BIOGRAPHY

LINNIS BLANTON 1989 Five State Art Exhibitions, Service League, Port Arthur, Texas JOURNEY FROM WITHIN (Juror: Michael Auping) The artist works and resides in Nederland, Texas. 1987 The Ugly Art Show, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas Ceramics by Linnis Blanton 1986 Yellow Dog Art Exhibition, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas EDUCATION 1984 Silent Space, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas 1976 B.F.A. Studio Art, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas 1980 Tri-State Exhibition, Beaumont Art League, Beaumont, Texas 1972 B.S. Art Education, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas 1979 Tri-State Exhibition, Beaumont Art League, Beaumont, Texas 1978 Tri-State Exhibition, Beaumont Art League, Beaumont, Texas TEACHING EXPERIENCE 1972 Exhibition, Baytown, Texas 2002-Present Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, Adjunct Instructor 1973-2003 Port Arthur Independent School District, Port Arthur, PUBLICATIONS Texas, Art Teacher 2008 Tourtillott, Suzanne J.E. 500 Plates & Chargers: Innovative Expressions of Function and Style. New York: Lark Crafts, 2008. 2000 Reed, Harry. “Beneath the Surface.” Ceramics Monthly SELECTED HONORS (June, July, August, 2000): 73. 2014 Teacher of the Year, Southeast Texas Art Council, Beaumont, Texas 2013 Judge, 6th International Texas Teapot Tournament, 18 Hands Gallery, Houston, Texas This exhibition is generously funded, in part, by the Edaren Foundation, 1990 2nd Place Award, Artist/Teacher Show, Lamar University, Colleen and Bob Burns, the City of Beaumont, the Wesley W. Washburn, M.D. and Lulu L. Smith, M.D. Endowment Fund, the Texas Commission on the Arts, Beaumont, Texas an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works and the C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Charitable Foundation. SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2015 Journey From Within: Ceramics by Linnis Blanton, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas 2011 Earth Songs II, Museum of the Gulf Coast, Port Arthur, Texas 2010 Earth Songs, Ice House Museum, Silsbee, Texas 2009 Large Pottery, Wagner Sousa, Galveston, Texas 2000 Out of the Blue, Beaumont Art League, Beaumont, Texas 1994 Journey Within, Museum of the Gulf Coast, Port Arthur, Texas

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2015 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2014 Sacred Art Show, Beaumont Art League, Beaumont, Texas 2014 Sculpture Invitational, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas 2014 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2013 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2012 5th International Texas Teapot Tournament, 18 Hands Gallery, Houston, Texas 2007 Regional Ceramic Competition, University of Dallas, Irving, Texas (Juror: Val Cushing) 2006 Fire and Ice, Ice House Museum, Silsbee, Texas 2006 Invitational Exhibition, Texas Artists Museums, Port Arthur, Texas 2006 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2005 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2004 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2003 Three Person Show, Megnet Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2003 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2002 Lamar University Faculty Exhibition, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 2001 Two-Person Show, One Allen Center, Houston, Texas 2000 Two-Person Show, One Allen Center, Houston, Texas

2000 Members Show, Texas Clay Art Association, San Angelo, Texas Vortex I, thrown and altered stoneware clay, 25 x 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. 1997 Family and Friends, Dishman Art Gallery, Beaumont, Texas 1994 Art Studio Exhibition, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas (Juror: James Surls) Cover Image: Genesis II, thrown and altered stoneware clay, 11 x 8 x 8 in. 1992 Between the Mind Thoughts, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas All loans courtesy of the artist. Photography by Thomas DuBrock.

Art Museum of Southeast Texas 500 Main Street Beaumont, Texas 77701 Art Museum of Southeast Texas (409) 832-3432 · www.amset.org December 12, 2015 - February 28, 2016 Anasazi rituals, visualizing Blanton’s translation of this spiritual idea. The surging energy of the spiral coils emerging from the ominous, black base of Vortex I were inspired by Blanton’s time in the mountainous, energy vortexes of Sedona, where he experienced a deep connection to nature and his inner self.

