Gilbert Taylor

WESTMINSTER -- Gilbert “Gib” Clinton Taylor, 76, of Westminster died unexpectedly in Dummerston on May 2, 2006.

Engaged to the last minute in his beloved world of art, he was in the process of transporting a group of his paintings back from a well-received exhibition at the Newfane library to his studio in Westminster West when he suffered a sudden heart attack.

Mr. Taylor was born on Deer Isle, Maine, on Aug. 12, 1929, and was educated in local schools.

He attended Harvard College (1947-49) and the Art Students League (1949-51).

Following service in the U. S. Army, he enrolled in the American School of Art (1954-57).

In New York City he met and married Cecelia Swann. They had two children, and in 1968 the young family settled in Vermont. For the next 30 years, Mr. Taylor taught design, color, and woodworking at Marlboro College. A respected and well-loved teacher, he mentored and inspired many young artists.

While teaching, he continued to live an active creative life, producing masterful art in a variety of fields, including painting, drawing, sculpture, fine furniture and cabinetry, musical instrument-building, and an occasional whimsical wooden toy.

Over the years he participated in numerous one-person and group shows. His works are in private collections all over the country. An art critic friend wrote of his work: “His creative talent and skill in working with wood at times obscured the fact that from the beginning he was foremost an artist.”

From his time as a young man in art school to his recent exhibit in Newfane, he engaged in a lifelong process that produced beautiful work -- paintings, drawings and sculpture -- infused above all with scholarship, wonderful color, and great wit.”

As a teenager, Mr. Taylor “hacked around on the guitar,” as he put it, but in his 40s, he began serious study of classical guitar, which continued right up to his death.

His music became almost as important to him as his art. For the past several years he had been deriving great pleasure from working with several string players on the celebrated Boccherini Guitar Quintets.

His family and friends celebrate his many achievements and will long remember his gentle and unassuming character, his wisdom and his sense of fun.

He is survived by a sister, Lurlene Webb of Prospect, Maine; two sons, Alex of Three Points, Ariz., and Jon and his wife, Laura; three grandchildren, Otis, Austin, and Anya, all of Westminster West; and his cherished partner of 10 years, Elizabeth Mills, also of Maine and Westminster West, and her son, Matthew Mills, of Putney.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 13, at 3 p.m., at the Westminster West Congregational Church.

An open studio memorial celebration will follow later in the summer.

Contributions in Mr. Taylor's memory may be made to the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, 10 Vernon St., Brattleboro, the Vermont Jazz Center, Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, or to Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vermont.u