel they are meant to be. When I look at them, I’m imagining my father’s interpretations while simultaneous generating potential expressions that my skill set can achieve.
What is your favourite way to unwind or de-stress
I’m more at home in water than on land so swimming and being by the sea is first equal with the reverie that the repetitive actions of stitching and printmaking produce.
The Beach – Paper, Books and Baskets.
22nd December 2022 – 30th January 2023. Invitational Collection of works from 8 artists.
For the collection The Beach – Paper, Books & Baskets, Lynn has created two stunning sets of artist books. These are in two different sizes and are limited editions. They feature a wonderous collection of found and created papers bound in map covered boards. They are specific to Taranaki and Opunake in particular with historic maps and diagrams that are a record of our landscape and our history. these are interwoven with beautiful printed, dyed, stencilled, cutout papers etc, etc. A true book for memories of a holiday here at The beach.
Dunedin artist Lynn Taylor (Dip Tch, BEd, BFA, MFA) is known for nautical and historically themed work with focus on mapping, memory and the poetics of place which transcribe into creating layered prints, surfaces and books. Lynn approaches her art practice with a variety of research methodologies and a ‘printmaker’s sensibility’, which includes discovering links between ideas and materiality, integrating different mediums and responding to unexpected results.
Teaching/ arts facilitation forms a dual career path; from work in the Textiles and Printmaking Departments at the School of Art – Te Pūkenga, to undertaking contracts far and wide with art groups, communities and institutions. In recent years she has worked with the Sandpit Collective as a Sci Art researcher, facilitating workshops where art is used as a platform to raise awareness about specific conservation challenges and act as an agent for change. She regularly undertakes invited funded artist residencies nationally and internationally including Otakou Press, Woosuk University and Newfoundland (2019), Quarantine Island (2020).
International exhibitions include showing in Australia, Japan, Korea, Argentina, Finland, Sweden, Scotland and America and she enjoys an ongoing connection with Scotland from The Westland Project and Sweden with Paradise Lost. Her work is frequently commissioned, held in both public and private collections and has received several scholarships and awards, the most recent being an Otago Polytechnic Distinguished Alumni Award. She enjoys being part of our national printmaking community through her Aotearoa NZ Print Council membership.
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