R. Geoffrey Blackburn's Profile

From: Salt Lake City, UT
Joined: November 20, 2007
www.rgeoffreyblackburn.com

About rgeoffrey:

Synopsis:
Born in the1940’s, R. Geoffrey Blackburn began his professional fine arts career in 1970. He has taught art and worked in various art-related fields his entire professional life. While in England, in the early 1970's, he was the principle artist for an international magazine.
Although he has studied art both privately and at the University of Utah, he is essentially self-taught. His first recognition as an artist came at the age of eight when his work won first prize at the annual exhibit at the Old Mission at San Juan Capistrano, CA.
During the last uranium boom of the 1970’s, Blackburn co-owned and operated a mining and exploration company, North American Resources Corp. working out of Moab, UT, which was how he came to focus on red rock landscapes.
Blackburn’s art has been widely exhibited, collected and has hung in the White House and appeared on national television. In 1987, he invented a new, user-interactive art form for which he received a US Patent in 1990. His work is frequently commissioned by collectors.

During the last great uranium boom of the 1970’s, R. Geoffrey Blackburn co-owned and operated a mining and exploration company, North American Resources Corp. based in Salt Lake City, operating out of Moab, Utah.
He prospected, staked claims, drilled, and promoted uranium properties all over the Colorado Plateau. On occasion, he even confronted armed claim jumpers. He wheeled and dealed with local claim owners and major energy companies often doing million dollar deals on napkins in bars and restaurants into the wee hours. During this period Blackburn met with the legendary Charlie Stein and the late mining magnate, adventurer, and art collector, Maxie L. Anderson (the first balloonist to cross the Atlantic Ocean). Impressed with Blackburn’s work Mr. Anderson, subsequently purchased and commissioned paintings including the original oil painting "Red Canyons" which was the basis of the “Red Canyons” serigraph that President Reagan displayed in the White House and which appeared on an episode of the “Murder She Wrote” TV show.
Working and living in canyon country, Blackburn was captivated by the amazing red rock vistas around Moab. He soon began doing photo studies and sketches of the scenes he encountered prospecting in the area. When he returned to Salt Lake City, he turned many of these studies and sketches into paintings—a practice he continues to this day.
Although he has studied art both privately and at the University of Utah, he is essentially self-taught. His first recognition as an artist came at the age of eight when his work won first prize at the annual exhibit at the world-famous Old Mission at San Juan Capistrano, California. Blackburn has spent time in Europe studying the work of the Renaissance Masters. While in England, in the early 1970's, he was the principle artist for an international magazine.

In late 1987 Blackburn "fathered" an exciting new art form he calls "Multi-Dimensionalism." This user-interactive, total-experience art form is so unique that he was granted a patent for it by the U. S. Patent Office. Of this new art form, Vern Swanson, Director of the Springville Museum, wrote ". . . I was captivated by the beauty, peacefulness and stimulating quality of Blackburn's creation. I fully recommend this radical new innovation . . . We believe that his work will make an important contribution to society for the immediate future, bringing art back to the people."