Robert Taylor

Dr. Robert D. Taylor

Director of Graduate Studies and Special Programs

New College

Office: FAB N301F, West campus

Phone: (602) 543-3025

Email: RDTaylor@asu.edu

Profile: A native of the United Kingdom, Rob Taylor earned his B.A. in integrative arts – creative arts, writing, English and performance from Manchester Metropolitan University and his M.A. in literature from Essex University. In 1989 Dr. Taylor completed his Ph.D. in theatre and film, performance theory and writing from the University of Kansas. He held positions at Kansas, New York University and Liverpool Polytechnic before coming to ASU’s West campus in 1996.

Dr. Taylor is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in performing and visual arts.  He has written for, directed and performed for stage and television, worked on documentaries, presented exhibitions and installations in galleries and museums, published and presented scholarly papers in the areas of photographic history, theatre and performing arts practice, theory, history, and pedagogy.

Dr. Taylor’s most recent research and creative output has included leadership of the acquisition, digital archiving, and museum/gallery presentation team for the Schwemberger Photographs, a very large collection of glass plate negatives of American Indian subjects, 1902-1908.  For proposed sabbatical research, Dr. Taylor plans to study The Tuy Cloister Wall Markings - a second venture into historical research, digital archiving and museum/gallery presentation of historical material.

Selected Publications/Creative Activities:

Publications:

2009  Theatre:  Art in Action, 3rd Edition, Taylor and Strickland, (Macmillan/McGraw Hill Glencoe, 2008)  ISBN 978-0-07-880776-3

2007  The Schwemberger Photographs, chapter in Place & American Indian History & Culture, London, (Peter Lang, AG, 2007). pp 113-126.  ISBN 1422-9005 ISBN 978-3-03911-049-0

Creative Activities:

2009 Responses.  A Gallery Installation of Irish and American Prints inspired by Schwemberger’s photography at The Promega Gallery, Madison Wisconsin.  

2008 Response.  A Gallery exhibition of 24 artist prints responding to the Schwemberger Photographic Collection as source material. The Belfast College of Art Gallery, University of Ulster, N. Ireland. 

2007 The St. Michaels Wire Recordings.  Digital transposition of a collection of vintage wire recordings, mainly of Navajo language – an acquisition from the archives of St. Michaels Mission, Navajo Reservation.