A (Safe) Roadtrip!

As many of you know, I recently completed my 2020 Covid Art Word Project, which culminated as an elaborate design I printed on a letterpress. None of this would have been possible without collaboration - collaboration from my contributors, collaboration with my letterpress teachers, and the production of my letterpress plate from none other than Concord Engraving.

This 4th generation flexographic trade shop, owned by the Otto family, was kind enough to allow me a tour of their process of creating polymer letterpress plates. This is such a high energy, very efficient, and super cool process! Many steps are taken from getting my digital design image (below) onto the polymer plate.

First, the design gets laser beamed into film, then it is light fixed, and finally bathed. It was so great to see the inner working of engraving planning. Thanks, Concord Engraving!

November Updates!

Miles misses you! He thrives on interaction! My studio is open with all safety precautions observed. We’d LOVE to see you!

PS - we are planning a huge sale in the next couple of weeks (11/10 - 11/28) in person and virtual! More to come…

Center for Contemporary Printmaking Exhibit

Earlier in the summer, my piece “Prayer Offerings 13” was selected to be in the 7th Biennial Footprint International Competition at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in New Canaan, CT. It is always an honor to be recognized and supported in the art community, and it is especially nice to be surrounded by other printmakers in this gallery!

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Given the circumstances, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking team has provided a video to view the gallery, as well as a catalogue of all the pieces featured in the exhibit - for a socially distant, COVID-safe, and broader reach exhibition. Please check out the links to view the video as well as the catalogue!

Thank you for supporting the arts, CCP!

Burlington City Arts Auction

I’m so excited to be a part of BCA’s 50/50 auction during the last week of September! Supporting local artists, especially right now, is so important and Burlington City Arts has always been so contributory of the arts in the greater Burlington area. In April, they created the Artist Relief Fund, which provided funding (all individual contributions!!) to over 80 local artists who had been affected by the pandemic. Their next plan to provide support for artists while simultaneously raising money for their own education and scholarship funds is this 50/50 auction. During the last week of September, my piece Pura Vida 8 (above) along with many other great artists’ pieces, will be available for bidding - all online to minimize crowd gathering!

Please consider supporting BCA and all the local artists who are participating in this event. Details on the event can be found at the Burlington City Arts website

Thank you all for your continuous support of my work, and your love of the arts!

Art Hop 2020

What a summer it’s been! As we see things opening back up and retuning to a ~ new normal ~ , I made the decision to join SEABA’s newly structured and virus conscious Art Hop 2020. With pieces in an online juried show, and studio visits by appointment, I hope that we all can come together (kind of) and appreciate the arts and all our wonderful local artists in the Vermont. This is all happening next weekend, September 11-13th!

My new studio is loving all the natural lighting and wall space the Vaults has. I hope you can stop by, or view all the pieces online! I want to engage with as many people as I can, in whatever way is most comfortable to you. Send me a message via email and we can schedule a time for you to come visit! If you want to stay home, we can figure out another way for you to be a part of this wonderful tradition in the South End in Burlington.

Hopefully I’ll see you soon!

6 Word Stories

While participating in the Vermont Art’s Council Economic Recovery Forum, we were asked to write short “6 word stories” about our experiences with COVID. Again, I am seeing words and stories come together with my art. I love all these opportunities to explore, learn, and push my creative boundaries. My words are published on the Vermont Art’s Council website, as well as some other incredible words. I recommend taking a look! Here are two of my favorites:

I was made for this moment.

Trisha Denton

I cried when the music stopped.

Joshua Collier

Read all the 6 word stories here

Put Your Words In My Art!

A few months ago, I started to become intrigued by words, letters, and the shapes they make. I found an incredibly interesting article about the importance of a word, which spoke on the a new concept of deciding a “Word of the Year” as opposed to a “New Years Resolution” (read my full blog post on that here.)

I picked the word origin for my word of the year. I wanted to focus on the “pinprick of inspiration” of my thoughts which lead to my art compositions and ideas. Then everything came to a standstill. As the world around us changed, I found that my word was changing as well. My post-quarantine/new word is now evolve. I chose this because COVID-19 emphasized to me how nothing is linear, and we are all part of a giant ecological evolution.

While going through this process, I knew I wanted to create something out of it. Thus this “word collage” idea came to be! Please contribute and help me create something beautiful for you!

Here’s my pitch:

I want to create a printmaking collage using your words. If you collaborate, you’ll get to see the completed piece and make a copy.

To participate (please do!), give me 2 words - one words from before COVID-19 and one word from after. If you want to put in a sentence using your words, feel free - I may put it in an art story piece. For ideas on what words to use, go to my “Importance of a Word” blog post and look through the examples there.

To enter your word, send me a message on Instagram (@caseyblanchardstudios) or email me at casey@caseyblanchard.com

This is going to be so much fun, and I can’t wait to see what we create together! PS. Send this along! Share it with anyone you think would want to be a part of this. Spread ART!

May Flowers

Happy May! Let’s hope all the April (snow) showers bring us some happy flowers. Here are a couple poking through in Meredith’s backyard :)

The best part of spring is the rebirth and return of all these beautiful things! In spite of the impact of COVID-19, spring is emerging in Vermont and our thoughts can lean towards healthy food. Check out these artist designed seed packets I found at the Red Wagon Garden in Hinesburg.

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What’s your favorite thing to watch bloom in the springtime?

A Simple Quote

“Life is not about maximizing everything, it’s about giving something back - like light, space, form, serenity, joy. You have to give something back”

— Glenn Murcutt

Glen Murcutt, Australian architect, born 1936

Glenn Murcutt is a man who believes in the pencil, the hand, the paper, the line, the gesture!

Blue Horses

Below is a poem written by Mary Oliver, accompanied with a painting from Franz Marc.

Franz Marc was born in Munich in 1880. He was a part of the Blue rider group of painters, to which Wassily Kandinsky also belonged. in 1916, while serving in the army, he was struck in the temple by shrapnel and fatally wounded. He was 36 years old.

I step into the painting of the four blue horses.

I am not even surprised that I can do this.

One of the horses walks toward me.

His blue nose noses me lightly. I put my arm

over his blue man, not holding on, just

commingling.

He allows me my pleasure.

Franz Marc died a young man, shrapnel in his brain.

I would rather die than try to explain to the blue horses

what war is.

They would either faint in horror, or simply

find it impossible to believe. .

I do not know how to thank you, Franz Marc.

Maybe our world will grow kinder eventually.

Maybe the desire to make something beautiful

is the piece of God that is inside each of us.

Now all four horses have come closer,

are bending their faces toward me

as if they have secrets to tell.

I don’t expect them to speak, and they don’t.

if being so beautiful isn’t enough, what

could they possibly say?

This was taken from Mary Oliver’s book

of poems “Blue Horses”

2014 Penguin Books