Jean Blackburn is a contemporary sculptor, painter, and educator who “finds ways to re-assemble objects so that they achieve levels of significance and emotional resonance one would barely have imagined possible” (Michael Amy, Sculpture Magazine). Her paintings and sculptures address the domestic settings’ power to shape and reflect our understanding of the world. Blackburn has exhibited her work throughout the US and Internationally, including at the DeCordova Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Aldrich Museum, John Michael Kohler art Center, Neuberger Museum, and the Icrimoti Gallery in Milan. Her work is held in museums and private collections around the world. She teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design and has been awarded the John R. Frazier Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Untitled 2023
Acrylic on digital canvas 50″ x 36″
Artist Statement
The home fascinates me because it is where we start. As we grow up, the things we surround ourselves with in our homes are deeply engrained in us. We are intimately familiar with their surfaces, textures, smells, how they feel. As a sculptor, and as a painter, my work examines the negotiation of cultural model and individual experience in the domestic setting. I cull domestic objects and images that are commonplace, but loaded with assumptions or desires. I manipulate everyday objects to suggest that they, like we, are in a process of redefinition. The boundaries of an object’s definition interest me most. I push my objects until they are on the verge of a multitude of other possibilities.
Additional Info
Artist Website: blackburnartproject.com
Instagram: @jean_blackburn
Part of Growing the NetWorks
This artist was selected by a past NetWorks Rhode Island participant as part of Growing the NetWorks — a 2025 exhibition presented by WaterFire Providence, at the WaterFire Arts Center, celebrating peer-nominated artists from across Rhode Island. Learn more at waterfire.org/growingthenetworks
Highlighting the work of selected artists who have played vital roles in shaping the contemporary visual arts community in Rhode Island. This collection of brief video portraits provides a window into the lives, practices, and cultural contributions of professional artists.
