James Taylor is a blacksmith and metal artist based in South Cornwall. Working with both ferrous and non-ferrous metals, he seeks to amplify and emphasise the intrinsic agency contained within the material, creating work that reflects the landscapes and places that he spent his childhood in. Drawing on personal memories and experiences, his sculptures embody the dialogue between material, place and maker.

James graduated in 2026 with a BA (Hons) in Artist Blacksmithing, receiving an Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of his work and development whilst on the course. With over ten years' experience working in metal, he has undertaken projects ranging from a 40th Anniversary Brazier for Cornwall Heritage Trust, to leading community workshops introducing vulnerable adults and young people to various metalworking skills. He has also participated in forging programmes, conferences and competitions in Sweden, Italy and the United States, connecting with an international community of blacksmiths and metal artists.

With work displayed in exhibitions nationally, James’ artistic practice is rooted in the landscapes of Cornwall and his experiences within them, his practice exploring the relationship between material, place and community.

"My practice operates at an intersection of personal experience and material enquiry, where geographical familiarity is entangled with an investigation into the generative capacities of metal. Grounded in engagement with the coastal landscapes of Cornwall and in particular the ways in which humans experience and navigate these environments, through site-based immersion, I identify what I have termed ‘conduit points’; points which are in a state of flux, characterised by their unstable, transitory nature. These sites, situated at the interface of land and sea, are regions of convergence, an assemblage of environmental, temporal and material forces.

Much of my work is grounded in a sensitivity to non-human agency and to the active role of material within my process. By exploring fragmentation both of and within the material, its inherent properties and tendencies are stimulated to emerge, thus its innate vitality is brought to the fore. As it splinters and splays apart, I do not seek to push it back into a homogeneous state, rather allowing it to define its own outcomes. By making work that can be re-situated within a landscape, I seek to amplify and intensify the dynamic, ever-changing interplay of natural forces found within these environments."