JB Blunk (1926–2002) was a sculptor who worked primarily in wood and clay. In addition to the pieces he produced in wood and ceramics, Blunk worked in other media, including jewelry, furniture, painting, bronze, and stone.

Background and influences

James "JB" Blain Blunk was born in

Ottawa, Kansas Ottawa (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Kansas, Franklin County, Kansas, United States. It is located on both banks of the Marais des Cygnes River near the center of Franklin County. As of the 2020 United ...

. He graduated from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

in 1951 where he studied physics, later changing his major and studying under noted ceramist Laura Andreson. After serving in the United States Army in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, he met sculptor

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer and Landscape architecture, landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Grah ...

in Japan and served apprenticeships with Japanese potter Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883–1959) and Bizen potter and Living National Treasure,

Kaneshige Toyo (from Okayama, Japan 1896–1967) was a potter in Imbe, Japan. He helped to establish the Japan Kōgei Association in 1955,A prize honoring Kaneshige's contribution has been offered annually by the Chugoku branch, then East Chugoku branch, of th ...

(1896–1967). Blunk was the first American to apprentice into the line of descent of that country's great unglazed stoneware ceramic tradition. After returning to the U.S., Blunk was eventually able to build his own home and studio near the

Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...

town of

Inverness, California Inverness is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in western Marin County, California, United States. It is located on the southwest shore of Tomales Bay northwest of Point Reyes Station and about by road northwest o ...

, where he had a lifelong friendship and association with painter

Gordon Onslow Ford Gordon Onslow Ford (26 December 1912 – 9 November 2003) was one of the last surviving members of the 1930s Paris surrealist group surrounding André Breton. Born in the English town of Wendover in 1912 to a family of artists, Onslow Fo ...

Work

Among Blunk's best-known and highly regarded public works is “The Planet” (1969), located in the lobby of the

Oakland Museum of California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. Writer Monica Quock Chan, in an article on the Oakland Museum, described “Planet” as follows: “In the entrance lobby sits a circular, benchlike sculpture 13 feet in diameter. Back in 1969, woodworker J.B. Blunk carved "The Planet" out of a single redwood burl, and it has been an icon of the museum for years.” Blunk created the sculpture from a two-ton piece of redwood with the help of then-apprentice Bruce Mitchell.

Glenn Adamson Glenn Adamson (born 1972) is an American curator, author, and historian whose research and work focuses on the intersections of design, craft, and contemporary art. He is editor-at-large of ''The Magazine Antiques'', editor of ''Journal of Mode ...

, writing in ''Woodwork'' magazine (October 1999), described “The Planet” as “an irregular, wildly textured circle, riddled with textural incident. The piece is unified by a rhythm of alternating jagged forms and restful, smooth shapes. The work has been called ‘one of the most touched pieces of sculpture you could find,’ and indeed it still serves as a play space, bench and oversized toy for visitors to the museum."Excerpt from October 1999 ''Woodwork'' magazine, reprinted at http://jbblunk.com/biography Artist Garry Knox Bennett has said, “It’s a masterpiece. It’s an absolute masterpiece. Not only does it look good, when you see kids climbing on that and under it, you know it’s eminently successful.” Two other works are “Magic Boat,” at the California Orientation Center for the Blind, and “Greens,” at Greens, the restaurant operated by the

San Francisco Zen Center San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. ...

at the

Fort Mason Fort Mason, in San Francisco, California is a former United States Army post located in the northern Marina District, alongside San Francisco Bay. Fort Mason served as an Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense site a ...

Center in the Marina District of the city. In his ''Woodwork'' article, Glenn Adamson described “Magic Boat” as a “cradle-like nine-foot square sitting area with a rhythmic series of round projections that beckon to the hand.” Adamson characterized “Greens” as “a feat of engineering as well as a tour de force of woodcarving," a complex installation consisting in part of a “vertical redwood monolith” and “an assortment of small, rounded tables and stools.” The entire work was cut “from a single 22-foot diameter stump of redwood.” Like Blunk's “other major installations,” Adamson said, “’Magic Boat’ and ‘Greens’ encourage a feeling of community through their circular compositions and inviting shapes.” In 1988, Blunk collaborated with landscape architects Ron Wigginton and Rachada Chantaviriyavit on “Wheat Walk,” a project for the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, Arboretum. “Wheat Walk” was awarded first prize in an International Design Arts Competition. "Wheat Walk" has yet to be constructed. Blunk's work continues to be exhibited in galleries such as the Landing Gallery of Los Angeles, Kate MacGarry of London, and Blum & Poe galleries around the world. His work is also offered at auction by firms such as Sotheby's. Sculptor

characterized the contributions of JB Blunk as follows: “I like to think that the courage and independence J.B. has shown is typically California, or at least Western, with a continent between to be free from categories that are called art. Here the links seem to me more to the open sky and spaces, and the far reaches of time from where come the burled stumps of those great trees.” “J.B. does them honor in carving them as he does, finding true art in the working, allowing their ponderous bulk, waking them from their long sleep to become part of our own life and times, sharing with us the afterglow of a land that was once here.” From 1958 to 1962, Blunk, along with his then wife Nancy Waite, designed and built a redwood cabin by hand. The Blunk House as it is called, is located in

. The home contains a wood and ceramic studio Blunk used to complete some of his now well known pieces.

