Sandra Blain | Also Known As: Sandy Blain
Sandra Blain is known for functional hand built and thrown studio pottery which has changed and evolved over the years. During the 1960?s and 1970?s Blain focused on producing hand built functional ...
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Typical Marks
About
- Biography
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Sandra Blain is known for functional hand built and thrown studio pottery which has changed and evolved over the years. During the 1960?s and 1970?s Blain focused on producing hand built functional stoneware work. In the 1980?s and 1990?s Blain began using earthenware to create thrown or hand built sculptural and functional works.
After her retirement, she continued to create sculptural and functional works of stoneware or earthenware creating a body of work by manipulating and combining both thrown and hand built components. The surfaces of these pieces are characterized by relief surfaces either made by carving and building up the surfaces or by impressing found objects into the damp clay. Slips and glazes are then drawn, brushed, stenciled, and airbrushed surfaces often added between multiple firings.
Blain gathers discarded materials which she uses to create surface textures on her work and in doing so makes a statement about the throwaway mentality of contemporary society.
Blain was an influential teacher throughout her career and after her retirement from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Interview with Lloyd Herman recorded on May 19, 2009, for the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, is available here: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-sandra-jean-blain-16052
" - Apprenticeships & Residencies
- Primary Work Experience
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1964-—
Practicing Professional Craftsperson
1964-1969Art Teacher, William Horlick High School, Racine, Wisconsin
1968-1970Summer, Assistant Director, Craft Workshop, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
1968-1978Summer, Assistant Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
1969-1973Ceramic Instructor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
1973-1979Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
1978-1979Interim Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
-1979Associate Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
1980-2001Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
-1984Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
2006-—Adjunct Faculty, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona
Other
- Public Collections
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Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, New York
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee
Carroll Reese Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee
Center for Art and Culture, Gent, Belgium
Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia
Glendale Community College, Phoenix, Arizona
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
Kenosha Public Museum, Kenosha, Wisconsin
Maryville College, Maryville, Tennessee
Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, Louisiana
Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
North Park College, Chicago, Illinois
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
Oak Ridge Art Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Southern Highland Craft Guild, Asheville, North Carolina
Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Illinois
Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, Tennessee
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, Montana
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
West Georgia College, Carrollton, Georgia
Western Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan
- Bibliography
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Anders, K.T. “A Paean to Process: Sandy Blain’s Textures and Glaze Layering.” Clay Times 80.
Arkansas Art Center. Living with Form: The Horn Collection of Contemporary Crafts. Little Rock, AK: Arkansas Art Center, 1999.
Blain, Sandra. “Just Pots.” Journal of Home Economics 66 (1974).
Blain Sandra and James Darrow. “University of Tennessee Ceramics.” Ceramics Monthly. 27 (December 1978).
Bullard, Helen. Crafts and Craftsmen of the Tennessee Mountains. Summit Press Ltd., 1976.
Cushing, Val. The Ceramic Design Book. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 1998.
Darrow, James. “Symposium at Arrowmont.” Ceramics Monthly 24 (March 1976).
____________. “Sandy Blain.” Ceramics Monthly 23 (December 1975).
Fariello, Anna. “Sandra Blain: Markings and the Urge to Record.” Ceramics Art and Perception 42.
Hofferberth, Lynn. “Sandra Blain.” Phoenix (Winter 1976).
Hyman, Sylvia. “Flop and Prop.” Ceramic Review 48 (November/December 1977).
Nelson, Glen. Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978.
Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992.
Pozo, Angelica. Ceramics for Beginners: Surfaces, Glazing and Firing. New York, NY: Lark Books, 2010.
Tourtillott, Suzanne J. E. 500 Plates and Chargers: Innovative Expressions of Function and Style. New York, NY: Lark Books, 2008.
Zakin, Richard. Ceramics: Mastering the Craft. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1990.
_____________. Electric Kiln Ceramics. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2004.
- CV or Resume
- Website(s)
Citation: Sandra Blain, "The Marks Project."
Last modified April 29, 2026. https://www.themarksproject.org/artists/sandra-jean-blain
Objects
Collections
Southern Highland Craft Guild Collection
Asheville, North Carolina
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Southern Highland Craft Guild Collection
Asheville, North Carolina
