Taygan Appleton
Canada
Taygan Appleton fell in love with art at a young age. Her family moved every few years while she was growing up. During that time, they spent a three year stint in Germany. The artwork in Europe helped to spark her interest in sculpture and photography; it is also where she caught the travel bug.
After returning to Alberta Canada, Taygan Appleton decided to attend Alberta University of the Arts where she fell in love with glass. She became a glass major and made this medium her primary focus in her artistic practice. Struggling with major health issues during her time at AUArts, she worked hard for seven years to finally finish. Taygan graduated with a BFA in Glass with the Board of Governors award in May 2018.
She now pursues a career as a multi-media artist enjoying her life as a Glass Blower and photographer. She lives in the small town of Cochrane, Alberta and continues to travel the world looking for inspiration in the textures and colours that surround her. She takes much of her inspiration from Iceland which is her ancestral home and plans to travel back there as often as she can.
Taking inspiration from the landscapes she have travelled, Taygan focuses on textures both geological and organic. She explores these textures of the environment and abstractly translates them into glass. Glass as a material is extremely versatile and carries with it a mystery that allures the viewer as well as the maker.
Conceptually Taygan Appleton´s work is centered on phenomenology. As a child she would run her fingers over precious objects exploring the textures and surfaces. Inquisitive by nature, she hoped that tracing these alluring objects would help to reveal their mysteries. As she passes her fingertips over the surface, she lingers in the ephemeral moment of a connection between herself and the object.
Glass is a seductive material that carries a pre-conceived fragility that creates an imaginary barrier. Taygan explores this allure and boundary in her work. Being a tactile individual, she strives to create objects that long to be touched. Within her practice she tries to break the notion of fragility and allow the individual to experience her work both visually as well as physically.