Stephanie Taylor: Artist/Writer - Murals, Sculpture and Essays

Stephanie Taylor is a visual storyteller and environmental writer merging large-scale art installations with history-focused art, essays, and photography, exploring the meaning of location and what’s under the surface of things. Future Focus: Creative non-fiction documentarian of the American West—a chronicle of agricultural adaptation, water management, and resilience. Transforming from an artist who writes–to a writer who makes stuff.

Multi Media Artist: Decades of collaborations with architects and designers on site-specific installations: paintings, murals, sculpture, mixed media—cement to fabric to steel. Research-driven approach exploring history and ‘sense of place.’ Major hospitality projects include Disney flagships, Hilton, Hyatt properties across US and Paris.

Map of Northern California projects: a selection over the years.

Writer: Freelance essayist and Op-Ed contributor, Sacramento Bee (2011-19, 2024)—’California Sketches’ series blending art and non-fiction. Co-author: ‘Water: More or Less’—anthology examining California water through politics, history, essay, and art. ‘Simple Objects’—documenting artifacts from Paradise’s Camp Fire (2019), exploring loss and memory. ‘Frankenstein: A Graphic Interpretation’–a collaboration with the Sacramento Public Library in celebration of the 200th anniversary of its publication. Substack: “How to be an Artist,”

“Stephanie Taylor is a true “Renaissance” woman. She is, without doubt, the most creative and versatile person I have ever met. I make this statement based on my forty-year career working in rare book and history libraries. Stephanie combines a keen sense of place with an equally keen sense of history. The murals that she has created that adorn scores of public buildings across the country are not only of striking artistic merit but also incorporate easily recognizable historical and contemporary themes that appeal to a general audience.” Gary Kurutz, Curator Emeritus, California State Library Collections

Scott’s Seafood

“Amelia & Friends” transitions over the years

The American River, an essential watershed

History , Installations , Murals , Paintings , Water

Galapagos and Beyond

Photography. A new portfolio section of images is coming soon. Writing about the California environment, from Shasta to the Mexican border, from the sea to the Sierra, Taylor has documented issues from farming to water management. Her interest in water began in Norway in 2000 with a visit to the glacier nearest the birthplace of her maternal grandmother. She also traveled to the Galapagos.

The images are collected in six main categories. Moving Systems: completely engineered by humans, Growing Systems: collaborations between humans and nature, and Natural Systems: minimal human intervention. Plus Architecture, Water, and Humans.