Susan Aaron-Taylor

Susan Aaron-Taylor is a builder and a storyteller whose hands and spirit work collectively to create
works of art rooted in the traditions of alchemy and creative fantasy. A sculptor, teacher, and student
of Jungian psychology, Aaron-Taylor mines the realm of dreams, archetypes, and the collective
unconscious to invent mythologies entwined in personal history, mysticism, and ritual.

As objects, her sculptures are physical manifestations of alchemy, the medieval melding of chemistry,
philosophy, and secret lore, in which matter is converted from one element into another. Wool,
stone, fossil, wood, paper, bone, metal, mineral, shell, bead, and plant material exist first in nature,
then as art. They are the connective tissue, the muscle supporting the essential poetry of the work.
As stories, Aaron-Taylor’s work transcends language to construct dream-like narratives that explore
ancient cultures, archetypes, the psyche, shamanism, and, ultimately, the Self. Aaron-Taylor’s role
as an artist and storyteller, her marriage of material and myth-making, merge in a holistic tableau of
meaning, within which we find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

Brooklyn-born and Detroit-based, Aaron-Taylor studied art at Cranbrook Art Academy and Wayne
State University. As an educator, she has been a Professor on the faculty of the College for Creative
Studies in Detroit since 1973, serving as Chair of the Crafts Department from 1980 to 1990, and
currently as Section Chair of Fibers. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across
the United States, and is included in numerous collections, including Cranbrook Art Museum, Kmart
Corporation, and Westin Hotels. In addition, her studies in Jungian psychology and spirituality have
situated her work in a variety of unexpected environments, such as exhibitions at Pulitzer Prizewinning
poet Robert Bly’s annual Conference on the Great Mother, and the Ram Dass Library at the
Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.