In Blanton’s opinion, the best art embodies part of the artist and there is a spiritual level of connection between an artist and their artwork. When working, Blanton says that he often enters a meditative sort of state, chanting and humming as he creates. Blanton is a past student and teacher of meditation and states that the meditative goal of living in the present applies to his artwork. This holistic approach to creation and willingness to accept whatever happens on the artistic journey is central to his philosophy. Works such as Edgar Hill Country, thrown and altered stoneware clay, 19 in. Allen Crow embrace this idea of happenstance and chaos in the act of creation. When making this piece, Blanton, out of instructor of art at Lamar, he frequently reminds his zealous frustration, struck the top of the clay form with a 2x4 piece students, often striving to move beyond their early work, of plywood, escaping the limitations of process and yielding that one does not sit in a vacuum, removed from the past to spontaneous happenstance. The result is a sophisticated, and the world. Teachers, early art endeavors, the past and surrealistic figure that exemplifies Blanton’s philosophical present shape what one will do and create, thus allowing ideas and celebrates uninhibited artistic creation. work to evolve from the inner self. As Rauschenberg said, it’s This exhibition, aptly titledJourney from Within, features over not about knowing where you are going, but more about the thirty plates and vessels created over the past few years. The process and spontaneity that takes you there. works invite us to revel in the sensual nature and aesthetic Edgar Allen Crow, thrown and altered stoneware clay, 15 1/2 x 15 x 8 in. Sandstone Metamorphosis, thrown and altered stoneware clay, sandblasted, 37 x 12 x 12 in. The works in Journey from Within laud Blanton’s facility and beauty of clay and to delve into a deeper understanding technical bravura in the ceramic field. This collection of work of artistic creation – it is a celebration of Blanton’s artistic harmonizes as a cohesive whole, showing Blanton’s adept career and embodies where he came from, who he is and Our history, however, is as integral to our present self as where he is going. JOURNEY FROM WITHIN our goals and thoughts of what we want to create and who skill at experimentation in color and form, synergistically Ceramics by Linnis Blanton embodying his creative and spiritual philosophy. In addition we will become. The meditation of the past, present and Sarah Beth Wilson to his formative student years, Blanton’s career is strongly Art Museum of Southeast Texas future is often contemplated by artists and is philosophically Curator of Exhibitions and Collections December 12, 2015 - February 28, 2016 evidenced in many works, bringing to mind Paul Gauguin’s influenced by his American Indian heritage and study of the iconic painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? ancient Anasazi culture. Many years ago, Blanton traveled “Many years ago I witnessed an interview with artist Robert Where Are We Going? out west to follow the path of the Anasazi. His travels Rauschenberg, and Rauschenberg was asked if he knows through Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Sedona, Arizona, what he is doing and where he is going when he is creating a Linnis Blanton firmly believes that our influences and history and Mesa Verde, Colorado, allowed the evolving artist to work of art. He quickly responded no, and that spontaneity shape what we are, where we are going and what we will connect on a spiritual level with his heritage, visiting the and chaos are part of the creative process. This has always become; his art is heavily impacted by his past, in particular, renowned Cliff Dwellings in Mesa Verde and sacred kivas stuck with me – not knowing is a good place to be. It allows lessons taught by his Lamar University professors. The artist along his path. Similar to many ancient cultures, the Anasazi me to give a piece what it needs instead of what I need.” graduated with his B.F.A from Lamar in 1976, where he had deep spiritual beliefs and sacred rituals. Anasazi women – Linnis Blanton spent time studying sculpture, painting and ceramics with made bowls and pots that not only served a functional the renowned Jerry Newman and art history with Dr. Lynne purpose, but were also used during funeral services; holes In this hectic, ever-changing world, it is easy to move Lokensgard. Southeast Texas artist and Lamar University art were created in the vessels ritualistically symbolizing the without thought to the past, striving for tomorrow in our professor Robert Madden also had a great influence, teaching release of the spirit of the bowl and the deceased person. efforts to forget today. Society encourages us to plunge Blanton the art of creativity and instilling a desire to shoot The relationship between the spiritual world and objects ahead in an often frenzied state in search for the new. The for the stars. A few years later, Blanton enrolled in courses at plays an integral part in Blanton’s work. Vessels included art world is no different. While there are certainly artists Texas Tech University, where he studied with James Watkins in this exhibition, such as Sandstone Metamorphosis, recall with a reverence for the past, the fast-paced, ever-evolving and Sara Waters, who both left a lasting impression. Blanton the surroundings of the ancient Anasazi in the harmonious market encourages what many esteem as fresh, raw work credits all of these people who helped him become who he earth tones. The small, yet significant, opening at the top of with minimal connection to your earlier self or influences. is today. An educator for many years and current adjunct the vessel shows a symbolic kinship and reference to ancient Lily Pad, thrown and altered stoneware clay, 16 1/2 in.