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Cosmos in Clay

Northeast Minneapolis ceramic artist Josh Blanc is anything but typical

Photo by Eric Moore

Crème brûlée-colored house numbers, Grueby green field tiles for backsplashes, and thick terra cotta tiles layered with oak or maple leaves—ceramics artist Josh Blanc makes them all. But what really fires his neurons is his Cosmic Collection, a mix-and-match series he launched a few years ago that allows homeowners to use his tiles in custom wall assemblages—handmade tiles used as art rather than simply bathroom accents. These “Cosmic” tiles are like molten imagination made real—that maps of the Milky Way, lazy rolls of vivid cumulus clouds, and eerie streaks of aqua that resemble racing comets. “I’m passionate about everything that I make, but the Cosmic Collection—that’s a real creative outlet for me,” says Blanc. His work is on display at Clay Squared to Infinity, the open studio-cum-gallery showroom that he owns with wife and fellow clay aficionado, Layl McDill. In addition to stocking their own works, McDill and Blanc carry tiles from 20-some other tilemakers from around the region, as well as the historic reproduction tile lines. Housed in the Northeast Minneapolis Keg House, once part of the Grain Belt Brewery complex, Clay Squared is one of the beating hearts of Minneapolis’ arts district; it’s an education center, a gallery, and a meeting place for the Handmade Tile Association, which Blanc helped found.

Growing up in Vermont, Blanc, now 37, never imagined the life he leads now. Unlike his wife—“who knew she was an artist from the time she was born”—Blanc never cultivated an interest in art, and he didn’t grow up in an artistic family. But his school brought in a potter’s wheel when he was in ninth grade, and that changed everything. “For the first time, I had something I was actually pretty good at,” he says. He earned his degree in ceramics arts from Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio, and settled in Minneapolis in 1994.

Eric Moore

As a tilemaker, Blanc’s methods are remarkably low-tech—Egyptians used the same techniques thousands of years ago. For his Cosmic Collection, he hand rolls each tile and then leaves the surface smooth or stamped to create an organic bas-relief image. He selects from two to 10 glazes for each tile, and then melts the hues together at 2,000 degrees to create one-of-a-kind mini-masterpieces that resemble color-drenched photographs from space.

No matter what he’s making, Blanc always uses a special mixture of terra cotta, which can be used both indoors and out, and should last more than 100 years. Blanc cheerily admits that, due to the tile’s durability and punchy appearance, he’s eagerly anticipating the day when a client will rid themselves of any inhibitions and allow him to cover the entire outside façade of a house or “at least one chimney.”

Until that day, he’ll continue to do the kitchen backsplashes and “Cosmic” assemblages for which he’s become well known among area collectors. That, and serving as an unrelenting proponent for the visual power of handmade tile. “Manufactured tile is almost too perfect,” Blanc says. “But handmade tile breathes, it has a life of its own.”

Haily Gostas is a Minneapolis freelance writer. Additional reporting by Alyssa Ford.

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