photo: Jeremy Addington

Blake was born in 1943 in Toronto and is a contemporary of experimental performance musicians like the Velvet Underground and Laurie Anderson, all of whom were strongly influenced by the Beat poets who came before them.

As a performance poet, Blake began writing at age 15 in Toronto. The habit persisted and he now has more than 40 years of writing, teaching, performing and recording. After travelling in Europe in the early 1960s, he returned inspired to participate in multi-media experimental art with a group known as “Intersystems” in Toronto. They performed and showed for several years, touring Canada and the US. Two of their albums (Peachy Intersystems and Free Psychedelic Poster Inside) have recently been re-issued on the Streamline label.
         
Blake moved out West in the ‘70s and raised a family with Monica Carpendale in the Slocan Valley, BC. There, he continued to compose poetry for performance, often with music. Among other projects, he collaborated with Theatre Energy, a group whose primarily self-scripted work focused on the social and political dynamics of the local scene.
         
From 1987 to 1993 Blake studied at Simon Fraser University, receiving a BA and MA in Anthropology. His studies emerged to focus on the symbology of medical systems worldwide, with his thesis investigating the symbolism of the body in Wilhelm Reich's techniques, which establish the biological and emotional/sexual basis of neurosis.

He currently lives in Nelson, BC, having for the last several years engaged in graphic design for Blue Heron Productions—a company he and his partner started—to design & market therapeutic board games. They have nine board games to date. See the  Blue Heron site for more information. Blake also teaches research methods and lectures on psychoanalysis & symbolic interpretation at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute. 
         
His present work aims at the integration of his academic studies of cross-cultural healing, ritual and myth and his lifelong involvement with performance poetry. He is particularly interested in the cross-fertilization that occurs when working with performers in the other arts, i.e. music, video, theatre and dance.

He’s recently developed a small computer-based digital recording studio with non-linear video editing capabilities and is currently engaged in producing several experimental audio and visual works.

Blake was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2002 and underwent intensive chemotherapy & radiation in Kelowna, BC. The treatment was initially deemed a success but in July of 2004, the cancer returned and he is now officially a “terminal case.” This fact has prompted him to resign from his presidency of the David Thompson Cultural Centre, where most of his energies had been focused, in order to concentrate on his own creative work and family. During his tenure at the DTCC, he helped create an artist-run gallery, bringing in many various performances including theatre, music and poetry. He also sits on the board of the Kootenay Film & Video Co-op.