Legacy

From 2008 to 2012, the Lucid Art Foundation in collaboration with JB Blunk's family, created an artist Residency at the home and studio of the late JB Blunk in Inverness, California. The four-year Residency program served 18 national and international artists. Information on the Residency program may be found at the Lucid Art Foundation website www.lucidart.org. Biographical information along with lists of collections and exhibits plus photographs of JB Blunk's work—and himself at work—may be found at the official JB Blunk website listed below.

Selected exhibits

2022 'Three Landscapes: JB Blunk, Anna and Lawrence Halprin', Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA 2019 Dallas Art Fair, with Reform/The Landing, Dallas, TX 2019 'In Conversation: Alma Allen and JB Blunk', Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV 2019 'Ship of Dreams: Artists, Poets, and Visionaries of the S.S. Vallejo', Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA 2019 FOG Design + Art Fair, with Reform/The Landing, San Francisco, CA 2018 'JB Blunk', Kate MacGarry, London, UK 2018 Frieze New York, with Blum & Poe, New York, NY 2018 'Ship of Dreams: Artists, Poets, and Visionaries of the S.S. Vallejo', Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA 2018 'JB Blunk: Nature, Art & Everyday Life', Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA 2018 'Marin Collects', College of Marin Fine Arts Gallery, Kentfield, CA 2018 'Designed in California', SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA 2018 'In Conversation: Alma Allen and JB Blunk', Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA 2018 FOG Design + Art Fair, with Reform/The Landing and Blum & Poe, San Francisco, CA 2017 'Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia', The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA 2017 'Chair Stories', Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA 2016 'JB Blunk', Blum & Poe, Tokyo, Japan 2015 'JB Blunk: painting, drawing, sculpture', the Landing, Los Angeles, CA 2015 'Art and Other Tactics', Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA 2012 Frieze Art Fair with Blum & Poe, New York, NY 2011 ‘Big A@# Sculpture Show’, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2011 'Crafting Modernism', Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY 2010 'The Anniversary Show', SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA 2010 Frieze Art Fair, Blum & Poe, New York, NY 2010 Solo show, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA 2009 SF20 Design Fair with Reform Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2008 Design Miami/Basel with Reform Gallery, Basel, Switzerland 2007 Design Miami/Basel with Reform Gallery, Miami, FL 2005 Solo show, Dance Palace Community Center, Point Reyes Station, CA 2000 Solo show, ‘California Spirit’, Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA 1999 Group show with John Anderson, Eubank Studio, Point Reyes Station, CA 1991 Group show, Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA 1989 Solo show, 'Sculptures, Ceramics, Stone, Wood', Smith Anderson Gallery, Palo Alto, CA 1986 Solo show, ‘A Sculptor’s Place’, San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, San Francisco, CA 1984 Solo show of ceramics, ‘100 Plates Plus’, Oklahoma State University, Norman, OK 1983 Group show, David Cole Gallery, Inverness, CA 1982 Group show, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY 1982 Solo show of ceramics, ‘100 Plates Plus’ University of North Dakota, ND 1981 Solo show of ceramics, ‘100 Plates Plus’, Artspace, Los Angeles, CA 1981 Solo show of ceramics, ‘100 Plates Plus’, David Cole Gallery, Inverness, CA 1978 Group show, Galerie Schreiner, Basel, Switzerland 1978 Solo show, ‘Sculptures 1952-1977’, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA 1977 Group show, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA 1976 ‘Sculpture in the Bay Area’, James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1974 ‘Outdoor Sculpture’, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA 1973 Group show, Lester Gallery, Inverness, CA 1970 ‘With These Hands’, ABC Documentary Film 1969 '' Objects: USA'', Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1965 Group show, Egg and the Eye Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1958 ‘East/West Exhibition’, San Francisco Museum, San Francisco, CA 1956 Group show at the Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA 1954 Solo show, Chou-Koron Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Selected collections

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

Oakland Museum Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

of California * Stevenson College,

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

* Objects U.S.A.,

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, Washington, D.C. * Grubb and Ellis, Oakland, CA * Weyerhauser Company, Tacoma, Washington *

* State of California *

Lawrence Hall of Science The Lawrence Hall of Science is a public science center in Berkeley, California that offers hands-on science exhibits, designs curriculum, aids professional development, and offers after school science resources to students of all ages. The Lawr ...

, Berkeley, CA * City of Thousand Oaks, CA * City of Menlo Park, CA

References

External links

*
About The JB Blunk Residency

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090824051138/http://jbblunk.com/biography Glenn Adamson on JB Blunk and his work, from ''Woodwork'' magazine, October 1999
Lucid Art Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blunk, JB 1926 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American sculptors American male sculptors People from Ottawa, Kansas People from Inverness, California 20th-century American male artists