Colleen Blackard (b. 1987)
Colleen Blackard connects external and internal landscapes through monotype printmaking, drawing, and installation. She received her MFA in Studio Art at The University of Texas in Austin in 2024, and her BA from Hampshire College, MA in 2009.
She is the recipient of international residencies and fellowships such as Atelierhaus Hilmsen in Germany, Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat in Co. Kerry, Ireland, Jentel in Wyoming, and PLAYA in Oregon. In 2017, she was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. In 2024, she received the Dorothy Antoinette LaSelle Travel Fellowship, and she is the 2025 recipient of the Jerry Manson Residency at Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Austin, TX.
Her work has been exhibited internationally in galleries such as ACA Galleries and Owen James Gallery in NYC, Mönchskirche Gallery in Germany, ISSO Gallery in Tokyo, Foltz Fine Art in Houston, and SPRING/BREAK Art Show. Her drawings are in Pierogi Gallery’s Flat Files and she was interviewed for their artists’ Q&A.
In 2021, her solo exhibition, “The Abandoned Series: Returning,” at Redbud Gallery in Houston was awarded “Top 5 shows in Texas” by Glasstire. Her work has been featured in Drawing Magazine, Artspace, and the Japanese travel show, “Hotel no Madokora.”
Her work is currently represented by Foltz Fine Art in Houston, TX.
You can also find her ballpoint drawings and paintings on Saatchi. Prints of her drawings can be found here.
Artist Statement
My artwork blends landscape and myth to create an otherworld for viewers to enter. I utilize methods of printmaking, drawing, and installation to connect external landscapes to memories and dreams. As part of my process, I travel to remote sites and create artwork to share my experiences of these places with the local community and abroad.
During Midsommar on Bornholm Island in Denmark, I discovered a standing stone in a forest clearing. I sketched the stone and listened to birdsong. Months later in the studio, I recalled the experience through my monotypes. My emotions shaped my memories, and the resulting artwork blends both inner and outer realms with the printmaking transfer process, creating a world of its own. I created “Ghost Forest Installation,” in which viewers could walk through the reimagined landscape. In “Memory of Stone,” I used the 3x5ft bed of the press as my printmaking plate. My hands remembered the stone’s texture and I used my height to recall its scale. I created various versions to hold different pieces of my memories. Together these fractured memories form a new stone alignment. The pine plantation surrounding the original site was at once cavernous and dense. To activate a similar space, I created the “Ghost Forest” veil monotypes. During the show, I invited a Norwegian folk musician to perform, further bringing the experience to life.
Download Colleen Blackard CV
EDUCATION
2024 MFA Studio Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
2020 Painting Marathon with Fran O’Neill, New York Studio School, NYC
2009 BA Studio Arts, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
HONORS AND AWARDS/ GRANTS
2024 Dorothy Antoinette LaSelle Foundation Travel Fellowship, October 2024
2023 Constance Forsyth Scholarship in Printmaking, University of Texas, Austin, July 2023
2021 Top 5 Shows in Texas, Glasstire | Texas Visual Art News and Reviews, April 2021
2017 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, August 2017
2011 Top 150 NYC entries, Curate NYC, exhibition at Rush Arts Gallery, Chelsea, NY, December 2011
2011 1st place, Greenpoint Gallery Annual Drawing Salon Show, December 2011
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026
An Unfound Door, Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Austin, TX (Upcoming)
2021
The Abandoned Series: Returning, Redbud Gallery, Houston, TX
2016
The Abandoned Series, ACA Galleries Benefit Event, Chelsea, NY
2012
Shifting Perceptions, Orchard Windows Gallery, Lower East Side, NY
Fading Memories; Emerging Spirit, Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009
For the Universe, Hampshire College Main Gallery, MA
RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Marfa Invitational Open, Marfa, TX
Red Dot Art Spree, Women & Their Work, Austin, TX
Collective Minds, Flatbed Press, Austin, TX
Cosmic Tapestry, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX
Feeling Big, Being Small, Contracommon, Bee Cave, TX
2024
Conversation in the Thousand Acres, Sage Gallery, Sheridan, WY
Red Dot Art Spree, Women & Their Work, Austin, TX
Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX
Art Gallery Le Logge, Assisi, Italy
Visions of Nature – Juried by Gabriel de Guzman, Site:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
McNay Print Fair 2024 with Foltz Fine Art, San Antonio, TX
All Else, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Visual Arts Center, Austin, TX
2023
Calico, Brooklyn, NY
Texas Emerging Volume 4, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX
Reflection, curated by Nicole Basilone, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY
Red Dot Art Spree, Women & Their Work, Austin, TX
Mönchskirche Gallery, Salzwedel, Germany
2022
Calico, Brooklyn, NY
Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT
Davis Gallery, Austin, TX
The Royal Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2021
Jason McCoy Gallery, NYC
Kean University, Union, NJ
Glade Gallery, The Woodlands, TX
2020
Calicornucopia 9, Calico, Brooklyn, NY
AHA Gallery, Queens, NY
2019
Calicornucopia 8, Calico, Brooklyn, NY
Myeongdong International Art Festival, Seoul, KR
Hampshire College Benefit, Mrs. Gallery, NYC
Postcards from the Edge, Visual Aids, Bortolami, NYC
2018
Calicornucopia 7, Calico Brooklyn, Greenpoint, NY
Your Presence is Requested, Arcilesi Homberg Fine Art at SFA Projects, Lower East Side, NY
2017
Vitamin C, Abrons Art Center, Lower East Side, NY
Single Fare 4, Highline Stages, Chelsea, NY
ACA Galleries Event, Chelsea, NY
2016
Sla307 Non-Profit Art Space, New York, NY
Columbia University, New York, NY
BFP Creative, Brooklyn, NY
Owen James Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2015
Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Protégé, New York, NY
ISSO Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Postcards from the Edge, Visual Aids, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2024
Glasstire, Dorothy Antoinette LaSelle Foundation Announces Travel Fellowship Awardees, Glasstire.
