DETAILS:
30" X 40"
Mixed Media on Canvas
Original Artwork
2023
Description: It is a common expression to try and keep your head above water. It is the struggle to maintain normalcy, to keep the status quo, to stay afloat. As women, the role of mother, wife, daughter, and friend act are burdened by expectations that continually weigh us down. Here, Taylor cleverly crops the head from her composition. While people often see our ‘heads above water’, the idea of ourselves we present to the world, many fail to recognize the flailing fight against the sinking depths that occurs beneath the surface.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Scotti Taylor
Scotti Taylor is an Oceanside, California-based painter who reconceives the balance of beauty and pain in compelling portraits that showcase the power of women. Coalescing figuration and abstraction, the colorful works of art invite individuals to contemplate the tragedy and perseverance that often goes overlooked but inevitably makes each of us stronger and more exquisite.
Throughout Taylor’s life, art has remained a constant outlet and passion. Starting from a young age studying closely with public school art teachers, then studying Studio Art at the University of Texas at Austin, she finally immersed herself in the field of Graphic Design with The Art Institute of San Diego. She channeled her skills into careers that allowed her to explore the intersections of her creativity, including her time as the Art Director for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography where she specialized in Scientific Illustration and won National Awards for the monthly member’s magazine she designed for the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. After nearly two decades of dedicating herself to her family, she has returned to the studio. Painter, creative, and advocate, Taylor’s artistic practice shares her story as a survivor of trauma and substance abuse, role as a wife and mother, devoted caregiver to her adult disabled daughter, and as a woman navigating the physical and social inaccessibilities of today’s society in a way that evokes empathy and compassion.
An active member of the growing art community of San Diego, Taylor has been the recipient of the San Diego Museum of Us’s juried art prize and exhibited with organizations such as Ashton Gallery and the Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery (La Jolla) with more to come as she grows her practice and shares her empowering message.
