In our Artist Employee Spotlight series, we are highlighting the diverse and exceptional talent here at FLAX art & design.

Meet Taylor Smith, an Oakland-based artist and jewelry designer with a meticulous appreciation for sweating the details. Her pieces are often crafted through intricate pattern and dot work, where she uses thoughtful precision to highlight meaningful themes. Through several mediums including metalwork, painting, drawing, and mixed media, Taylor is enamored with bringing delightful form and function to the asymmetrical world around us. We recently sat down with Taylor to talk about her work and her upcoming show.

Your mandala works are very finely detailed. The geometric shapes in your designs have a mathematical precision. How do you approach such a meticulous repetition in your practice?

TS: When I create mandalas and patterns it becomes a meditation for me. It’s therapy. It’s medicine. Once I’m in my flow, I hit a state where I just keep going and going and really can’t stop. I don’t know what I’d do without that particular process in all of the mediums I work with.

There is a fantastic mix of ancient symbols and pop-cultural references in your work. How do you marry these two archetypes and what inspires these references?

TS: Ha, I've never looked at my art in that way - the old and the new archetypes as one. Marrying the two just feels right! The street art of the bay area, old school signage/typography, and feminine self love are a few influences in my paintings and drawings. I think that's where the "pop culture" inspiration comes from. The patterns, dot work, symbols, and shapes across my mediums are inspired by southwestern designs, alien language, and the witchy world.

Your work translates really well between jewelry, painting on canvas or wood panels, and mixed media work. It looks like a seamless transition from one surface or material to another. Do you see your jewelry as an extension of your drawing and paintings, or is it a separate practice for you?

TS: Absolutely. Regardless of the medium, I see, feel, and make my art in one cohesive, creative flow.

What is one art supply product that you are super excited about right now?

TS: So many! But in this moment, shout out to Posca paint pens, Golden acrylics, and Princeton brushes!

What are some of your favorite things about FLAX?

TS: My co-workers, the customers, the space, and learning/trying new materials and tools on the daily! I've never had a job like this where I feel energized and inspired after work, which is crucial for the night shifts in my studio!

View more of Taylor's work on her website www.taylovedesign.com

Follow Taylor on instagram @tylovesmith

See her work in person at the group show:

DIVINE ELEMENTS

presented by the Eye Seek Collective

Opening - Saturday, Sept 8th from 2pm - 9pm

Naming Gallery

335 15th Street, Oakland CA 

(just down the street from our FLAX Oakland store)

CLICK HERE for more info about the show