Sheridan Media, Jentel Residency Artists Return to Share Work, sheridanmedia.com.
Canvas Rebel, Meet Colleen Blackard, canvasrebel.com.
2021
Artspace Editors, Colleen Blackard – ‘From an early age I found it easier to communicate with gestures and pictures than with words’, Artspace.
Glasstire,Top Five: April 1, 2021, Glasstire.
Alan V. Keane, The Source, Ireland, Alan Keane Art. Print.
Ashleigh S. Wilkerson, Art on Call with Colleen Blackard, MOST Influential Art Magazine: 30. Print.
2018
Claire Selvin, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Names 2017–18 Grantees, ARTnews.
2017
Austin R. Williams, New & Notable: Colleen Blackard, Drawing Magazine: 80. Print.
Austin R. Williams, Why Colleen Blackard is an Artist to Watch, Artists Network.
Julia Moak, Thursday Spotlight: Colleen Blackard Travels At Lightspeed Into Infinity with Ballpoint Pen, Greenpointers.com.
2016
Stephanie Theodore, See My Friends: Owen James Gallery, Two Coats of Paint.
2015
Audrey Irving, Colleen Blackard Q&A, Pierogi Gallery.
Art Exhibit That Celebrates Female Artists for Women’s History Month Opens in LIC, NY1 News, New York, NY.
Jamie Martinez, Paper Trails at Van Der Plas Gallery, ArteFuse.
2014
Brooklyn, Hotel no Madokora, BS NTV. BS4, Tokyo. Television.
2013
Six Summit Small Salon event during Ivoryton Illuminations, Shoreline Times, New Haven, CT.
2012
Oscar Laluyan, Colleen Blackard Changes How We Perceive Art, ArteFuse.com.
Alison Pierz, Fairly Slow Art on Governors Island, New York, SlowArtDay.com.
RESIDENCIES
2026 Cork Printmakers Residency, Cork, Ireland (Upcoming)
2025 Cill Rialaig Artist Residency, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry, Ireland (Upcoming)
2025 Lucid Art Foundation, Inverness, CA
2025 Jerry Manson Residency, Flatbed Press, Austin, TX
2024 Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, WY
2024 Arte Studio Ginestrelle, Assisi, Italy
2023 Atelierhaus Hilmsen, Wallstawe, Germany
2021 PLAYA Artist Residency, Summer Lake, OR
2021 Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, WY
2019 Cill Rialaig Artist Residency, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry, Ireland
2013 Women Printmakers of Austin Keyholder Residency, Austin, TX
2010 BetterArt Artist Residency, Better Farm, Redwood, NY
LECTURES AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS
2024 Jentel Presents at Sage Gallery Exhibition, Hosted by Sage Gallery, Sheridan, WY
2023 Fresh from the Studio, Hosted by Women & Their Work, Austin, TX
2021 Jentel Presents, Hosted by Sage Gallery, Sheridan, WY
2020 The Artist’s Well, Hosted by Alan Keane, Dublin, Ireland
2017 Jersey City Art and Studio Tour, 660 Studios, Jersey City, NJ
COLLECTIONS
Marina Tsvetaeva Museum, Moscow, Russia
Amherst College, MA
REPRESENTATION
Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX
Flat Files, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Summer 2025 Monotype Workshop, Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Austin, TX
Summer 2025 Gel Printing Monotype, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Summer 2025 Saturday Sampler: Ballpoint Drawing, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Summer 2025 Monotype Printing with a Press, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Summer 2025 Monotype Printing with a Press, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Spring 2025 Friday Printmaking Studio, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Spring 2025 Ballpoint Drawing, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Spring 2025 Painterly Printmaking, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Spring 2025 Monotype Workshop, The Contemporary Austin Art School, Austin, TX
Nov. 2024 Monotype Workshop, Redbud Arts Center, Houston, TX
Summer 2024 Teaching Assistant, Learning Tuscany: Art and Experience in Central Italy: Art and Pilgrimage in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, University of Texas, Siena, Toscana, Italy
Summer 2024 Teaching Assistant, Learning Tuscany: Photography and Tourism: Observing Travel and Culture in Italy, University of Texas, Siena, Toscana, Italy
Spring 2024 Visiting Artist, Drawing I, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Spring 2024 Teaching Assistant, Beginning Drawing, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Spring 2024 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Print, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Fall 2023 Teaching Assistant, Core 2D, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Fall 2023 Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Lithography, University of Texas, Austin, TX
July 2023 Assistant taught middle-school students silkscreen for the 25th Hanseatic Festival, Salzwedel, Germany
Spring 2023 Teaching Assistant, Painting IV, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Spring 2023 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Print, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Fall 2022 Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Serigraphy, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Fall 2022 Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Lithography, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Fall 2020 Visiting Artist, Printmaking for Non-Majors, taught by Jean Sanders, Pennsylvania State University, PA