W. James Taylor grew up in Knoxville when segregation still divided the South into black and white.
The very same colors are present in his abstract, three panel drawing made of pencil and chalk pastel called Vicissitude, which represents the past, present and future of the black race, as well expresses what he felt and experienced as a young man in the 1960’s South before integration.
“I thought about this abstract geometrical form, it was just black, I was just using hues of black and white. I used those hues and in such a way that’s pushing against each other,” Taylor said. “I bought this big old four foot by four foot rectangular thing and I did the first part of Vicissitude. Now this is before I’d done any of the other art you see on my page.”
Taylor, a local artist and member of the Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance, began pursuing his artistic abilities from a young age and has continued following his passion into his seventies.
Born in 1949, Taylor grew up in Austin Homes and Lonsdale Homes in Knoxville where he lived with his father, mother and 11 other siblings, seven of whom survived into adulthood.
Taylor started down the path of artistry at the age of 14 when he drew a cantaloupe for his mother, Geneva, who encouraged him to pursue his talent.
“My mother wanted me to be an artist. She said I was an artist,” Taylor said. “You know when my mama told me that I kind of believed her and I used to paint all the time, find things to draw on in school.”
In the early ’60s, when Taylor was still an adolescent and not quite old enough to be working, he covered one of his older brother’s shifts at the Tennessee Theatre as a porter before integration allowed African-Americans to enjoy the theater.
After that shift, Taylor continued working there until April 1963, when a group of students from Knoxville College protested segregation in front of the theatre on Gay Street. Taylor was told by his manager to sweep the sidewalks where the protesters were standing and in that moment, Taylor quit his job and joined in the Civil Rights movement.
At 17, Taylor was a drummer for a band that opened for famous acts like Rufus Thomas, Mary Wells, Parliament Funkadelic and Bill Withers in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
He graduated from Austin High School, now Austin East High School, and went on to attend university. However, Taylor didn’t finish college, instead dropping out to take care of his wife and infant son by joining the police department.
He then moved to Maryland, where he worked as a security guard at a high school and eventually opened his gallery, Geneva Gallery Inc. in 1975, naming it after his mother.
“Geneva,” Taylor said. “That’s my mama’s name, her name is on all of my original pieces of art. I just put her name. See I don’t look at myself, W. James Taylor, as nothing but a brush.”
Today, Taylor still leads a very active social life in the community, both in Knoxville and in Maryland.
Taylor continues to play music, now entertaining elders at senior citizen homes by playing his guitar, as well as during the quieter times at his studio.
Liza Zenni, executive director of the Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance, has known Taylor since 2015 when he approached her about becoming a studio artist at the Emporium that the alliance takes care of downtown.
“We’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with James, one of the most charming things that he does as a tenant is he brings his guitar and if it gets a little quiet during our First Friday receptions, or even if it’s not quiet but there’s no music going on, we don’t have a special guest lined up, he’ll come out into the gallery and he’ll start playing his guitar and singing,” Zenni said.
“I’ll tell you, people are, they’re attracted to him like magnets, especially children, they love James. They’ll come around, sit down and start singing with him.”
In addition, for the last 30 years Taylor worked at a summer children’s camp in Maryland. This next summer, beyond his usually trip to Maryland to work at the camp, Taylor and his two daughters, Brianna and Geneva, will run a multicultural fine art camp for kids here in Knoxville from July 15 to July 19 at Overcoming Believers Church at Harriet Tubman Ave.
His art, Vicissitude, will also be displayed in the new art gallery opening in the new Student Union, alongside Tawny Chatmon, a photography based artist whose art is also about black history, in February.
Taylor encouraged everyone, just like his father told him, that if you want to follow your passion, if you want to do anything, to simply ask questions of someone who is already doing it.
“My daddy told me, ‘If you see someone do something and you want to know how to do it, ask them.’ Anything you want to do in life, this goes for you too,” Taylor said. “Anything you want, find that person that’s doing it excellent and then just watch them. They will tell you everything (on) how to do it. People will tell you what you want to hear.”
