Tres & Lillis Taylor

Nationally acclaimed visual artist, Tres Taylor, returns to Jeanine Taylor Folk Art for the premier of Catching the Wild Spirit. Taylor will be accompanied by his daughter and fellow textile artist, Lillis Taylor, who transforms his whimsical designs into wearable art. The show commemorates Tres Taylor’s 20 year creative journey from biochemist to visionary artist.

“I am closest to God when I am painting. He uses my hands to show my brothers and sisters what he has shown me, which is, when our hearts are free to love, then we will see and experience the world.” Taylor’s original artist statement reads.

In January of 1999, Tres Taylor took a leap of faith and decided to quit his lucrative job as a biochemist to pursue a life of art and creation. This decision of the heart came as a result of meeting Georgia folk artist, R.A. Miller. After the meeting, Taylor describes feeling as if “a paint brush fell from the sky.” It was here that he began his spiritual path of self-discovery.

His subjects are usually monks, couples, and houses, but always the subjects are symbols of love. Taylor’s medium is usually tarpaper. The tarpaper enables him to draw freely, carving in a strong black line. Frequently he uses layers of mud, sometimes Alabama red clay, that give his paintings a rich and yet raw texture.

Jeanine Taylor welcomed Tres Taylor in 2013 for enCHANTment, a show featuring a barn wood chapel constructed in the middle of her gallery. The exhibit was then moved to Orlando’s Mennello Museum of American Folk Art.