Black Artists Matter: a selection of influential African American artists from Texas A&M University Collections

(Image source: The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University)

Artist Biography

Dr. Kenneth Taylor is an Assistant Professor of the Practice, Director of Outreach and Professional Development within the Center for Nonprofits & Philanthropy, Center for Health Systems & Design Faculty Fellow, and Holder of the Younger-Carter Endowed Practitioner-in-Residence at Texas A&M University.

Dr. Taylor earned his BA in Sociology and his MBA from Bellarmine University’s Rubel School of Business. He has a PhD in Leadership Studies from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. Dr. Taylor founded and launched the Nonprofit Leadership Studies program at Murray State University and held the appointment of Academic Program Director & Assistant Professor within their College of Health and Human Services. He has more than 20 years of leadership experience working inside and on behalf of nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Taylor’s artwork is inspired by his mother who is a Master Quilter and who taught him the trade. In every piece Dr. Taylor designs, his goal is to live up to her standards and creativity. Though his artwork primarily centers on art quilts to honor Black Sororities and Fraternities, he is also drawn to the depiction of world events and highlighting the experience of African Americans whether in celebration of accomplishment, or documenting horrific wrong-doings.

The piece on display in Black Artists Matter is titled Gaines on Main and was originally produced by Dr. Taylor for an exhibit in the Reynolds Gallery called Everybody Gaines from January – February 2020. While Taylor’s piece is not part of the Texas A&M Collections, the MSC Visual Arts Committee chose to include Taylor’s, Gaines on Main, in this exhibition to celebrate the recent accomplishment of the Matthew Gaines Initiative at Texas A&M University. Since 1995, students, faculty, and staff have advocated for a memorial to Senator Matthew Gaines at Texas A&M University’s main campus. As of June 2020, the Matthew Gaines Initiative, a student-led group, announced that the necessary funds have been promised for the commission of a memorial.

At a time when public art and monuments are hotly contested across our nation, the MSC Visual Arts Committee is glad to see this historic decision made at Texas A&M University.

Senator Matthew Gaines was the first Black Texas State Senator in Washington County, he was instrumental in the Texas Senate at a watershed time in history, during the post Civil War Reconstruction period. Gaines advocated for the right of Black people to earn an education, vote, and hold positions in public office during the Reconstruction period. He supported the Texas Senate Bill 276 that established a public college under the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. The result of Bill 276 is Texas A&M University and Prarie View A&M University which still stand today. Senator Gaines lived in Brazos Valley as a free man where he was a popular minister and political figure. He died in Giddings, TX.