Emery O. Blagdon (July 25, 1907 – June 1, 1986) was an American artist.

Biography

Blagdon was self-taught and did not receive formal art training. From the late 1950s until his death in 1986, Blagdon created a constantly changing installation of paintings and sculptures in a small building on his Nebraska farm. He believed in the power of "earth energies" and in his own ability to channel such forces in a space that, through constant adjusting and aesthetic power, could alleviate pain and illness. Blagdon used found materials like hay baling wire, magnets, and remnant paints from farm sales, but he also sought out special ingredients like salts and other "earth elements" through a nearby pharmacy. He called the individual pieces his "pretties," but collectively they composed ''The Healing Machine''. Blagdon worked on his ''Healing Machine'' for more than three decades, tending, tinkering with, and reorganizing its components every day and, in his own words, "according to the phases of the moon." He believed it was a functional machine in which energies were drawn upward from the building's earthen floor into the space, where they could bounce around and remain dynamic. Blagdon died of cancer on June 1, 1986, and was interred at McCain Cemetery. His work has been displayed at the

John Michael Kohler Arts Center The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is an independent, not-for-profit contemporary art museum and performing arts complex located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States.Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

References

1907 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American male artists People from Custer County, Nebraska Burials in Nebraska Self-taught artists {{US-artist-stub