Robert Taylor

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Robert H. Taylor is a master coppersmith.

Taylor, who worked at Five Points Hardware from 1977-2011, was a hobbyist woodworker when he joined the Alabama Forge Council in 1986 and began learning blacksmithing. He discovered an interest in shaping copper and began producing large garden sculptures which he sold at City Stages and the Kentuck Festival of the Arts.

After studying with Robert Trout at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, Taylor began constructing small scale functional items in the style established by the Roycroft Arts and Crafts Community in East Aurora, New York in the 1890s. He was certified as an artistan and later a master artisan by the Roycrofters-at-Large Association.

In Birmingham, Taylor is represented by Four Seasons Antiques & Art Gallery and Bare Hands. He has also been a regular exhibitor at the Magic City Arts Connection, the Alabama Designer Craftsmen, and the Bluff Park Art Show. His large-scale works have been installed at the Hugh Kaul EcoScape at Birmingham-Southern College and at Aldridge Gardens. In 2007 he was awarded a fellowship from the Alabama State Council of the Arts.

Taylor resides in Vestavia Hills and works from a studio provided by the Thomas Project at Wade Sand & Gravel

References

  • Taylor, Beverly S. (October 17, 2010) "Vestavia Hills coppersmith Robert Taylor is 1 of 5 Roycroft Master Artisans in the US." Birmingham News