Janny Taylor

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Born into a nomadic childhood, my early years were a constant dance of relocation, each move dictated by my mother's insatiable quest for fresh color schemes and floor plans. Every three years, like clockwork, we moved. While I initially resisted this transient lifestyle, I’ve come to recognize these moves as an opportunity to reimagine our lives through the lens of a new floor plan and color palette.  Consequently, all my memories are meticulously color-coded and filed away by house number, a vivid tapestry of hues and spaces that have painted the canvas of my identity. 

 

Given this colorful beginning, it’s no wonder that I jumped at the chance to study art at Parsons School of Design followed by the Art Students League (NYC). I had a plan. But life had its own ideas.  

 

Instead of diving into a full-time art career, I ended up at the intersection of business and politics working for CBS Television and later at a boutique agency advising everyone from the mayor of New York City to the president of Kazakhstan to daily calls to The White House. The perks were plentiful and the experience undeniably fascinating, but I found myself yearning for something more profound—a space to authentically be myself.

 

Like many opportunities, mine emerged out of a crisis. I had been grappling with obesity for years and, in a moment of inspired desperation (I’d reached a new low), I transformed myself into the universe's first weight-loss artist: Our Lady of Weight Loss. My first book, “Our Lady of Weight Loss: Miraculous and Motivational Musings from the Patron Saint of Permanent Fat Removal,” went to auction; four publishing companies bidding on her, Penguin the winner. O, The Oprah Magazine called me "a kooky kind of genius" and the New York Times described my work as "earnest and humorous." In bookstores and auditoriums across the country, I talked to thousands of people about their weight loss journeys, illustrating ways in which people could channel their obsession with food into something creative, which led me to coaching. 

 

I studied widely--from New York University to the Milton H. Erickson Society of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy (NYC)--and merged my artistic sensibility with therapeutic practice. I designed and taught programs at America’s leading wellness centers and built a flourishing private practice, sharing insights and strategies for personal transformation and resilience. Still, I stayed rooted in art. In 2005, I co-founded the Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour, a 2-day event, which showcased nearly 100 artists and attracted over 2,000 visitors who were ferried by shuttle bus from one venue to the next; from the south (110th Street) to the north (Washington Heights), from the east (East River) to the west (Hudson River). 

 

The next and current chapter of my life began here in Tucson in 2010, during a serendipitous visit to the Andrew Weil Wellness Conference. As lifelong New Yorkers, my husband and I had never been to Arizona, but we instantly forged an acute connection with the Sonoran Desert and, within a few weeks, we moved. Today, I am a full-time artist, weaving tapestries from the threads of my journey that reflect themes of transformation, discovery, and an unwavering commitment to creative authenticity.