2022 Emerging Artist: Taylor Mezo Taylor Mezo

Appears in the May 2022 issue of Ceramics Monthly.

Taylor Mezo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Ceramics Monthly: What do you see as the current trends in ceramics and where do you see yourself in that field? 

Taylor Mezo: I’ve noticed an increase in the use of patterns lately, which is something I am very much here for. Examples include lots of upside down U’s and squiggly lines as motifs. I think it’s important that ceramic artists welcome new aesthetic trends into their practices. I try to incorporate styles into my work that could be described as cute, but balance those with my own aesthetic preferences. 

I’m also beginning to see more and more creators push the boundaries of what functional or utilitarian work looks like. 

CM: How do you come up with the forms and surfaces that are prevalent in your work? 

TM: Almost everything I make is inspired by cars, specifically classic cars from the 1950s and 1960s. Growing up, my grandpa collected model cars and he would let me play with the ones that weren’t sealed in their boxes for display. The allure of classic cars has always been there for me, and I’m still continuing to uncover it. 

I like to dissect the form of any object that visually interests me and recreate it into something new. I’ll break the form of a car down to its basic shapes and lines, then build it back up into a functional pot. I look at the structure of a car’s tail fin, headlight, or bumper to inform the shape of my pots. It’s a transformative process, from drafting to constructing. 

For my surfaces, I choose bold colors that are reminiscent of cars from that period of time (fun colors like teal, pink, Bermuda blue). All of my glazes are super glossy, because I’m trying to mimic the polyurethane enamel of a car. I want both of these surfaces to have the same tactility. I do keep a good bit of the surface unglazed, so I can show off the red earthenware. The warmth of this red clay fully has me under a spell.  

Learn more at tayloramezo.com.