by Taylor Moon

Ever since I was very young, I have made art. In fact, I cannot remember a time when art was not an important part of my life. Over the years, I have worked in a number of different mediums, including graphite drawing, oil painting, watercolor, silverpoint, and pastels.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to take a number of art courses and to participate in a number of art programs. During the summer of 2019, for instance, I participated in an art-making program at TASIS International School in Montagnola, Switzerland, where I created a fine art portfolio of drawings and oil paintings, including landscapes and portraits, and presented my work in a final show. Since June 2019, I have been taking private art lessons with the artist Sherry Camhy of the Arts Students League of New York. In January 2020, I entered a graphite drawing into a group exhibition at the league and won a “blue dot,” which serves to note outstanding works. Sherry’s work in various media—including pastels, oils, sculpture, silverpoint, and mixed media—has inspired me to think about how I can further expand my own artistic repertoire. In March 2020, I attended classes at Ashcan Studio in New York and created a self-portrait using pastels.
In addition, I have had opportunities to introduce others to the arts. For example, during the summer of 2018, I volunteered as a translator at the Paju Typography Institute in Paju Book City, South Korea, where I assisted low-income students between the ages of five and eight students in creating various typography and mixed media projects that incorporated Korean letters and words. In this program, I acted as a translator between the English-speaking teacher and the Korean students.
I have been artistically inspired by various experiences and artists. Last year, for instance, I did an extensive research project on Hieronymous Bosch’s oil painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. Analyzing the work’s use of symbolism to criticize the corrupt clergy and the loss of innocence among humans inspired me to explore my creativity more deeply and to incorporate my ideas into my art in a more abstract way.