◄ Overview
J.B. Blunk
Untitled
At a time in history when many feel divorced from our natural environment and the material intelligence embedded in making processes, J.B. Blunk looms large as an inspiration. His artistic career began when he was demobilized from the Korean War, and (after a fortuitous encounter with the sculptor Isamu Noguchi) took up an apprenticeship with a Japanese master potter. On returning to the USA, he made an extraordinary decision, finding a patch of land in Inverness, California, and creating his own home there. Years before the idea of “tuning in and dropping out” became a counterculture cliché, Blunk was living a rigorous, self-reliant, creative life. He sculpted monumental works in salvaged timbers and root structures, and also dug local clay and made sensitively rendered pottery. His work is a quintessential statement of American individualism.
Tearsheet
Artist
J.B. Blunk
Material
Ceramic cup
Contributing Gallery
Blum & Poe
Date
c. 1970
Dimensions
3.125 in × 3.5 in × 3.5 in
7.9375 cm × 8.89 cm × 8.89 cm
ID
Image credit: Courtesy of Blum & Poe
Untitled, c. 1970
3.125 in × 3.5 in × 3.5 in
Ceramic cup
Blum & Poe
$0
At a time in history when many feel divorced from our natural environment and the material intelligence embedded in making processes, J.B. Blunk looms large as an inspiration. His artistic career began when he was demobilized from the Korean War, and (after a fortuitous encounter with the sculptor Isamu Noguchi) took up an apprenticeship with a Japanese master potter. On returning to the USA, he made an extraordinary decision, finding a patch of land in Inverness, California, and creating his own home there. Years before the idea of “tuning in and dropping out” became a counterculture cliché, Blunk was living a rigorous, self-reliant, creative life. He sculpted monumental works in salvaged timbers and root structures, and also dug local clay and made sensitively rendered pottery. His work is a quintessential statement of American individualism.