It's Harvey Taylor's good fortune to have an abundance of opportunities, as a poet and musician: he combines song and poem performance in numerous shows at venues ranging from coffeehouses, concert halls, cafes, auditoriums, parks, schools, bookstores, prisons, libraries, bars, clubs, and churches, to Summerfest, Milwaukee's renowned festival, and the Performing Arts Center; he's collaborated with interpreters for the hearing-impaired on Art's Place, Milwaukee's public television showcase, worked with the 'Earth Poets' ensemble for twelve years, encouraging ecological awareness, and does an ongoing monthly presentation of Ethereal Transmissions, featuring poetry and jazz, on award-winning radio stationWMSE; he participates in many benefits, including events supporting Milwaukee's Peace Action Center, the Wisconsin Community Fund, Share Our Strength, the Milwaukee Greens, Rethinking Schools, and Woodland Pattern Book Center, among others.
Taylor also facilitates creative writing and music workshops, (many of which are 'special needs' oriented), in various schools, community centers, summer arts-camps, nursing homes, hospitals, and prisons, through the agency of Artreach-Milwaukee, Very Special Arts-Wisconsin, Kindcare's Artlink, and ACAP (the Adaptive Community Approach Program); he's been on the faculty of Arts World, a program co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Department Of Public Instruction, and the University Of Wisconsin, and is a regular presenter at UW-Whitewater's Creative Writing Festival; he's published widely, for example, in the Wisconsin Academy Review, the Wisconsin Poet's Calendar, the Wisconsin Art's Board Bulletin, and the anthology of men's writings, Warrior Wisdom, in addition to twenty-nine books of poems and song lyrics.
Always interested in widening his creative horizons, Taylor has danced in a multi-media 'happening,' played percussion for dance concerts, performed poems and songs with jazz and rock bands, live, and on radio; he designs graphics for his publishing company's book covers, engineered an electronic sound track for a photography exhibition, and is currently concentrating on producing and recording music in his Tree House Studio. He also facilitates Muse-Power, a monthly music and poetry performance series, presents interactive programs at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum, and gigs with the 'Rainbow Poets', focusing on multicultural themes.
This variety of involvements is reflected in Taylor's being selected in the 1993 Milwaukee Shepherd-Express reader's poll for the poet category, which cited "...his published works, public appearances, and work nurturing Milwaukee's budding poets," an honor likewise awarded in the '98 and 2001 polls. Taylor was also profiled in the Shepherd-Express and Milwaukee Journal-�Sentinel, which noted his sideline as a longshoreman, and he appears on Wisconsin Public Radio's variety program, Hotel Milwaukee.
Harvey Taylor's specialty is creating customized song and/or poetry performances in which he shares the musical and poetic products of his own unfolding process of becoming more aware and appreciative, the personal story of his encounters and adventures, as he passes through this amazing, bewildering, splendidly-poetic world. He also designs and presents a wide variety of student workshops with cross-curriculum relevancy, such as 'Walking In Someone Else's Shoes,' in addition to teacher in-service sessions, and artist-in-residence affiliations, catalyzing creativity in community, educational, entertainment, and institutional settings. He is particularly pleased to arrange appearances on behalf of the Earth Poets and the Rainbow Poets, as well as produce Muse-Power presentations.
2557 N. Booth St.
Milwaukee, WI 53212
(414) 265-2549
htaylor@wi.rr.com
www.harveytaylor.net