BIO:

Keren Tayloris an artist, songwriter and the founder/director of WriteGirl, an international creative writing and mentoring organization for teen girls and gender-expansive youth. In 2013, WriteGirl received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, the highest national honor awarded to exemplary after-school programs. Keren is the editor of 38 award-winning anthologies of youth writing, and in 2020, she received the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award, “spotlighting efforts to bring books, publishing and storytelling into the future.” Working in collage, mosaic, assemblage, acrylic and watercolors, Keren has studied mixed media composition for over two decades with private teachers, and also at The Arts Students League in NYC and The Art Center in Pasadena. Keren’s artwork has been exhibited in several galleries in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Blaine, Washington. Her work is the featured cover art for several books. She lives in Blaine, Washington, right on the border of Canada, where she makes art and jewelry, writes poetry, oversees WriteGirl programs, and bakes exotic desserts. Keren holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the University of British Columbia, a Piano Performance Degree from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and a Diploma from the American Music and Dramatic Academy, NYC.

Making mosaic jewelry and art surrounds me with metaphors - it takes time and patience to find the right combinations of things. You need to protect yourself from flying sharp objects and glues that coat your fingertips. You can't press too hard or think too much. You have to focus and stay "in the zone" but then you need to take a break and walk in the grass or watch the sun set. Isn't that just like life?

I enjoy traveling, and finding treasures along the shore of a river, in an antique store, or even on the asphalt in a parking lot. Then there's my father's basement - I found some serious rusty unidentifiable relics in that place!

I hope you enjoy my creative work.

- Keren Taylor