On Teaching Ceramics

I’ve helped a lot of people learn to make pots and ceramic sculpture through the years, working with many methods on many forms, from coil and slab to pinch and thrown. As a college professor, a private arts educator, a mental health counselor, and a Buddhist priest I’ve gained a lot of knowledge about ways to help move people along the path, intellectually, spiritually and artistically, depending on the needs and desires of the individual. Working with students and artists of all ages (children through senior citizens) at all levels (beginners through professional artist) has been greatly rewarding.

Ceramics and Inner Consciousness

Meditation need not be a solitary practice. In these trying times, combining your creativity with mindfulness can result in a relaxed, rejuvenated state of mind.

Bring your ideas and inspirations to the studio and see them take form in clay

The instructor, George Taylor, has been a working artist and teacher in multiple disciplines (Ceramics, Sculpture, Alternative Art, Painting) for many years. He is also a Buddhist priest who appreciates the mind/body connection and fosters a supportive learning environment.

George Taylor

Teaching Painting

Painting is where it all started for me. When I was a child I would use color pencils to recreate the hats and uniforms of military men, especially my uncles who were Army, Air Force and Navy. I learned to draw with John Nagy on TV and Hal Forster in books. From an early age, my parents took me and my siblings to museums and galleries in New York City and Washington, D.C.

I didn’t have organized or formal art instruction in elementary or high school; however, I made art on my own all the time. I initially utilized crayons and watercolors and later switched to oils and acrylics in my early teens. I remember painting lots of landscapes, birds, religious iconography, and more military figures. During this time I also discovered the pleasure of the camera and started playing with clay, building miniatures towers and castles.

Fast forward to college at Rutgers where I studied art, mostly painting. Ten years passed and I returned to graduate school at Mason Gross School of the Arts where I was able to branch out, doing clay work and performance art in addition to painting and critical studies.

Hop ahead a few more years and I found myself working as an art professor and later a psychiatric and addictions counselor. Presently I am teaching painting and a class in creativity at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and also teaching out of my private home studio. I happily instruct individuals and small groups to paint, or work with clay (first hand building and moving on to wheel work).

Some painting students want to learn to paint realistically while others prefer to paint from their own imagination. I foster both of these options in my studio practice and in my teaching.

George Taylor