Backstage with Nadia Taylor + Kailey Hall
The cameras are off. The band has packed up. And backstage is usually where the real conversations begin...
This week, two artists stepped into the spotlight with two very different subjects in mind — one a woman who rebuilt herself through fashion, the other a man who rebuilt the way people thought about space.
Different worlds entirely. But the same question underneath:
What does it take to change the way people see things?
Nadia Taylor
Painting Coco Chanel
For Nadia, art has always been about the quiet work.
Graphite. Charcoal. Pencil. She works in the details — the subtle lines of an expression, the weight of a glance, the specific way a face can carry a whole story before a single word is spoken.
She describes herself as someone who finds peace in that process. The careful, patient work of capturing what's human.
Coco Chanel felt like a natural fit.
Not just because of Nadia's love for fashion — but because of what Chanel's story actually is when you look at the full picture. A woman who came from almost nothing and changed the way an entire generation of women moved through the world. Not by following the rules of her industry, but by questioning them at every turn.
Nadia didn't shy away from the complexity of that. She researched Chanel's life fully — the triumphs and the contradictions — and chose an image that shows her power. The kind of strength that comes from someone who has been through something and kept going anyway.
She hopes visitors walk away with a sense of reflection.
That we all carry a complicated journey. And that strength often lives in the balance between light and shadow.
Outside of painting, you'll find Nadia running, cooking, or spending time with family — and singing along to her favorite songs on repeat while she works.
Kailey Hall
Painting Le Corbusier
Kailey has always paid attention to light.
The way it falls through a window. The way it changes the feeling of a room. Her work — portraits, landscapes, watercolor and charcoal — tends to look for beauty in the things people walk past without noticing.
When she landed on Le Corbusier, she wasn't sure what to expect. She hadn't studied him before. But the more she dug in, the more familiar it felt.
Architecture, at its core, is the art of shaping how people experience space.
How light moves through a building. How structure makes you feel when you walk inside. Kailey had been thinking about those things her whole artistic life — she just hadn't known there was a name for the person who turned it into a movement.
She's been exploring his work through articles and videos, talking through ideas with friends who study architecture, and letting her own instinct for light guide where the portrait goes.
She hopes people walk away with something simple: a willingness to step into someone else's perspective and come out knowing a little more than they did before.
When she's not in the studio, Kailey is outside — hiking, chasing sunsets, eating bread and pumpkin pie (not combined), and laughing with her family.
What This is All About
Nadia and Kailey are two of 15 local artists creating portraits for:
Influencers Over Time — Part 2: Artists + Entertainers
This five-part exhibition is inspired by TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century — exploring the people whose ideas, creativity, and courage shaped the world we live in today.
📅 May 1–3 | 📍 West Point, Utah
