Russellville potter Winston Taylor, 62, has been named the 2011 Arkansas Living Treasure by the Arkansas Arts Council, the agency announced today. A Little Rock native, Taylor is a pottery instructor at the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center.
From the Arts Council press release:
The 62-year-old said he never imagined he would be making his living as an artist. “I was always interested in cars throughout high school. I thought I would be a mechanic or race car driver or aircraft mechanic,” he said. “I never took an art course until I was out of high school.” Taylor, who owned a body shop in Little Rock for nine years, said his work is heavily influenced by his mechanical background. “My pottery pieces are geometrical, mechanical looking and industrial, very minimal.”
Taylor is working on a sculpture that the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church will auction to benefit a program building water wells in the Congo. For more information, go here.