Interview with artist Taylor Dolan
Taylor Dolan studied art at Wells College in Paris, France, Edinburgh College in Edinburgh, Scotland, and at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England before moving to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Her training in photography, film, drawing and illustration, and experience as an actor are all evident in the way her illustrations use body position and implied gesture to tell a story. Taylor has illustrated seven books in the UK and US and authored and illustrated three children’s books of her own. Her work has been shown in some 20 exhibitions and she was a part of two Emmy-winning productions. More of Taylor’s work can be found at her website taylordolanart.com.
AAS: Taylor, you are originally from Texas? What brought you to Northwest Arkansas?
TD: Well, my story has never been that straightforward. I was born in New York, raised in Texas, and lived in Paris, Edinburgh, and Cambridge before ending up in Fayetteville. My most recent move was from England to Northwest Arkansas. I had just finished my graduate degree in Children’s Book Illustration and wanted to be closer to my family for a while and they were here!
AAS: You have studied art from film to photography to painting to illustration to sculpture in France, Scotland, and England. It must have been fun experiencing it all? What made you focus on illustration?
“It was my major life lightbulb moment. Why not combine my obsession for books with my need for art?”
TD: I have always been drawn to storytelling. My first contact with art was as a theatre kid. I performed in over forty shows between the ages of seven and nineteen, and I was officially hooked. When I made the decision not to pursue theatre professionally, I was at the start of my senior year of high school. Instead of a conservatory, I chose to attend Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, which is a wonderful liberal arts school, and explore all the types of art and storytelling I had not previously had the time to wallow in. At Trinity I concentrated on analogue photography and drawing but had the good fortune to be able to take courses in sculpture, painting, and printmaking as well. I didn't realize that I was in love with illustration specifically until one visiting professor pointed out that all my work was narrative based. It was my major life lightbulb moment. Why not combine my obsession for books with my need for art?
AAS: Before we talk more about your work in illustration, I would like for you to talk about a portrait you did that is in the 2021 Small Works On Paper Exhibition by the Arkansas Arts Council. I saw it at UALR and it is grabbing everyone’s attention.
Self-Portrait #1 Who Is She, 10” x 8”, marker and pen on paper
TD: I find it very intriguing that anyone would be interested in that particular portrait. I have struggled my whole life with serious mental health issues, and this particular self-portrait was made as part of a series of tests. During the month that I was coming off of one PTSD medication and starting a few new ones---I drew myself every day. With whatever medium came to hand. This one happened on a particularly low day, but it felt distinctly like me. I submitted it on a whim, hoping to start building my connections and art friendships in Arkansas and was thrilled when a couple of pieces were accepted.
Ghost Scouts, book cover, digital and ink on paper
AAS: You made some important connections with publishers in England and continue to work with them. Your series of three, so far, children’s books called Ghost Scouts has some terrific illustrations.
TD: Thank you! I’ve had a great deal of fun writing and illustrating that series---in fact, I am working on book four right now! It is currently being translated into Greek, French, Italian, Catalan and Spanish so things are rolling along rather nicely!
The story centers around a fabulous little girl named Lexie Wilde who gets dropped off at the wrong summer camp. Instead of going to the “Happy Hollow Camp for Joyful Boys and Girls” she ends up at “Camp Croak”. Along the way she makes friends with a ghost (Sweet Boo), a skeleton (Bebe Samedi), a zombie (Mary Shelley) and a werewolf (EmmyLoulou Garou) and together they get up to all sorts of Addams Family-esque adventures.
Ghost Scouts, interior spread, digital and ink on paper
AAS: You did some illustrations for Phantom of the Opera released by the Folio Society last year. The cover illustration is spectacular! How did that project come about?
TD: Yes, that project was a joy! The publishers asked that I focus on the horror rather than the romance, which was precisely up my alley. Upon graduating from the Cambridge School of Art, the students are given a chance to attend the Bologna Children’s Book fair with dummy books and portfolios in the hopes of getting noticed by publishers. I was lucky enough that something in my portfolio stuck with my brilliant editor at The Folio Society and she picked me to represent new talent in their launch of books that year. Given my love of theatre, and tendency for drawing all things spook---I couldn't have asked for a better debut if I tried.
