Tom Taylor

Thomas John Taylor was an influential art educator based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. He studied architecture, then sculpture, at the predecessor of the University of Canterbury (UC). Taylor lectured at the UC School of Fine Arts in Ilam from 1960 until his retirement in 1991, leading the sculpture department from 1969. Although his own sculptural practice was largely modernist, he encouraged students to explore other movements and unconventional media. He was well-regarded as a lecturer, and a number of his students became notable artists including Chris Booth, Bing Dawe, Neil Dawson, Matt Pine, Phil Price, Rosemary Johnson, John Panting, Pauline Rhodes, Carl Sydow, Bronwyn Taylor, Merylyn Tweedie and Boyd Webb.

As a sculptor, Taylor's early and late periods were figurative and modernist. In between, he produced abstract fusions of sculpture and architecture from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. Taylor also designed houses and theatre sets, and was an organiser in the Christchurch arts community.

See also:

• Tom Taylor (sculptor) - Wikipedia