Karin Taylor

Karin is a Canadian sculptor whose practice evolved from watercolour in the early 1990s to distinctive sculptural wildlife forms. Her work reflects a refined understanding of animal structure and gesture. She hand-sculpts bears and marine life from European wood cellulose, finished with custom bronze enamels, antique patinas, or coastal sand. Karin started out as a watercolour artist in the early 90s. She and her family lived and worked in the Middle and Far East, and she volunteered as house artist for the Ragunan Zoo while living in Jakarta.

After immigrating to Canada in 1997, her wildlife feather art became part of the Western Art Show at the Calgary Stampede for 15 years, and was also featured in television specials for HGTV and Chinese-Canadian TV.

Currently, Karin resides on the Sunshine Coast in BC and primarily hand-sculpts bear and marine wildlife sculptures from wood cellulose. These works are coated in her special mix of bronze enamels and antique patinas. Her whimsical yoga bears remain a popular subject, and a bronzed version of one of her yoga bears, commissioned by her hometown of Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast, can be seen at the base of the Inglis Trail in Gibsons.

Her artworks can be found in galleries across Canada.

How I make them:
My bears are all individually hand-sculpted from wood cellulose (imported from Europe), air-dried, and coated in enamel once dry. No chemicals are used—only water to mix the cellulose powder.

This year, I have also started a “coastal” version of the yoga bears. Instead of bronze enamel, the coastal bears are covered in sand.

Apart from the internal armature, the bears are essentially turned back into solid wood. Therefore, they should not be displayed outdoors permanently.