Andrew Blanchard was born in the wild swamps of Louisiana, though was raised in Waveland, a small beach community on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Like most boys who grew up close to a beach, he fished and swam until the ring of the dinner bell. At a young age, he became fascinated with the bold, curvilinear woodcuts of another Coast native, Walter Anderson. From this early inspiration, he established his love for printmaking.
Blanchard earned a B.A. degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2000 with an emphasis on printmaking and a minor in photography. Shortly thereafter, he traveled to Paris, France to work and study with Frederic Possot, a master lithography printer. This experience solidified his desire to be a lifelong artist-printmaker. In 2004, he earned his M.F.A. degree from The University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS.
In the last four years, Blanchard’s lithographic and photo silkscreen prints have been included in over fifty national and international juried printmaking exhibitions. Recently, he garnered several acquisition awards at the 2009 Pacific States Biennial at the University of Hilo, Hawaii. In addition, his prints have been collected throughout the United States, as well as in France, Bulgaria, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. From 2009 until 2012, his print “Is This My World… I Barely Recognize?” will travel along with others in the 2009 Southern Graphics Council Travelling Exhibition that will open throughout the United States.
Blanchard is currently the Assistant Professor of Printmaking and Photography at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He is also a board member of the Hub-Bub arts initiative, serving as co-curator for their exhibition space, the Showroom Gallery.
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