The Phantom of the Opera, book cover, 13” x 16”, screenprint
AAS: For your MA senior project you created a set of illustrations for a book on Cinderella and how it might have looked in different cultures and times. Would you talk about that project?
TD: Did you know that there are over 250 recorded iterations of Cinderella from cultures all over the world? Some dating as far back as ancient Egypt? For our senior thesis, we were asked to make a book and given zero parameters on format/subject matter/genre, so I set about making a fold-out collection of some of my favorites. The final images were painted with matte emulsion (paint used to cover interior walls) and gave a really lovely opacity.
The story itself never got picked up for publication, but I am keeping my hopes up for something along those lines in the future. Some of my very favorite versions were dreadfully grotesque and included the chopping off of toes, or the fairy godmother being a fire breathing Djinn.
AAS: What is your connection with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s HitRecord online media platform?
TD: Back when I graduated Trinity University, I was faced with the impossible reality of the “real world” and the lack of connection I had to any sort of artist community. I was working three part-time jobs waitressing and making art seemed an impossible dream that I once had. That’s when I stumbled on HitRecord. It was an open online production company full of prompts and projections for me to dive into. My first project was called “The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories” where users would write stories with two sentences or less and illustrators would bring them to life. From there I got more and more involved, and not just in illustrating. The freedom of HitRecord is that anyone can dabble in any media. So, when a friend of mine posted a monologue that caught my eye, I set up my camera and recorded myself performing it. The response was immediate and enormous. Within a matter of months, that monologue was the opener to a “HitRecord on TV” episode RE: Space, and I was playing Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s wife. We won an Emmy for Creative Achievement in Interactive Media-Social TV Experience.
Thralk, illustration from the book Sabriel, 17” x 14”, pen and ink on paper
AAS: Many of your illustrations have almost a macabre feel. The figures are often angular, and you often use a lot of negative space. Who are some of the illustrators you admire?
TD: I wrote my MA degree dissertation on the usage of flat black expanses in illustration, and that technique is usually paired with wonderfully eerie illustrators. If you haven't seen the stained-glass work of Harry Clarke, or his illustrations for Poe---you are really missing out. He is all odd angles and hunger-starved eyes, with a riot of patterning. Other champions of black and white work include Aubrey Beardsley, John Austen, and Odilon Redon. The paper animations of Lotte Reiniger are also absolutely breathtaking!
“I think of illustration as flattened theatre. I am the director, choreographer, and technical designer all in one stroke.”
AAS: I think of illustration as drawing with the intent of describing something or telling a story. You are also an accomplished actor, as we’ve talked about, writer, and director, so I guess storytelling is in your blood?
TD: Storytelling is my everything, you are so right! The more art forms I learn, the more chances I have of best conveying the current stories bubbling up to the front of my mind. I think of illustration as flattened theatre. I am the director, choreographer, and technical designer all in one stroke.
AAS: What is the process like to illustrate a book?
TD: It really depends on the book. For The Phantom of the Opera, I wanted to start from a dance foundation, so I researched until I came upon this form of dance called Butoh and then filled my sketchbooks with the distorted shapes the dancers were making with their bodies. This gave me an excellent reference point to start with when I was approaching my compositions, let the bodies set the angles and parameters and fill in the scenic design around them. For Ghost Scouts, I wrote and illustrated the first three chapters in order to find a publisher who would consider taking it on. The lovely Bella Pearson of Guppy Books told me that if I could finish writing the book and maintain the same energy and characterization that she would take me under her wing – and she did just that!
AAS: What are some of your upcoming projects?
Taylor, as Cinderella’s mother (center), in a scene from the Arts One Presents 2020 production of Into the Woods.
TD: As I mentioned earlier, I am working on Ghost Scouts book four, it is in it’s very very early stages so I can’t even give you a name yet. I am also working on three other books that I can’t disclose at this time, but they are all lovely and spooky. I am also producing three productions for a community theatre organization called Arts One Presents. It’s going to be a busy year!
