Sandra Blain
Sandra Blain uses found objects and industrial refuse as textural tools and makes impressions in her clay pieces, creating works that are both decorative and documentary of current times. Concentrating on form, color, and texture simultaneously, Blain strives to capture time and place in her earthenware creations. Her sculptural forms are inspired by curbside environments provide facades to capture the discard of our culture. Slips and glazes are drawn, brushed, stamped, stenciled and airbrushed on the surface of the pieces during various intervals of a multiple firing process. Visual complexity is the result of collecting material, layering process and realizing ideas.
Sandra Blain at MudFire
Gallery group show Constructed, April 2010
Sandra Blain Artist Bio
Sandy Blain is Professor Emeritus - Ceramics, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Director Emeritus - Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN. Her background includes a B.S. in Art Education from Northern Illinois University, and an M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Having worked in teaching and administration since 1964, she has a diverse background related to educational programming - classes/conferences/seminars; gallery programming/installations; fund raising; public relations and personnel development. Her public service work includes involvement with national/regional/state/local craft organizations, often serving as a board member, consultant, conference coordinator, grant reviewer, exhibition juror, or presenter/workshop leader. As a practicing artist, her clay pieces have been seen in juried and invitational exhibitions throughout the country with reviews and photographs in media publications and catalogs.
After a recent move to Arizona, Sandy has set-up a ceramic studio working with earthenware and stoneware sculptural and functional forms. Manipulated and assembled handbuilt and thrown forms are impressed with found objects serving as metaphors for the impact one has on their surroundings. The relief surfaces reveal a personal narrative experienced on daily walks. Oxides, slips and glazes are applied through drawing, brushing and spraying the surfaces of the pieces during various intervals of a multiple firing process. Depth and visual complexity are the result of layering techniques, ideas and images.
Sandy is an adjunct faculty member at the Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ. She is active with the Arizona State University Ceramic Research Center serving as Chairman of the Advisory Board with committee work related to educational outreach, the bi-annual Gala auction, and the annual studio tour weekend. She is also serving as a docent in the ASU Museum Store. She continues to serve as a juror for national and regional exhibitions, a workshop leader with emphasis primarily on handbuilding, and a consultant to various arts organizations.
Sandra Blain Artist Statement
Sculptural and vessel forms provide volumes for surface manipulation and marking. The influence of pattern is evidenced through an eclectic array of historical, environmental, natural, and man-made systems of organization. Significant in the construction of form and surface impressions is the inherent quality of clay - the process that enables the medium to capture and record the spontaneity of a direct tactile experience. Often the surfaces of the manipulated and handbuilt forms reveal a personal narrative experienced on daily walks. Surfaces are impressed with organic and inorganic matter and found objects in addition to further hand and tool methods of alteration serving as metaphors for landscape elements. Slips and glazes are drawn, brushed, stamped, stenciled and airbrushed on the surface of the pieces during various intervals of a multiple firing process. A sense of depth and visual complexity is the result of layering techniques, ideas and images.
