Kim Rae Taylor’s art is whimsical and playful with a red “snoot” as a main feature in many of her mixed media and oil paintings. Her solo show, “Stares, Snoots, and Other Thoughts,” is at Shawnee State University’s Vern Riffe Center for the Arts in the Appleton Gallery until March 11.

Taylor is a fine artist and designer and assistant professor of art at University of Cincinnati, Clermont College. A native of Texas, in 1990 she began her career in Los Angeles as an artist on the animated sitcom, “The Simpsons,” and has spent more than two decades working in the fields of animation, graphic design, product design and fine art. This summer she will spend one month in Beijing, China, as an artist-in-residence at the Red Gate Gallery Artist Residency program. She has exhibited in numerous shows from Seattle, WA., to New York City.

Although approached from different perspectives, the imagery comprising this body of work addresses the basic idea of perception and personal identity – how we see and are seen.

“Along with figurative representation, the red bulbous form – the ‘snoot’ – becomes a basic symbol of physical character traits,” Taylor said. “Snoot was originally derived from the muzzle of stuffed toys, always deconstructed and obscured in order to isolate all but the most essential ingredients for identification. Collectively, the work is intended to evoke a singular experience, an immersion meant to evoke visceral, playful, absurd or humorous visual associations.”

To see Taylor’s show, visit the Appleton Gallery from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts. For more information, call (740) 351-3118.