Edward M. Blackburn III

Ed Blackburn, age 82, from Fort Worth, died July 31, 2022. He taught painting and drawing at UNT from Sept. 1, 1994, to Aug. 31, 2017. Born in 1940 in Amarillo, Texas, Blackburn earned a B.F.A. from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1962 and an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, Calif., in 1965. 

He created art with his wife of 57 years, artist Linda Blackburn, and was primarily considered a painter but has worked as a printmaker, writer, poet, musician, and filmmaker. He was the recipient of two separate National Endowments for the Arts Grants for painting in 1977-1978 and 1989-1990, and in 2010 he was awarded the Distinguished Texas Artist Award. His work can be linked to historical art movements such as Photorealism and Pop Art but overall defies categorization.

Art by Blackburn can be seen in the UNT Libraries Digital Library and online through the Rudolph Blume Fine Art ArtScan Gallery and YouTube. 

GlassTire: Ed Blackburn, 1940-2022