Everett Noel

July 1–16, 2023

Blunk Space is pleased to present Everett Noel, July 1–16, an exhibition of handmade knives inspired by the work of JB Blunk.

Everett Noel (b. 1998) grew up in the Sierra Foothills of California, where he spent most of his time in the woods around his family home and made his first knife at age thirteen. “When I finished my first knife, I knew that I wanted to do things differently on the next one, and it’s been like that ever since: Each knife I’ve made has inspired me to make another,” he says.

Noel’s hand is evident throughout the production process. He orders blocks of steel to heat, cut, and hammer into shape, and repurposes files and rasps into blades. He carves elegant handles of wood sourced from his property and, most recently, the wood stash at Blunk’s house. For his knife Western Santoku, Noel used a piece of Bishop pine that had recently been felled outside the sculptor’s driveway. 

Each knife in the exhibition is in dialogue with a work by Blunk. Noel decided to respond to specific ceramics, jewelry, and sculptures he discovered while reading the monograph JB Blunk and visiting the artist’s home and studio over the past four years. For example, Noel’s Man in Steel Ulu mirrors the silhouette of Blunk’s stone sculpture Man in Stone from 1995-1997. 

Noel perceives his knives as functional pieces of art and hopes they will inspire daily use, developing the special patina that only comes with such handling and care. He derives inspiration from the natural world—the curve of rocks in the Yuba River, the branch of an oak tree—and for this exhibition, the work of Blunk.