Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Blackwell.
Evan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always been creative, drawing and taking art classes my whole life. I went to UGA and graduated from Lamar Dodd with a BFA in painting. After undergrad, I went to Boston for graduate school at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts to get my MFA.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not always been a smooth road. In terms of getting my education in the arts; I always did really well but the cost of school and living in the cities, I went to school in called for me to hold up to four jobs at a time while earning my degrees. Having my boyfriend with me throughout the process has been an incredible help to me being able to pursue my degrees and stay relatively sane in the process.
I was also in a pretty serious car accident the summer after my sophomore year in undergrad. To keep a relatively long story short, I survived what I should not have by any medical or physical standards, but still shattered my vertebrae and a few other bones. I spend a while in the hospital, had major surgery and spent the rest of that summer recovering and relearning basic things like how to walk or take a shower on my own. This period in my life was a pretty serious struggle for me. I knew how lucky and blessed I was to survive, but to be so young and unable to rely only on myself to do things as basic as walking or showering called for a major internal and mental shift in what I considered to be “normal” and what I considered to be “strength.” My family, boyfriend, and friends were incredible during this time and helped me keep my head above water. Mentally, dealing with the physical and mental trauma post-accident is always a battle for me, but it has shown me the strength of my relationships in their unending support for me and has shown me my own strength in my ability to heal physically and mentally. this has also fueled my work in so many ways. It has been the genesis for my thesis work in graduate school and drives me in everything I create–even if it isn’t as direct as it used to be, it is always there in my work in some way.
Please tell us more about your artwork, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
My practice is centered around painting and ceramics, as well as installation when I have to space for it. My work oscillates between abstract and representational as I talk about themes of memory, the sublime, the body as it heals, and the concept of the archive. Even though painting and ceramics are as old as art history itself, I believe my work stands out because of my personal story that is always present in some way in my work. I layer my paintings in a way that speaks to my background in drawing, while also building dense layers of paint to create complexity within the material surface of the work. What also sets me apart is the fact that the work I make can exist both on its own and within the context of a larger installation. I make paintings and drawings and ceramics generally within the context of each other and at the same time, and install them in such a way that they become parts of a larger whole. I have always produced a large quantity of work really quickly, so learning how they can work in an installation has been a really generative process for me.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I am from the metro Atlanta area so I have a special draw to this city because it has always been home, so to me, it makes sense to make work here. Coming from living in Boston for graduate school, one of the most expensive cities in the country, I have a deep appreciation for the fact that having a studio in this city is not completely outside the realm of possibility. I think there is always room for improvement in the arts in any city, thats the beauty of art is that is can and always should be changing. that said… Atlanta can definitely use more outlets for the creatives in the city. there are so few places that host artist studios in this city, making it difficult the find a community to become a part of. I also run a functional ceramics business with my boyfriend, and the landscape for artisanal craft seems to be growing and starting to thrive, while the fine art world seems smaller and harder to find an access point to. Atlanta is also so speed out, which is great because we can decide how we might want to fill in the gaps, and I think having dedicated and well-developed art districts that mirror the culture and vibes of the neighborhoods they are adjacent to would be amazing! We have the start of this, we just have to keep pushing it! I can see the city working on these things but it can feel a bit isolated in some ways. All that said, I can see that we are setting up as a city to embrace all forms of art-making and I find that to be really exciting! Not having the historic weight and saturation that other major cities have on them, we can really define what we want our fine art world to look like here in the southeast. We just all have to make the well-concerted effort to do so. It’ll happen, and it will be good!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.evanblackwellart.com
- Email: hello@evanblackwellart.com
- Instagram: @evanblackwell_art
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