Our featured artist this month will introduce himself:
“Hi! I’m Forrest Taylor a junior at Kingston High. I’m 16 years old and in Mr. Andrew’s AP 2D/Studio Art class. Art has played a big role in my life, from growing up around it and then becoming an artist myself. My dad has been working with wood since he was in high school so that explains the name Forrest. My whole family is extremely creative and I guess its true that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“My parents could always tell which desk was mine when they walk into a school open house because it was always the most artistic desk. Growing up around all this art has fueled my love of arts ever since I can remember.”
Taylor feels working in one medium would hold him back and he loves trying unusual and new mediums. He does a lot of graffiti -inspired work and watercolors as he develops his own style. He sees himself as an extremely versatile artist. Shepard Fairey and Sam Maloof are two of his favorite artists. (I googled them to see what attracted this young man.)
Taylor lived in Chico, Calif., before moving to Washington for his freshman year. He found Chico to be an amazing town full of art and taken art classes since elementary school. He started to take an interest in graffiti around sixth grade when he and his friends would walk home from school down the train tracks and look at all the graffiti, then they would walk down to the creeks and look at all the rad graf pieces under the bridges. Taylor plans to major in art in college and perhaps attend Chico State University or the Art Institute in Austin Texas.
Taylor also loves sports along with arts and science, and is a state-qualifying debater. He finds Mr. Andrews to be a great teacher who finds art opportunities for his students and is very funny.
“Being an artist is really cool because people are always complementing my work or asking me to help them with something,” Taylor said.
See Taylor’s work at the district-wide Festival of the Arts at Kingston High School on May 18 from 6-9 p.m. Celebrate the arts in our schools. They enrich our whole community and each of us.
