We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Colleen Blackard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Colleen below.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Brooklyn artist who recently returned home to Austin, TX, where I’m currently pursuing an MFA in Studio Art at The University of Texas in Austin.

My intention with my work is to capture the wonder and magic I feel when immersed in the natural world and share it with the world in hopes that others will also resonate with the connection I feel to these places and value them as much as I do.

My work is inspired by exploring unfamiliar natural environments. While walking a footpath through pine woods in Norway, I realized that the path is a visual symbol of how humans could harmoniously exist within the natural world. This sense of belonging inspired my artistic vision of a future in which we care for the natural world and live peacefully within it.

I am fascinated by the evolving atmosphere that light creates around transient subjects such as storms, nightscapes, and other emotionally charged spaces. My artwork explores the phenomenon of being immersed in these realms. By recalling dreams and memories of the natural world, I utilize methods of printmaking, drawing, painting, and scenic art to connect external and internal landscapes. My finished work becomes a traceable imprint of this exploration.

Currently, my primary art form is monotype, a printmaking process in which I paint an image onto a sheet of plexiglass or a gelatin plate and then transfer the image to paper via a printmaking press, or by hand. The transfer only occurs once, I cannot reproduce the image or make any edits. I only have one shot to get the final image, and the work on paper is the mirror image of the painting on plexiglass. I see the resulting image as a collaboration with the press, and enjoy this unknown element it adds to the work.

Born and raised in Texas, I received my studio art degree at Hampshire College in Massachusetts in 2009, then spent the next decade in New York City. I maintained a connection to my home by personifying an abandoned Texas barn in paintings, drawings, and monotypes from my Greenpoint, Brooklyn studio. In 2017, I received a Pollock-Krasner Grant for this project, The Abandoned Series, which initiated a body of work about my longing for the grandeur of the Texas landscape and its dramatic weather patterns. Balancing ethereal beauty and looming disaster, my works provided an emotional connection to the rural landscape while working in an urban center. In 2021, this work culminated in my solo show, “The Abandoned Series: Returning,” at Redbud Gallery in Houston, which was awarded “Top 5 shows in Texas” by the Texas arts publication, Glasstire.

In 2019, I began traveling to artist residencies in remote areas, starting with Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat, in County Kerry, Ireland. After Cill Rialaig, my work became infused with new energy. I focused on my experiences within the lands I traveled to and sought out additional wondrous sites in the natural world. I left New York City and traveled to artist residencies in remote areas from Oregon to Germany, seeking connection with the Earth in my work through immersion in the landscape and its local lore. These explorations deepened my ability to capture both my inner and outer worlds and express them dynamically.

Last summer, I was lucky enough to travel across Scandinavia with friends before going to a residency at Atelierhaus Hilmsen in Germany. While on a hike on Bornholm Island in Denmark on Midsommar, we accidentally startled a group of roe deer at twilight. As they ran into the woods, we noticed one was completely white and another speckled white and brown. I’d never seen a white deer before, and I’ll never forget it. These experiences etch vividly into my mind, then I imprint the memories into my monotypes. During the process, my memories become shaped by my personal beliefs and emotions, and the resulting artwork blends both inner and outer realms with the printmaking transfer process, resulting in another world of its own.

This past fall, the work I created in Germany about my travels in Scandinavia was given its own “mini-solo” exhibition at Foltz Fine Art in Houston in their “Texas Emerging Vol. 4” Showcase. I was also invited to show my work in the group show, “Reflection” curated by Nicole Basilone at SPRING/BREAK Art Show in NYC.

Beyond these recent exhibitions, my work has also been exhibited internationally in galleries such as ACA Galleries and Owen James Gallery in NYC, Mönchskirche Gallery in Germany, and ISSO Gallery in Tokyo and has been featured in Drawing Magazine, Artspace, and the Japanese travel show, “Hotel no Madokora.”

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Support local artists by buying their work, definitely. At this point, my most valuable possessions are the works of art I’m able to collect from the artists I admire in my community. To me, the work they make is an extension of them, so living with their work is like getting to see and be inspired by my friends every day.

It’s time for a more collaborative and supportive art world. I believe that is the only way forward, and I’ve found that by getting involved with various organizations such as Greenpoint Open Studios and the NYC Crit Club community. By building a community of artists who share art opportunities and talk openly about the unwritten rules of the art world we can challenge them and empower each other.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Over the course of my 15-year art career, my definition of success has shifted as my perception of the world has evolved. Initially, I moved to NYC in 2010 when I was 22 with the intention to be a full-time artist represented by a gallery by the time I was 25. I did in fact achieve that goal, and succeded in having my first solo show in NYC in 2012, but my life did not look the way I had expected. At the time, I thought being a “full-time artist” meant that selling my artwork was the only way I could make income for it to count. I focused on making drawing commissions and selling affordable small works, while my more experimental larger works were put on the back burner.

I lived the “starving artist” lifestyle for a while until I found freedom in building a secondary career as a scenic artist for film, photo, and fashion. Having a secondary income stream took the pressure off the regular sales of smaller works, allowing me to use my studio time to experiment. In the intervals between my freelance scenic jobs, I created my large series of “Abandoned Series” marker drawings, which I received a “Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant” for in 2017. The grant allowed me to prioritize my studio work for a year, in which my work continued evolving and culminated in a body of work that debuted at my solo show at Redbud Gallery in Houston in 2021.

The artist community I found when I took classes with NYC Crit Club starting in 2017 affirmed what I had learned about making income as an artist. Many artists (from emerging to established) also revealed they had other jobs, such as professors and graphic designers. Being part of a supportive community helped me to unlearn some of the art world myths that are still being circulated, like the myth I had been wrapped up in that being a successful artist means that you only make money from selling your art.

At this point, I am clear that I am a successful artist because I get to build a life around making my artwork and sharing it. Now that my income is no longer connected to my success as an artist, I can make money from selling my art, renting it to film, getting grants, working other jobs, etc, and it all works together to fuel my studio time and artistic career.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://colleenblackard.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleenblackard/

Image Credits
I took all of the above images of my artwork.