Rising Stars: Meet Taiko Chandler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taiko Chandler. 

Hi Taiko, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I think there are two answers to this question: 1. How did I come to be interested in art in its broadest sense? and 2. How did I become an artist? The answer to the first question is something I have always felt. Even though I initially worked as a nurse (a completely different skill set), I have always been interested in design, architecture, materials, papers, textile, color, and so on. A lot of this comes from my home culture of Japan, I think, which values traditional crafts (like paper making) or arts (like calligraphy or flower arranging), but I also remember really enjoying art class when I was at school. So, to some extent, these interests have been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. I always enjoyed working as a nurse, but I also always felt that there was something missing in my life during those years—something I do not feel anymore. 

In terms of the second question, it really happened when I moved to Denver in 2011. I am a self-taught artist (as I said, I initially trained as a nurse), and my specific interest in print-making began with a class I took at the Art Students League soon after arriving in Denver. As I became more confident as a printmaker (and I still consider that to be my home medium), I started to explore three-dimensional work, something that was encouraged and enabled when I became a Resident Artist at RedLine. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, definitely not. In fact, I would say the road has been very bumpy. It is difficult to make a career as a full-time artist for anyone. But, for me, I also struggled a lot with adjusting to being an entrepreneur in a foreign culture. While I can say that living in America has given me opportunities that I would never have had in Japan, I can also say that it took a long time for me to learn how to be an entrepreneur in America. In fact, I am still learning, and still, find it difficult to promote myself and my work in a way that is important to being successful as an artist. In other words, there are many things that I think are essential in order to be a successful artist that I do not think I am very good at (particularly, the business side of this career). 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I live and work in Denver. I was born and raised in Nagano, Japan, and was originally trained as a nurse. I work primarily in printmaking and, more recently, site-specific installation art. I am drawn, in particular, to its unpredictability. I compose my work instinctively, combining shapes, colors, lines, and textures in order to express my imagination and react to the environment around me. 

How do you define success?
This is a very difficult question, and I am still not sure I have a good answer. What is important is that I produce work that feels honest and true to me as a person. Of course, it is always encouraging to hear compliments from people who look at my work or achieve a goal I have set my sight on. But more important is to produce work that is meaningful, I think, and that remains something I wrestle with every time I start working on a piece. 

Another component to this question is the community or venue in which my art exists. Again, it is always satisfying to see my work exhibited in a gallery or museum space, but I actually value more the human connections that I make as part of the process. For example, soon after joining RedLine, I had the opportunity to participate in the EPIC Program, which meant that I partnered with a local school and made an art piece with some of the students. The work was eventually shown at RedLine, and helping the students to achieve their goal (of making an art piece and exhibiting it) was fantastic. I also really enjoy working with the various curational teams to assemble my shows (they always introduce me to a new perspective on my work), and I value other artists with whom I can collaborate with. This community is as much a part of success, for me, but is not necessarily directly related to the work that I make.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.taikochandler.com
• Instagram: taikochandler

Image Credits
Taiko Chandler