We recently connected with Adam Taylor and have shared our conversation below.
Adam, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I am absolutely happy as an artist and creative. I could not imagine doing anything else as a career or as a way of life. However I think I was unprepared for how strange it feels to be going down this road or it’s not talked about often early on how disorienting that path of life can be. I sometimes wished I had a more ‘regular’ career or job (or at least had the capability to do it without being miserable or feeling disingenuous to myself.) I don’t have a specific moment to pull out or speak on but it’s a thought that arises whenever things get hard and moments where I feel disconnected to the rest of the world. I find it at times hard to relate to certain peers and people in my life who have this more modern career path. As a glass bender, making neon, I am working in a creative craft that hasn’t changed in the 100 years of its inception. I create everyday in a solitary environment, I shape glass with fire, my hands and my breath, it’s tactile and engaging. It’s rewarding but laborious and fragile. I don’t have a work email, there are no departments, boards, shareholders, marketing. I punch a time card with a mechanical press. All that’s to say in the year 2025 and at my age of 28 it feels like a very isolating position to be in at times. However, I often have to remind myself that there are others out there doing what I do, maybe not in my city or close by, but they are out there. Even if it’s not my craft specifically there are others dedicating themselves to crafts and disciplines that would be considered: old-school, outdated, from a bygone era and like myself they picked the tougher, less conventional road. It’s an important reminder that even if it’s hard at times, there’s nothing that would be more rewarding than what I’m doing now. I’m very fortunate to have found a craft I align with, am passion about and that I have been able to build a sustainable career from it. It’s easy to have doubts and wonder ‘what if’ but I wouldn’t trade it for any other job or career.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Adam Taylor, I currently live and work in Oakland, California where I am a neon artist and glass bender. I graduated in 2019 with my BFA from Alfred University and that is where I discovered neon. As soon as I took the introduction course it felt like everything clicked and I immediately became obsessed with this one of a kind medium. It took me several years to get proficient enough at my craft and since 2020 I’ve been a professional glass bender at NeonWorks in Oakland. As for my career it is creating traditional neon signage for anything and everything in the Bay Area, from historical theater restorations, local businesses, commissioned art pieces, and personal pieces for residences. Simultaneously I have my own art practice where I create one of a kind neon pieces.
I’ll take a moment here to share some information about neon because in general people know the word but not a lot about how it’s created or what it is. I feel I could write a book so I’ll try to keep things as concise as I can. Neon is a noble gas that is naturally occurring and when it is in a vacuum under an electric current it naturally shines the red it is renowned for. Commonly used too is argon with mercury and when paired with a tube with a phosphor coating, that is how different colors are created. So fun fact if it’s not red it’s not neon but neon came first so for simplicity sake neon became the name for all of it. Neon tubes are created by heating glass tubing up with various torches, shaping the tube to your need while blowing in to it so it keeps its round shape and matching it up by hand to a pattern on your workbench. It’s all the same techniques and equipment used from the 1920’s when neon was invented. Every piece of neon in the world is handmade by someone, it’s completely an unautomated process. It’s an extremely precarious craft for many reasons, first you’re working with glass and fire so cuts and burns are common especially starting out. Secondly, like most crafts it has a long learning curve. It requires a lot of determination and patience. If you mess up a bend or if something cracks or breaks you have to start all over, it’s a long game of repetition and little accumulative improvements. You learn to not get attached to anything you create for even if you craft it successfully it is a light bulb and has a limited life span that will eventually burn out. Even though it is physical, tactile, three dimensional and you’re working with your hands it’s not a material you can muscle or really sculpt. I find it much more like painting where only after intimately knowing the material and how it responds to the slightest movements and changes can you deliberately achieve your desired outcome.
Besides this very unique and rewarding artistic discipline, the final result is even more remarkable. People are like moths to a flame with neon, it draws you in, catches your eye and demands your attention but it’s also subtle and not at all blinding with a uniquely atmospheric glow and aura. It carries with it a dreamlike quality and an allure that I don’t believe will ever go away. It is why it’s considered vintage and has a nostalgic feeling attached to it but is also trendy and popular at that same time. Up close neon feels alive like you can see a heartbeat. It is simultaneously of this world and unworldly, neon is an element found in stars across the universe and in our atmosphere that we breathe in everyday. I have seen the way neon out in the world can make landmarks feel iconic, make our cities feel alive and lived in and our streets a little bit more colorful and inviting.
With my artworks I hope to capture that feeling for viewers. I always try to show neon in a way that the average person may have never considered possible for neon because of the strong foundation of commercial signage used in the world. I also hope to always push the materials and my own abilities to enhance the craft and industry as a whole. I’m extremely grateful I work in this field. I have been able to put up thousands of lights of varying scales across multiple cities and countless locations, even if no one knows I did it I feel the satisfaction of getting to provide something nice to the community and place I live. I’m proud to keep this trade going as it’s not the most well-known or accessible to people and is always being encroached on by cheaper mimicry of LEDS so buy real neon, patronize your local businesses and theaters with neon if possible.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
In my view what society can do to better support creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem would be funding. I think grants, fellowships, residencies are all great things for artists to be able to do their work. I wish our society had the funding for many more of these and that there would be greater support from the federal level, not just lottery applications for a few but more widespread for different industries and fields across the country. I believe if the arts had substantial funding allocated and pushed statewide to local communities life would be richer for most individuals. I also believe art and creative education would go a long way for increased appreciation and participation in the arts at any capacity. Simply I am of the sort who believes you should support artists directly, as a supporter, buyer, peer or resource. Especially the local artists in your area doing what you admire and appreciate. Even though extremely unlikely I would like to see artists off social media, it has it’s advantages and can be a useful tool but ultimately I think it’s hurting the arts as a whole. Not for any of our individual careers but for where the arts will be in a hundred years. Art should be experienced out in the world amongst other people and I don’t think it does the creators or their work any advantages being seen on social media outside of marketing. Unfortunately, I feel most people who aren’t involved with any creative work get their art and culture delivered through their algorithmic feed which robs you of the magic of discovery and connection.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I finished my undergraduate degree all I knew was I wanted to pursue neon in any capacity. The only avenue and lead I had to do that at the time was to be a studio assistant for Meryl Pataky in San Francisco. It was a surreal experience of stepping out in to the real world because seven months ago I was reading about their work, glueing pictures into sketchbooks and now I was going to be assisting them in their studio. I joined her in August of 2019 and unfortunately when Covid and lockdowns came just six months later that working relationship ended. I had to move back home in New Jersey once restrictions started to lift because of my housing situation being precarious at best. It was a tough move and to be back where I started in a short time brought a lot of feelings of failure and inadequacies. However it was at this same time that NeonWorks in Oakland was looking for a full-time neon bender and it was Meryl who pushed me to apply for it. The real pivot was coming up with neon in a conceptual art school setting, then working with Meryl as a creative in the arts space and now I was going to be working in a commercial sign shop fixing beer signs. It didn’t particularly interest me or seem desirable but it was still going to be creating neon and was better than nothing. Also I wanted to return to the Bay Area to try again and not have those six months end of it. A lot of the logistical and financial planning that goes into any big move. Once there I was passionate and eager to learn, my appreciation for that part of the industry grew immensely and if you love neon and want to see it around your city someone has to make it. It has a different kind a rewarding feeling versus making art but I still get it and it’s still creative work.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @adam_taylor_2
