About: writer & artist
“Stephanie Taylor is, without doubt, the most creative and versatile person I have ever met. I make this statement based on my forty-year career working in rare book and history libraries. Stephanie combines a keen sense of place with a passion for history. She has created scores of public and private commissions across the country, which are not only of striking artistic merit but also incorporate easily recognizable historical and contemporary themes that appeal to a general audience.” . Gary Kurutz, Curator Emeritus, California State Library Collections
The writing part: I started with creative non-fiction workshops and pitched the Sacramento Bee as a freelance Op-Ed contributor for a series called 'California Sketches' , combining drawings and essays. From Mount Shasta to the Mexican Border, from the sea to the Sierra, I looked for answers: What lies just between the surfaces of things? This lead to books, and now, more books.
UC Davis Writers Workshop, Tomales Bay 2011
“California Sketches,” Op-Ed series, Sacramento Bee, 2011-19, 2024, 2026
Community of Writers: 2013
Water: More or Less, co-author Rita Sudman, former Executive Director, Water Education Foundation, 3 editions, 2016-2918
Frankenstein: A Graphic Interpretation, a collaboration with the Sacramento Public Library, 2017
Simple Objects, a contemporary archeological dig: a photoessay documenting the Camp Fire, 2019, with a co-author.
May Woolsey’s Hidden Trunk, a pictorial biography, a collaboration with the Sacramento History Museum
The Art and Journalism of Margaret Bourke-White: Witness to History, Maker of History, a series: Women Making History, Bloomsbury Publishing.
The art part: Adaptation is critical to a long career. After decades collaborating on site-specific installations, times change. For example, when I started painting murals in Los Angeles, there were very few muralists, aside from the fabulous Chicano murals on the East side. Since then, the rules of economics have taken over: too many artists, too little demand. Most of the process has become institutionalized, either through the public art process or global mural festivals. Big business. I like the old days when I had personal relationships with owners and decision makers. My business model changed in the late 90s when corporations became more interested in making investors happy than their customers and guests. If I’m a little cynical, it’s because I watched it happen–with Disney and Hilton, for example.
By 2002,, I began to be bored making murals so I applied to graduate school in sculpture. It was both thrilling and frustrating, but the experience reminded me how much I love the research end of what I do, including writing. I also ramped up my interest in photography. I’d always used the camera for as a tool but rarely as an end in itself. Time revealed how much the camera influenced not only my curiosity, but composition and design. And that has opened up a new opportunities.
COLLECTIONS, a selection:
International
Disneyland Hotel, Paris, France, the only non-Disney, non-French artist on the project.
Shoji Corporation, Kyoto, Japan: paintings
National
Bally’s Casino, Las Vegas
Crown Plaza, New York
Disney Institute, Disneyworld, Orlando
Grand Floridian Beach Resort, Disneyworld, Orlando
Harvey’s Resort, South Lake Tahoe
Hilton Hotel, New Orleans
Hyatt Hotel, Atlanta
Sheraton Resort, Tucson
California
California Association of Realtors, Sacramento & Los Angeles
City Hall, City of Indian Wells
City Hall, City of Los Angeles
Columbia Pictures, Los Angeles
Crown Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles
Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim
First Interstate Bank Branches, Southern California
Fluor Corporation, Irvine
Hilton Hotels in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles
Hyatt Hotels in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Atlanta
Kaiser Facilities
MGM Studio, Los Angeles
Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood
Six Flags Corporation, Los Angeles
Sutter Medical Centers, Santa Rosa, Antioch
Texaco Corporation, Los Angeles
UC Medical Center, Los Angeles, Sacramento
Waterfront Plaza, Jack London Square, Oakland
Wells Fargo Bank branches, Los Angeles
Xerox Corporation, Los Angeles
Sacramento regional projects include:
Sacramento Science Center
Beer’s Books, Jack London Mural
Buzz Oates Corporation, 555 Capital Mall
California Exposition and State Fair
California State Library Foundation
California State Railroad Museum, 1999 & Wide Open Walls, 2017
Crocker Art Museum
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Sacramento
Jackson Properties
Jackson private residence
Sacramento Public Library
Sacramento Regional Transit Headquarters
Raley Field, West Sacramento
UC Davis Medical Center, since 1986
Water Education Foundation
Water Forum, a public agency, Sacramento
Wide Open Walls, 2019: a tribute mural, Sacramento Ballet
Publicly Funded Projects
Sacramento Metro Arts Commission, Fremont Park Project, 2011.
Sacramento Metro Arts Commission, Valley-Hi Library, 2009
Finalist, Sacramento City Hall, in two areas, Sacramento Metro Arts Commission
Live radio and TV interviews: including NPR and news coverage, many examples
Good Day Sacramento, 2019
KFBK, 2019
CBS Sacramento, 2019
Publications and films:
Inside Publications, 2019
Sacramento Bee: California Sketches,
Sacramento Business Journal, 2019
Comstock’s Magazine,, 2016
Comstock’s Magazine, Water: More or Less, 2016
“Paperclay: Art and Practice,” by Rosette Gault, U of Penn 2013
Sactown Magazine, 2006-8
Ceramics Art and Perception, Australia, American Craft Magazine, 2003
Feature film, Los Angeles, 2001
prior to 2000: San Francisco Hilton Murals, mini documentary: PBS short film Arts Alive: Wall Street Journal, Top Ten Hotel Properties: Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Magazine: Design International Magazine: Designer’s West Magazine: Kodak’s More Joy of Photography: German Art Calendar of International Murals: Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald Examiner
Exhibitions
Group show, photography, Archival Gallery, Sacramento, 2026
Solo and group, almost every year since 1988-2019
“Simple Objects: An Excavation,” collaborative installation, Sutter County Museum, Yuba City, 2019
“Simple Objects: An Excavation,” collaborative installation at Archival Gallery, Sacramento, 2019