The Dictionary of American Ceramics, 1945 onward
Dictionary of American Ceramics, 1945 onward
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J.B. Blunk, James Blain Blunk
1926 Born Ottawa, Kansas
2002Died Iverness, California
EDUCATION
1949BA University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, California
APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES
1950Apprenticeship with F. Carlton Ball
1952Apprenticeship with Rosanjin Kitaoji, Japan
1953-1954Apprenticeship with Toyo Kaneshige, Bizen, Japan
1954-1944Artist-in-Residence, Palos Verdes College
PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE
1954—Studio Potter, California
1957-1962Studio Potter, Iverness, California
BIOGRAPHY
J.B. Blunk is known for utilitarian wares and sculptures made from local and commercial clays and using commercial slips and glazes fired in a cone 6 electric kiln. In Japan, Blunk worked in the Bizen tradition using stoneware clays and a wood-fired kilns.
J.B. Blunk studied at UCLA with Laura Andreson and, after two-years of Army service in the Korean War, was discharged to Japan. There, he sought out the masters who Andreson had introduced in her classes. In Japan, he befriended Isamu Noguchi, who introduced him to Rosanjin Kitaoji. After an apprenticeship with Kitaoji, he went to Bizen to study with Toyo Kaneshige. Blunk made traditional Bizen-style wares during this period.
In 1957, Blunk built a home in Northern California. By 1962, he worked primarily as a wood sculptor.
An Oral History interview with J.B. Blunk conducted May 16, 2002, by Glenn Adamson for the Archives of American Art’s Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is available at: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-jb-blunk-13312.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Experiment in International Living, Brattleboro, Vermont
Greens Restaurant, San Francisco, California
Grubb and Ellis, Oakland, California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California
Leonard Park, Mount Kisco, New York
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York
Oakland Museum of California Art, Oakland, California
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California
Tassajara Mountain Zen Center, Carmel Valley, California
University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California
Weyerhaeuser Company, Tacoma, Washington
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Carin. “Curator’s Eye: J.B. Blunk’s The Planet.” Modern Magazine, Winter 2018.
Adamson, Glenn, and Gerard O'Brien. J.B. Blunk. Los Angeles: Blum & Poe, 2010.
Blunk J.B. 100 Plates: Sculpture. Stillwater, Oklahoma: Gardiner Art Gallery, 1984.
Blunk, J B. J.B. Blunk Sculptures 1952-1977: Exhibition January 10 - February 25, 1978. Los Angeles: Craft and Folk Art Museum, 1978.
Doran, Cat. “Point Blunk.” C-Home, May 2009.
Emery, Olivia H. Craftsman Lifestyle: The Gentle Revolution. Pasadena: California Design Publications, 1977.
Falino, Jeannine, and Glenn Adamson. Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design [exhibition Crafting Modernism. Midcentury American Art and Design, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, October 11, 2011 - January 15, 2012; Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, February 27 - May 21, 2012]. New York: Abrams, 2011.
Feher, Erin. “A Brief History of the Planet.” San Francisco Magazine, April 2018, pp. 68-70.
Fortini, Amanda. “A Little House in the Big Woods.” The New York Times Style Magazine, November 16, 2017.Iovine, Julie V., and Todd Merrill. Modern Americana: Studio Furniture from High Craft to High Glam. New York: Rizzoli, 2008.
Jansen, Charlotte. “A ‘blind date’ between two California artists reveals surprising shared sensibilities.” Wallpaper, February 2018.
Kahn, Eve. “Blunk House: Inside a Master’s Sculptural Homestead, Hewn by Hand, in Northern California.” Remodelista, December 2017.
Knezic, Sophie. “J.B. Blunk, Blum and Poe, Tokyo, Japan.” Frieze, January 2017.
McKean, Cameron Allan. “J.B. Blunk, Blum and Poe, Tokyo.” Art Agenda, January 2017.
Nielson, Åbäke and Mariah. J.B. Blunk: Cups, Plates, Bowls and Sculptures: Ceramics 1950-1999. London: Dent-De-Leon, 2017.
Nordness, Lee. Objects – USA. New York: Viking, 1972.
“Out of the Woods.” Wallpaper, January 2012.
Rawsthorn, Alice. Blunk House. Maharam, October 2016.
Richardson, Phyllis, and Santos S. Dos. Contemporary Natural. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006.
Rus, Mayer. “Palm Springs Art Museum Spotlights Alma Allen and J.B. Blunk.” Architectural Digest, February 2018.
Williamson, Leslie. Handcrafted Modern: At Home with Mid-Century Designers. New York, NY: Rizzoli, 2010.
Wright, Reed. “At the Oakland Museum of California, and unsung designer/artist finally gets the limelight.” Spaces, Winter/ Spring 2018.
Wu, Su. “A New Place to Celebrate Cool California Design.” The New York Times Style Magazine. November 12, 2015.
_____. “In Conversation – Alma Allen and J.B. Blunk.” La Garçonne, February 2018.
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: The Forrest L. Merrill Collection, Dane Cloutier Archives
WEBSITE(S):
1954-1955 Signed with a cursive B
1969-1970 signed with a cursive B, open on the bottom
1970— did not mark work
Citation: Baldenebro, Allizandra. "The Marks Project." Last modified February 14, 2024. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/blunk
