In memoriam - Audrey Langworthy Wallace-Taylor

Audrey’s life as an artist began very young. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute studying with Richard Deibencorn, Jack Jefferson and Bruce McGaw. She assisted many prominent artists such as Francois Gilot and Harry Sternberg, and she worked for seven months with Judy Chicago on “The Dinner Party.” All along she taught and maintained a fulltime studio practice. 

In the mid-90s Audrey sold most everything she had and traveled to India, Russia, Finland, England and Ireland. After returning to the U.S. she was drawn back to Southern India, to Auroville, where she had first landed on her round-the-world adventure. After a few years of going back and forth, she became an Aurovilian in 2006, and Auroville has been her home since. 

From the moment she joined, Audrey was an active, generous Aurovilian who persistently endeavoured to bring art in Auroville to the forefront by her classes and exhibitions. She maintained an atelier for the community to facilitate people’s own sense of self expression, painting full time in between teaching and being active in the community. She and others finally started CREEVA, a kind of artist’s cooperative, which is still running.

On Sunday August 20th, Auroville friends gathered under the Matrimandir Banyan tree in honour of this remarkable artist and person. Dharmesh Jadeja wrote a tribute (excerpts)

Audrey’s presence in Auroville over last several years has been inspiring and rejuvenating for many of us who have been struggling with our artistic instincts and peripheral engagement with arts, especially for me, who has been running an architectural practice as my mainstay of work life in Auroville, but have always had close interactions with many artists through my work at Kala Kendra over the last two decades.

Audrey and I hit it of very early after she moved to Auroville, often meeting over a cup of tea at the gallery or casually, discussing the future of art, how life is enriched through the arts, and collective ways of working, exhibiting, contributing to the public art of Auroville and engaging with all other artists. Non judgmental, soft and straightforward was her way. Her art was delightful, be it her paintings of landscapes, water colours or sketches. Experimenting with colours, textures and techniques, Audrey reinvented herself almost every few years. My favourite was her phase when she was painting cows. Her presence in almost all the exhibitions that we did together or with other artists was always enriching and enlivening. In the midst of Auroville’s complex community life, with its diversity of views and aesthetics of arts, Audrey made her point with clarity. 

Audrey created her own niche in Auroville. She was a constant support to anyone who wanted to take the first steps in the art world, by sketching, painting, or learning techniques. Seldom have I seen an artist so fully devoted and dedicated to their art as Audrey. Her art classes were a playground for experimental works, a therapeutic practice for many young and old, and so were an immense contribution to making art accessible to all. She made many friends by her dedication, consistency and appreciation of art as a life in Auroville. She was an epitome of an ever youthful, never aging youth of Auroville, where she lived a life full of creativity, beauty and pure joy of being. 

Adieu, Audrey Wallace Taylor. Our gratitude for making all our lives so special through your presence and works.

One of her exhibitions can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiTlVCxMK2g