Taylor Zarkades King is a studio artist and jeweler living and working in Western Massachusetts. Formally trained as a metalsmith her craft based practice sways between a jewelers bench and a studio that finds its form through larger configurations of wood, fiber, print and re contextualized objects. Through her use of coded material language and comedic mimicry she creates and choreographs strange but familiar objects into relational installations— each form hinting at another, deflecting a central gaze in favor of a horizon. Her current sculpture work focuses on nuanced orientations of queer kinship, gender, desire and home.
An important facet of her practice is a limited-edition collection of anodized aluminum jewelry with an affinity for asymmetry and distressed color. This body of work is grounded in color study and a compositional process of identity. Color conducts the feeling of each wearable piece and favors the honesty of weathered surface, while asymmetric color balance allows for visual movement within a rigid form.
King received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019 and a BFA from California College of Arts in 2010. She was a 2013 artist in residence with EDITIONBasel at Druckwerks [Basel Switzerland] and the 2019 artist in residence with Quirk Gallery + VisArts Center [Richmond, VA]. She is a participating artist of Radical Jewelry Makeover’s RJM Artist Project, and a Jewelry Edition Vol. 5 alumni. King teaches inventive studio workshops nationally and has exhibited in the US, Switzerland, Mexico, and China.