My name is Jessica Taylor. I am a Colorado Native born in Denver, and raised in Aurora. At a very young age I was drawn to the arts. So much so, that at the age of 9 I came up with the idea that I would live in a VW van, travel the world, and paint. I loved sitting in my room and quietly painting landscapes and flowers that captivated me and this is how my love for creating began to blossom. Throughout school, I always connected well with my art teachers and I especially connected with my ceramics teacher in high school who kindled my love for pottery. After high school, I studied to be an elementary teacher at MSU and worked as a STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math) teacher for 4 years which involved teaching students to create and build things that are useful in solving problems. After taking almost a 10 year break from clay, I found that ceramics was the art form that stuck with me most and that brought me the most joy. During an intensely overwhelming and all consuming time of my life, I had a moment of clarity and decided I needed a hobby and passion to call my own thus leading me to signing up for classes at BAC in the Summer of 2021. I am very grateful to have restarted my journey with clay here and thoroughly enjoy using the earth and my own two hands to build things that are all together tangible, tactile, and functional.
Presently my goal as a ceramics instructor here at BAC is to continue the legacy of this love for creating art and using clay as a medium. As an artist myself, I mainly focus on hand building but I like to explore and build my skills in other techniques. As for my style, I like to combine geometric patterns with organic shapes to imitate nature and show the malleability and diversity of clay. I enjoy adding fine details to my work that often involve contrasting earth tones. The act of detailing patterns in my work is often very therapeutic to me. I am eager to continue exploring as many facets of pottery as I can since it is a craft that seems to present boundless opportunities to grow.