Jane Shellenbarger
J.B. Blunk is known for utilitarian wares and sculptures made from local and commercial clays and using commercial slips and glazes fired in a cone 6 electric kiln. In Japan, Blunk worked ...
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Typical Marks
About
- Biography
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J.B. Blunk is known for utilitarian wares and sculptures made from local and commercial clays and using commercial slips and glazes fired in a cone 6 electric kiln. In Japan, Blunk worked in the Bizen tradition using stoneware clays and a wood-fired kilns.
J.B. Blunk studied at UCLA with Laura Andreson and, after two-years of Army service in the Korean War, was discharged to Japan. There, he sought out the masters who Andreson had introduced in her classes. In Japan, he befriended Isamu Noguchi, who introduced him to Rosanjin Kitaoji. After an apprenticeship with Kitaoji, he went to Bizen to study with Toyo Kaneshige. Blunk made traditional Bizen-style wares during this period.
In 1957, Blunk built a home in Northern California. By 1962, he worked primarily as a wood sculptor.
An Oral History interview with J.B. Blunk conducted May 16, 2002, by Glenn Adamson for the Archives of American Art?s Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is available at: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-jb-blunk-13312.
" - Apprenticeships & Residencies
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1988-1987
Penland Core Fellowship, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina
1996-1997Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana
2006Artist in Residence, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine
2009Industrial Mold Making and Porcelain, International Ceramic Studio, Kecskemet, Hungary
2010Residency, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, Montana
- Primary Work Experience
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1997
Studio Potter
2002-2007Assistant Professor, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri
2007-2011Assistant Professor, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Minnesota
2011Assistant Professor, The School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology
Other
- Public Collections
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The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana
Kenneth R. Ferguson Teaching Collection, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri
Ohi Museum, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
San Angelo Museum of the Arts, San Angelo, Texas
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington DC
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas,
The University Museum, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Illinois
- Bibliography
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“Ceramics Technical.” Kitchen Table Ceramics 26 (2006).
“Emerging Artists Show.” Ceramics Monthly. May 1997.
Hluch, Kevin. American iPottery “The Art of Contemporary American Pottery.” expanded to a digital version, 2011.
“MFA Factor.” Ceramics Monthly (November 2011).
“Put a Lid On It”, Ceramics Monthly (November 1998).
Shellenbarger, Jane. “Vitality of Functional Pottery.” Studio Potter (June 2005).
“The Clay Cup V.” Ceramics Monthly. March 1996.
“The Third Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National.” Ceramics Monthly. November 1995.
“The Yin and Yang of Pottery Making.” Clay Times 12 no. 5 (September/October 2005).
- CV or Resume
- Website(s)
Citation: Jane Shellenbarger, "The Marks Project."
Last modified April 29, 2026. https://www.themarksproject.org/artists/jane-shellenbarger
