Tom Taylor (sculptor)

Thomas John Taylor (1925–1994) was a New Zealand sculptor and educator. He spent his life in Christchurch and became an influential lecturer at the University of Canterbury (UC; Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha).

Taylor studied architecture followed by sculpture at UC's predecessor. He joined the UC School of Fine Arts in Ilam as a lecturer specialising in sculpture and later led the sculpture department for over 20 years. Taylor taught modernism but encouraged his students to explore other movements. Some of his students went on to become notable artists.

As a sculptor, Taylor's productive early and sparse late periods were figurative and modernist. In between, he spent a decade producing abstract fusions of sculpture and architecture. Taylor also designed houses and theatre sets, and he organised in the Christchurch arts community.

Taylor's contribution to sculpture is generally regarded to be the artists he taught rather than the works he produced.