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Bio


Taylor Simone is a cultivator of community, design, art, and writing. Hailing from Metro Detroit, Simone incorporates peace, joy, and liberatory practices into all aspects of her work. In 2019, she received her MFA in Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University. From 2019 to 2022, she held the position of assistant teaching professor at Bowling Green State University, teaching the foundations of design.

Simone views practice as an act of space-making, creating room that challenges frameworks of capital and domination. She aims to disrupt with love and promote safety, enabling processes of self-actualization that empower individuals.

Her art practice allows for the embodiment of this magic. Through interdisciplinary explorations with mixed media, Simone seeks to foster an expansive understanding of selfhood. The work manifests in the process, with some culminating in physical artifacts and most remaining ephemeral. By adopting a spiritual lens on materiality, these inquiries blur the lines between self and environment, activating practice as a tool for expansive understanding and holism.

Through grassroots organizing, education, and design, Simone facilitates these spaces for others. Her work with the Design Justice Network began in 2015. This community of designers is united by a set of principles that prioritize those most impacted by design decisions, ensuring equity within design processes and frameworks. As a volunteer, she facilitates workshops, provides project management support, and co-organizes a conference track. Currently, she serves as the Special Projects Manager for the Design Justice Network, focusing on member experience and supporting the development of community and operational infrastructure, resources and tools, and network visioning.

Simone also stewards the Exodus School of Expression, a passion project that provides space for BIPOC artists, arts organizers, and educators to develop non-traditional practices. In 2021, she organized the Exodus's Seed Summer Residency, hosting seven artists and four educators in Richmond, VA. The school offers courses, programming, and resources to its community.

Simone's design practice allows her to support others who align with her Principles of Practice. She has worked with clients such as Black Chalk & Co, Complex Movements (Beware of the Dandelions), The Carr Center, Allied Media, and more.







Exhibitions


The Start. The Finish, Solo Exhibition,
NW Missouri State University, Oct. 2021

The Artist is Presence, Solo Exhibition,
Utilities Included, Chapel Hill, NC, 2019


We Made Armour, Group Exhibition, Sediment Gallery, Richmond, VA, 2019

MFA Thesis Exhibition, Group Exhibition
The Anderson, 2019

Beacon, Group Exhibition,
Torrance Art Museum, 2019

Playing in the Dark, Group Exhibition, 
The Anderson, 2018

One-Cell, Group Exhibition,
Berlin, Germany, 2018

Contemporary Landscape, Group Exhibition
Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, 2018

Surface Festival,
Its Liquid, Venice, Italy 2018

Super Human, Group Exhibition,
Fisher Parish Gallery,  Brooklyn New York, 2018

Medium, Solo Exhibition
Sediment Gallery, Richmond Virginia, 2017


First Friday Group Show, 
Ugly Mug Cafe, Ypsilanti, MI, 2016


Annual ISU Department of Art Online Exhibition, Group Show, Idaho State University, 2016


All Media Exhibition, Group Exhibition
Ann Arbor Arts Center,  Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2015

Working Women, Group Exhibition,
Baltimore Gallery, Detroit Michigan, 2015

Hooplara,  Group Exhibition, 
Ford Gallery, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 2015






Residencies


Popps Packing, Detroit, Oct-Nov 2022

Writing


Untitled Unknown, 2019

Lets Make Contact, Room Magazine, 2017

Workshops


Design Justice Principle Workshop, 2018 

Kyung Hee University w/ Virginia
Commonwealth University, 2018

Abstracted/Visual Narrative, Virginia Commonwealth University Summer Intensive, 2018

Design Jusitce and Monument Ave,
Arts Research Institute, 2018

Abstracted, Pratt Institute, 2018

Design Justice Network Gathering, 2017

Curatorial


Meridian, Group Exhibition,
Richmond, Virginia, 2018

Artist Talks


The Start. The Finish, Lecture,
NW Missouri State University, 2021

In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, We Made Armor,
Sediment Gallery, Richmond, VA, 2019
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ6JXVF1C_c)