Textiles and papers of Fraser Taylor, GSA student and designer with The Cloth

The collection consists of printed textiles, garments and papers relating to Fraser Taylor's time as an undergraduate student at GSA (1978-1981), a postgraduate student at RCA (1983), and items relating to other professional activities. It also includes examples of textiles and associated ephemera for design collective The Cloth (1983-1987).

Born in the UK in 1960, Fraser Taylor is an interdisciplinary artist who works with a range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and animation. After receiving his bachelor of art in printed textiles from The Glasgow School of Art, Taylor went on to complete his masters in fine art at the Royal College of Art, London. In 1983 he co-founded ‘The Cloth’, a collaborative studio established to enable artists to move freely between fine art and design projects. The Cloth designed numerous textile collections, which were manufactured in Tokyo, Milan, Paris, London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. They also produced seasonal collections of ready to wear men’s and women’s apparel, which retailed at leading department stores in Europe, Asia and the US. The Cloth disbanded in 1988 to allow each artist to pursue individual direction. Since 1983, Taylor has exhibited internationally; venues include: Jill George Gallery and StART Space, London; Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow; Gallery Boards, Paris; Galeria Jorge Alcolea, Madrid; Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney. From 1996 to 2001, he was the assistant curator of ‘Japanese and British Art Now’, an exchange program established to provide a curriculum of exhibitions and workshops, encouraging discourses between artists working in London and Tokyo. This enabled Taylor to participate in group and solo exhibitions, at Axis Gallery, Gallery Aoyama, Sigacho Bis and SPICA Art, in Tokyo. Since 1983 he has lectured at fine art and design schools including Goldsmiths College University of London, Central St Martin's, The London Institute, The Royal College of Art and The Glasgow School of Art. In 1999 Taylor was invited to take part in a summer program, 'London in Chicago’ at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, which led to his appointment as Visiting Artist, in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies in 2001. Subsequently Taylor began to exhibit in the US. Venues include: Thomas McCormick Gallery, Bucket Rider Gallery, Alfedena Gallery, mn Gallery, Evanston Arts Center, Hyde Park Art Center, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Sybaris Gallery, Linda Ross Contemporary and Aurobora Press. Taylor currently lives and works in Chicago.

The material has been arranged into four subfonds (GSA, RCA, The Cloth, and other projects) to represent Taylor's time as a student as well as his professional work. Each subfonds has then been subdivided into the following series:
* GSA - printed textiles, student papers, images (photographs and slides), ephemera
* RCA - printed textiles, images (photographs and slides), ephemera
* The Cloth - fabric lengths, garments, ephemera, images,(photographs, slides and digital images), record sleeves
* Other work - ephemera, images
Some of this material was damaged in the fire in GSA's Mackintosh Building on 23rd May 2014. Affected paper material has since undergone conservation. Textile conservation will be undertaken in 2019.

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Donated by Fraser Taylor between 2014-2015.

Born in the UK in 1960, Fraser Taylor is an interdisciplinary artist who works with a range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and animation. After receiving his bachelor of art in printed textiles from The Glasgow School of Art, Taylor went on to complete his masters in fine art at the Royal College of Art, London. In 1983 he co-founded ‘The Cloth’, a collaborative studio established to enable artists to move freely between fine art and design projects. The Cloth designed numerous textile collections, which were manufactured in Tokyo, Milan, Paris, London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. They also produced seasonal collections of ready to wear men’s and women’s apparel, which retailed at leading department stores in Europe, Asia and the US. The Cloth disbanded in 1988 to allow each artist to pursue individual direction. Since 1983, Taylor has exhibited internationally; venues include: Jill George Gallery and StART Space, London; Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow; Gallery Boards, Paris; Galeria Jorge Alcolea, Madrid; Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney. From 1996 to 2001, he was the assistant curator of ‘Japanese and British Art Now’, an exchange program established to provide a curriculum of exhibitions and workshops, encouraging discourses between artists working in London and Tokyo. This enabled Taylor to participate in group and solo exhibitions, at Axis Gallery, Gallery Aoyama, Sigacho Bis and SPICA Art, in Tokyo. Since 1983 he has lectured at fine art and design schools including Goldsmiths College University of London, Central St Martin's, The London Institute, The Royal College of Art and The Glasgow School of Art. In 1999 Taylor was invited to take part in a summer program, 'London in Chicago’ at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, which led to his appointment as Visiting Artist, in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies in 2001. Subsequently Taylor began to exhibit in the US. Venues include: Thomas McCormick Gallery, Bucket Rider Gallery, Alfedena Gallery, mn Gallery, Evanston Arts Center, Hyde Park Art Center, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Sybaris Gallery, Linda Ross Contemporary and Aurobora Press. Taylor currently lives and works in Chicago.

**Collection Historical Note**
* http://www.frasertaylor.com
* http://www.thecloth.co.uk

* Listed by Susannah Waters, May 2014, Dec 2014 and Jan 2015.
* Fonds and subfonds level descriptions created by Carrie Skinner, Nov 2015 and April 2016 (work funded by the Textile Society Audrey Archive Award).
* Catalogue exported from Archon and imported into AtoM during system migration, 2018-2019.

Finding Aid Authors: The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections.

© Copyright 2018 GSA Archives. All rights reserved.

Application for permission to reproduce should be submitted to The Archives and Collections at The Glasgow School of Art.
Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of material.
For further details, please refer to our Reprographic Service Guide @ https://gsaarchives.net/policies

This material has been appraised in line with Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections standard procedures.

Additional donations of material were made on 17/12/2014 and 06/01/2014.

Images and documentation of the work of The Cloth can be found online, curated by Andrew Dineley at Soft Octopus Design Studio.
Information about related materials is available at http://www.thecloth.co.uk/

Published

GB 1694 DC 089

GB 1694