Collection: Jade Taylor

Artist bio
 
Jade Taylor is a multidisciplinary artist based in Kent, working from her purpose-built studio, surrounded by the nature that continually inspires her. Jade's work is a sensitive response to the beauty and fragility of the natural world, with a particular focus on native wildlife, habitats, and ecosystems. Jade's intricately layered collages combine acrylic on linen with botanical printmaking and etching, creating delicate compositions that weave in subtle, hidden narratives. Trained in Textile Design at Nottingham Trent University, where she specialised in embroidery, her love of colour, form, and surface design continues to inform her visual language. Printmaking has been at the centre of Jade's practice for many years and the economy of Japanese design is a strong influence on her composition, as she pares back the natural world to skilfully reveal nature's stories.
 
Jade's work has been increasingly recognised in recent years. She was awarded Mammal Illustrator of the Year 2025, and her pieces have been selected for prestigious exhibitions including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2024) and the Society of Women Artists at the Mall Galleries (2023). Her work is held in private collections across the UK, Europe, New Zealand, and Japan.
 
After nearly 30 years teaching Fine Art, Jade has returned her focus to her own practice, while continuing to share her expertise through workshops, courses, and private tuition from her beautiful garden studio.

Artist Statement 

My work is a response to the beauty and fragility of the natural world around me, and in particular the ecology of my native wildlife and habitats. I often grow the plants I use in the botanical printmaking process from seed or forage them from the hedgerows. A desire to make more meaningful connections between the subject and the environment is also a driving factor, weaving in hidden narratives with tiny etchings printed on my equally tiny press. The titles give a key into this narrative and my research and growing understanding of the delicate balance of ecology and animal behaviour are as important to me as the final result.
 
I am inspired by shape and form when selecting plants and the colour palette develops organically, through both the printing process and the selected linen surface. The use of coloured linen as a surface and the botanical printmaking is a direct response to my degree in textiles at Nottingham University. The painted elements are delicately layered in thin watery washes of acrylic to deliberately maintain the surface texture; the appearance resembles watercolour due to the method of application. This mixed media process has rapidly become my signature style and is in itself quite unique in terms of process and outcome. Recent work sees a more naturalistic environment based on a wildflower meadow of native wild plants, however I often employ pattern with cultivated plants, and the economy of Japanese design remains a strong influence in many of my compositions. My work sits between Decorative and Fine Art, and it is driven by a desire to record my environment, whilst simultaneously exploring my love of colour and pattern. The production of work is very much driven by the rhythm of the seasons as I respond to my ever-changing environment.