Jonah Taylor’s sculptural work explores play as a cultural practice and meditates on the art process itself as a site of play: a refuge for imagination, intuition, and spontaneity in a world that prefers linear and rational thinking.
Through fantastical, whimsical sculpture, Jonah's work conceptualizes play as a garden paradise of the mind where joy, creativity, and expressiveness grow boundlessly. Artworks express the spirit of play as precious, luscious abundance, oozing liquid gold from toys and forms of play drawn from childhood—elevating painted fingernails, balloons, and dolls to the surreal and sublime. These artworks also evoke the eerie darkness of play as fleeting innocence and paradise lost, a window to the mysterious horizons of the unconscious mind.
Jonah primarily works with clay, a material that—playful in its very corporeality—allows him to surrender some control to the process of making, finding truth in the mush, push, and smush of fantasy.
Jonah Taylor is an artist and psychotherapist who received his MSW from Rutgers School of Social Work in 2022. He counsels individuals and couples in private practice and previously served as the Sculpture Technician at Rutgers University-Camden.
Contact: jonahtaylor24@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2022: MSW, Rutgers School of Social Work, New Brunswick, NJ
2014: BA, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
2020-22: Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ (Fine arts courses)
2019: Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ (Fine arts courses)
2016: San Francisco Art Institute (Fine arts courses)
PROFESSIONAL ART EXPERIENCE
2021-2023: Sculpture Technician, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2022-Present: Associate Therapist, The Center for Growth, Philadelphia, PA
2018: Product Designer, Rapid, San Francsico, CA
2014-2018: Product Designer, PolicyMap, Philadelphia, PA and San Francisco, CA
EXHIBITIONS
2023: Making Appearance, Camden FireWorks Gallery, Camden, NJ
2022: Solo Exhibition, The Nature of Play, Campus Center Gallery, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ
2022: Staying Connected: Alumni & Faculty Art Exhibition, Marlin Gallery, Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ
2021: VMPA Exhibition, Outdoor Public Display on Campus, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ
2019: Annual Student Exhibition, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
LECTURES
2022: ZoomOnArt, Rutgers University-Camden Department of Visual, Media, & Performing Arts
Through fantastical, whimsical sculpture, Jonah's work conceptualizes play as a garden paradise of the mind where joy, creativity, and expressiveness grow boundlessly. Artworks express the spirit of play as precious, luscious abundance, oozing liquid gold from toys and forms of play drawn from childhood—elevating painted fingernails, balloons, and dolls to the surreal and sublime. These artworks also evoke the eerie darkness of play as fleeting innocence and paradise lost, a window to the mysterious horizons of the unconscious mind.
Jonah primarily works with clay, a material that—playful in its very corporeality—allows him to surrender some control to the process of making, finding truth in the mush, push, and smush of fantasy.
Jonah Taylor is an artist and psychotherapist who received his MSW from Rutgers School of Social Work in 2022. He counsels individuals and couples in private practice and previously served as the Sculpture Technician at Rutgers University-Camden.
Contact: jonahtaylor24@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2022: MSW, Rutgers School of Social Work, New Brunswick, NJ
2014: BA, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
2020-22: Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ (Fine arts courses)
2019: Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ (Fine arts courses)
2016: San Francisco Art Institute (Fine arts courses)
PROFESSIONAL ART EXPERIENCE
2021-2023: Sculpture Technician, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2022-Present: Associate Therapist, The Center for Growth, Philadelphia, PA
2018: Product Designer, Rapid, San Francsico, CA
2014-2018: Product Designer, PolicyMap, Philadelphia, PA and San Francisco, CA
EXHIBITIONS
2023: Making Appearance, Camden FireWorks Gallery, Camden, NJ
2022: Solo Exhibition, The Nature of Play, Campus Center Gallery, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ
2022: Staying Connected: Alumni & Faculty Art Exhibition, Marlin Gallery, Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ
2021: VMPA Exhibition, Outdoor Public Display on Campus, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ
2019: Annual Student Exhibition, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
LECTURES
2022: ZoomOnArt, Rutgers University-Camden Department of Visual, Media, & Performing Arts