Carla Taylor is a multidisciplinary artist based in northeast Tennessee. Her practice spans printmaking, textiles, ceramics, and collage, building imagery through layering, experimentation, and repetition. Her current body of work explores themes of grief, repair, and wonder. Taylor’s work has been exhibited nationally, and she deepens her artistic practice through residencies, curating local exhibits, and ongoing study. She holds an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and a BS in Psychology from John Brown University.

Art is a record of presence - a reflection of where we have been, the emotions we carry, and the moments that shape us. While my practice began as a way to give voice to my pain, it has evolved into a recognition of resilience. Through it, I navigate life’s opposing forces - the sorrow that engulfs us and the beauty that sustains us.

Working across printmaking, collage, ceramics, and textiles, I move fluidly between abstraction and narrative, examining these cycles of loss and renewal. I am drawn to the expressive potential of line, layering tangled marks through both indirect printmaking and direct gestures to develop an abstract visual language of emotion and memory. In my narrative work, I incorporate recurring symbols and the female form to deepen these themes.

I seek to capture the tensions beneath the surface—overwhelm and release, chaos and control, fragility, and resilience. Each piece becomes both a marker of my own understanding and a reflection on how we move through shifting emotional states. I hope my art creates an emotional resonance, offering a space for reflection and empathy so that we all feel less alone on our journey through life.