• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

New art gallery brings change, inspiration for Milton art teacher

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Peggy Taylor, left, helps Milton’s Carol Watson select a watercolor painting for her daughter at ARTworks in Milton. Taylor cut back on her teaching time to open the art gallery and gift shop.

MILTON — Peggy Taylor's brand new art gallery is right across the street from Milton East Elementary School, where she taught art for more than 20 years.

The semi-retired art teacher can still hear students on the school playground whenever she opens the front door, but her professional life has changed in other ways.

Earlier this month, Talyor, 57, opened ARTworks, an art gallery and gift shop at 223 Parkview Drive in Milton. Almost all the works—paintings, prints and gifts—are Taylor's own creations.

Along with teaching, the Milton resident has been a working artist her whole adult life. But while she was teaching, Taylor could only devote a few hours a week to painting.

This year, Taylor is semi-retired and teaches just four hours a week at Northside Intermediate School.

Cutting back to part-time was Taylor's decision, and it's left her more time to create art. Taylor said it has re-energized her.

She's done so much painting and drawing in recent months that her home studio is out of room. That's one of the reasons Taylor decided to open ARTworks.

Now, she's learning to advertise, to calculate sales tax and to set up a website. It's different than teaching children to draw, paint and use their imagination.

"For me, teaching has always felt like a higher calling—it almost puts you in the realm of a public servant," Taylor said. "Having your own business feels so different. It's been overwhelming at times."

But she's proud of her new gallery. Taylor said she often passed the storefront, the former home of a beauty salon and a photography studio, while walking her dog. She admired the way the building is broken into alcoves and small rooms.

"I kept saying to myself, ‘It would be a perfect place to show art,'" Taylor said.

She set up ARTworks in just a month. She uses all the spaces to break the gallery into themes and colors. Each room has prints and paintings by Taylor that range in style and medium.

Some rooms have bright watercolor prints of birds. Others are filled with shadowy, impressionistic oil paintings. Taylor's subjects range from owls to a portrait of Chief Blackhawk.

The gallery's hot sellers so far are a signature Taylor creation—hand-painted leather wallets and purses.

The items are gently used, some designer. Taylor paints them herself. Designs include eye-catching swirls of color and understated, almost lithographic paintings of feathers. Prices range from $7 to $20.

Taylor says having a new gallery, learning what customers like and even taking some requests for work on commission has been thrilling. The excitement has helped her make the transition from teaching 350 students to just 75 this year.

"The students feed you—their creativity feeds your creativity. I guess I don't know, yet, what I'm missing from that," Taylor said.

She'll soon have a new set of muses. Taylor plans to offer adult art classes—everything from drawing to sculpting to metalworking—in mid-January.

Meanwhile, Taylor's students come by her gallery every day. One recently bought a painted wallet. Others just stop to give a hug.

As Taylor adapts to her new life-blend, she hopes the teaching and artist parts stay in the mix.

"There are things that are a job, and there are things that are who you are," Taylor said. "I think it's how much you love your job. You don't have to escape from it."