Status message

Your information has been submitted.

  Printer Friendly Version

Sandra Jean Blain, Sandy Blain

Biography to Display: 

1941 Born Chicago, Illinois

EDUCATION

1964 BS Education, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois

1967 MS Art University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1972 MFA Ceramics University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1964—Practicing Professional Craftsperson

1964-1969 Art Teacher, William Horlick High School, Racine, Wisconsin

1968-1970 Summer, Assistant Director, Craft Workshop, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

1968-1978 Summer, Assistant Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

1969-1973 Ceramic Instructor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

1973-1979 Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

1978-1979 Interim Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

1979 Associate Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

1980-2001 Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

1984 Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

2006—Adjunct Faculty, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona

BIOGRAPHY

Sandra Blain is known for functional hand built and thrown studio pottery which has changed and evolved over the years. During the 1960’s and 1970’s Blain focused on producing hand built functional stoneware work. In the 1980’s and 1990’s Blain began using earthenware to create thrown or hand built sculptural and functional works.

After her retirement, she continued to create sculptural and functional works of stoneware or earthenware creating a body of work by manipulating and combining both thrown and hand built components. The surfaces of these pieces are characterized by relief surfaces either made by carving and building up the surfaces or by impressing found objects into the damp clay. Slips and glazes are then drawn, brushed, stenciled, and airbrushed surfaces often added between multiple firings.

Blain gathers discarded materials which she uses to create surface textures on her work and in doing so makes a statement about the throwaway mentality of contemporary society.

Blain was an influential teacher throughout her career and after her retirement from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Interview with Lloyd Herman recorded on May 19, 2009, for the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, is available here: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-sandra-jean-blain-16052

Public Collections

Public Collections to Display: 

Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, New York

Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee

Carroll Reese Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee

Center for Art and Culture, Gent, Belgium

Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia

Glendale Community College, Phoenix, Arizona

Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina

Kenosha Public Museum, Kenosha, Wisconsin

Maryville College, Maryville, Tennessee

Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, Louisiana

Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

North Park College, Chicago, Illinois

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona

Oak Ridge Art Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin

Southern Highland Craft Guild, Asheville, North Carolina

Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Illinois

Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, Tennessee

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, Montana

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

West Georgia College, Carrollton, Georgia

Western Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Bibliography

Bibliography to Display: 

Anders, K.T. “A Paean to Process: Sandy Blain’s Textures and Glaze Layering.” Clay Times 80.

Arkansas Art Center. Living with Form: The Horn Collection of Contemporary Crafts. Little Rock, AK: Arkansas Art Center, 1999.

Blain, Sandra. “Just Pots.” Journal of Home Economics 66 (1974).

Blain Sandra and James Darrow. “University of Tennessee Ceramics.” Ceramics Monthly. 27 (December 1978).

Bullard, Helen. Crafts and Craftsmen of the Tennessee Mountains. Summit Press Ltd., 1976.

Cushing, Val. The Ceramic Design Book. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 1998.

Darrow, James. “Symposium at Arrowmont.” Ceramics Monthly 24 (March 1976).

____________. “Sandy Blain.” Ceramics Monthly 23 (December 1975).

Fariello, Anna. “Sandra Blain: Markings and the Urge to Record.” Ceramics Art and Perception 42.

Hofferberth, Lynn. “Sandra Blain.” Phoenix (Winter 1976).

Hyman, Sylvia. “Flop and Prop.” Ceramic Review 48 (November/December 1977).

Nelson, Glen. Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978.

Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992.

Pozo, Angelica. Ceramics for Beginners: Surfaces, Glazing and Firing. New York, NY: Lark Books, 2010.

Tourtillott, Suzanne J. E. 500 Plates and Chargers: Innovative Expressions of Function and Style. New York, NY: Lark Books, 2008.

Zakin, Richard. Ceramics: Mastering the Craft. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1990.

_____________. Electric Kiln Ceramics. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2004.

 

CV or Resume: Click Here to Download
Source: The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives

Website(s):

www.sandyblain.com

 

 

Center for CraftSouthern Highland Craft Guild

 

Typical Marks
Last name printed, scratched into clay
Last name printed, scratched into clay
1970-2000
2016
Corrugated Vessel
Date: 1970
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Impressed
The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives
The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives
Net Vessel
Date: 1970
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Impressed
The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives
The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives
Multi-Spouted Vessel
Date: 1970-1975
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Impressed
The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives
The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives
Bottle
Date: ca. 1970-2000
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Southern Highland Craft Guild Collection
Photo: Southern Highland Craft Guild
Southern Highland Craft Guild Collection
Photo: Southern Highland Craft Guild
Bulbous Semi-closed Form
Date: 1977
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown, Slab-Built, Hand-Built
Dimensions: 20" x 15"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Oxide
Secret Aspiration
Date: 1985
Form: Sculpture, Vessel
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Thrown, Slab-Built, Hand-Built
Dimensions: 21" x 14"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Luster, Oxide, Slip
Markings
Date: 1994
Form: Sculpture, Vessel
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Slab-Built, Hand-Built
Dimensions: 18" x 13"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Impressed, Oxide, Slip
Elements #18 Plate
Date: 1999
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Hand-Built, Carved
Dimensions: 22"d x 5"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Oxide, Stamped
Fabric Imprint ll#1 Basket
Date: 1999
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Slab-Built, Press Mold, Extruded
Dimensions: 19" x 9" d
Surface Technique: Glaze, Slip, Stamped
LR Memories
Date: 2000
Form: Installation, Sculpture, Vase
Materials: Earthenware, Mixed Media
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze, Oxide, Stamped
Camden Memories
Date: 2001
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Press Mold, Hand-Built, Extruded
Dimensions: 11" x 8" x
Surface Technique: Glaze, Oxide, Slip
Monday Morning Pick-Up
Date: 2002
Form: Installation, Sculpture
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Slab-Built, Press Mold, Extruded
Dimensions: 14" x 38" x 24"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Oxide, Slip
Curbside Environment-Jeffrey Boulevard
Date: 2003
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Slab-Built
Dimensions: 56" x 35" x 3.5"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Oxide, Slip, Stamped
Within Plate
Date: 2003
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Slab-Built
Dimensions: 15" x 15" x 6"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Impressed, Oxide, Slip
Furrowed #2
Date: 2005
Form: Sculpture, Vessel
Method: Slab-Built
Dimensions: 23" x 9.5" x 6.5"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Oxide, Slip, Stamped
Photo: Mike Healy
Pier One Tankard
Date: 2008
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built, Extruded
Dimensions: 27" x 10" x 6"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Impressed, Oxide, Slip
River Gallery, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Photo: Mike Healy
River Gallery, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Midwest Monument #5
Date: 2014
Form: Sculpture, Vessel
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built, Coiled
Dimensions: 15" x 10" x 6"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Impressed, Oxide
Photo: Mike Healy
Split-Siding #5
Date: 2014
Form: Sculpture, Vessel
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built, Press Mold
Dimensions: 15" x 19" x 6"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Impressed, Stamped
Photo: Mike Healy
Flower Pod 3.2
Date: 2015
Form: Sculpture, Vessel
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built
Dimensions: 8.5" x 13" x 5"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Impressed, Oxide
Photo: Mike Healy
Bird Cup 18
Date: 2016
Method: Slip-Cast
Surface Technique: Glaze, Underglaze
Photo: Mike Healy
Photo: Mike Healy
Cup Grouping
Date: 2016
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built
Dimensions: 5" x 5" 4.5"
Surface Technique: Glaze, Impressed, Oxide
Photo: Mike Healy

Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified February 14, 2024. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/blain