Tia Blassingame (born 1971, New Haven, CT), assistant professor of art at

Scripps College Scripps College is a private liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1926, a year after the consortium's formation. Journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps pr ...

, is an American book artist and publisher.

Career

Blassingame holds a B.A. in Architecture from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, a M.A. in Book Arts and printmaking from the

Corcoran College of Art & Design The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts an ...

, and an M.F.A. in Printmaking from the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

. She was Artist-in-Residence at the International Print Center (2019),

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

(2011), MacDowell (2010) and the Santa Fe Art Institute (2010). Blassingame is an Associate Professor of Art and Director of Scripps College Press at

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of Los Angeles. It lies in the Pomona Valley at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had ...

. Her work has been collected by private and public collections, including the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, the library of

The Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in Britain, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

and its library, and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Her work has appeared in ''

The Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is an American publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics, based in Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, critics, and ...

.'' Since 2009, Blassingame has been the owner and proprietor at Primrose Press. In 2019, Blassingame was a contributing writer in ''Freedom of the Presses: Artist Books in the Twenty-first Century''. She also founded the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color collective in the same year. She serves on the Board of Directors for the College Book Art Association and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the

American Printing History Association The American Printing History Association (APHA) is a "scholarly, educational, and charitable organization fostering the study of printing history (especially American) and the book arts. It was established in 1974. History The American Printing ...

. In 2023, Blassingame was an artist-in-residence at Halden Bookworks in Oslo, Norway.

Art and exhibitions

Artistic style

Blassingame's work in mixed-media, bookmaking, printmaking, and flag-making employs elements of

Concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...

and uses books and physical artifacts to provide the viewer with a tactile interaction with the conversation around racism in the United States. Blassingame has also been active in scholarly understanding and symposia exploring the history and production of Black books and bibliographia. In an interview in 2020, Blassingame reflected on her upbringing and how coming from "a fairly bookish family" surrounded her with book arts in many forms, especially books of, by, or about Black creators. In this same interview, the artist speaks about trying to use the distinct possibilities of book arts and printmaking to reach readers for a discussion of historical and contemporary race and racism.

Selected exhibitions

Blassingame has exhibited throughout the U.S., including: * 2014 "The Exact Measure of Cruelty: Slavery and Racism in Artists’ Books", Milner Library,

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

* 2018 ''Mourning/Warning'', Atkinson Gallery,

Santa Barbara City College Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is a public community college in Santa Barbara, California. It opened in 1909 and is located on a campus. History Santa Barbara City College was established by the Santa Barbara High School District in 1909, m ...

. In this exhibition, Blassingame provides a look into her experience as an African-American woman. * 2018 ''Text & Textile,'' Art and Architecture Library at

* 2019 ''Playing with Words'' at the

Minnesota Center for Book Arts Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is the largest and most comprehensive independent nonprofit book arts center in the United States. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, MCBA is a nationally recognized leader in the celebration and preservation o ...

(MCBA) * 2019 ''I Am Mourning/Warning'', Morey Family Gallery at Art Reach of Mid-Michigan * 2019 ''Umbra: New Prints for a Dark Age'' at International Print Center * 2020 ''I AM/YOU ARE'',

Berea College Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. It was integrated from as early as 1866 ...

. In her art book, Blassingame comments on her experience as an African-American woman through the medium of printmaking. She also offers insight into experiences of

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

, violence and humiliation through the lens of being African-American. * 2020 ''Intersections: Book Arts as Conversion'' at

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

* 2022 ''Troubling: Artists’ Books that Enlighten and Disrupt Old Ways of Being and Seeing'' at

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art Bainbridge may refer to: People *Bainbridge (name) Places * Bainbridge Township (disambiguation) United States * Bainbridge Island, Alaska * Bainbridge, Georgia * Bainbridge, Indiana * Bainbridge (town), New York ** Bainbridge (village), New ...

* 2023 ''Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures'' at Minnesota Center for Book Arts and San Francisco Center for the Book

References

External links

* *
Tia Blassingame: Despite Hostile Terrain.

Rare Book School Rare Book School (RBS) is an institute dedicated to educating its students in bibliography, book history, printing, digital humanities, and more. Founded at the Columbia University School of Library Service in 1983 by Terry Belanger, RBS had humb ...