This Flickr is for announcing information about painting, sculpture, exhibitions, gallery information, and activities by James Jared Taylor and Common Ground Ironworks Studio.

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, James Jared Taylor has been living and working in Southern California since 1988. For most of his career, he has been both a practicing artist and educator. His artwork is represented in several galleries and is included in various public, private, and corporate collections. He has won various awards including a New Jersey State Arts Council Individual Fellowship and several jury awards.

After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1981 from the Kansas City Art Institute, Mr. Taylor moved to New Jersey to join the Johnson Atelier as an apprentice and later as staff member working in foundry and metal fabrication. He also attended the New York Studio School as a mobility student in 1980. While living in New Jersey, he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Rutgers University- Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1986. Mr. Taylor studied under many renowned artists including, Peter Agostini, Dale Eldred, William Tucker, Stanley Lewis, Willem Volkersz, Leon Golub, Isaac Witkin, John Goodyear, Gary Keuhn, and Herk Van Tongeren. In the 1980’s, he assisted on projects for Toshiko Takaezu, Michael Graves, Joel Shapiro, Julian Schnabel, Melvin Kendrick, George Segal, Arthur Schade, Judson Nelson, J. Seward Johnson Jr., Phoebe Adams, and Herk Van Tongeren. Although primarily trained as a sculptor, Taylor has created artwork in several media, which include bronze casting, painting, and printmaking.

Mr. Taylor was an adjunct professor of art education at California State University-San Bernardino and sculpture and art history at the College of the Desert. In 1999, he was the founding art department chair at Desert Hot Springs High School. He was also the recipient of a Bravo Award Honorable Mention in 2004 for Excellence in Art Teaching. In 1994, he also received an Anderson Children’s Foundation Grant to establish a printmaking program at Mt. San Jacinto Continuation High School, and alternative high school in Palm Spring Unified School District. The printmaking program was also part of an Exemplary Program Award from the California Continuation Education Association, which he received in 1998. In 2003, he was nominated by his students and was listed in “Who’s Who in American Teaching.” Currently, he is teaching both two and three dimensional arts and Advanced Placement Studio Art at Chaparral High School in Temecula, California. He also serves as Department Chair of the school’s Visual and Performing Arts Program.

Mr. Taylor’s other interests include music and the outdoors. For several years, he has practiced guitar, particularly jazz and he has played in various ensembles.

When he is not in the studio or playing music, Mr. Taylor enjoys hiking, surfing, and skiing, spending close to forty years either among the waves or on the slopes. He currently resides in Desert Hot Springs, California with his dog Norway.