Richard Marquis
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Richard "Dick" Marquis (born 1945) is an American studio glass artist. One of the first Americans ever to work in a
Venetian glass Venetian glass () is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techniques, as well as ...
factory, he became a master of Venetian cane and
murrine Murrine (singular: murrina) are colored patterns or images made in a glass cane that are revealed when the cane is cut into thin cross-sections. Murrine can be made in infinite designs from simple circular or square patterns to complex detailed d ...
techniques. He is considered a pioneer of American contemporary glass art, and is noted for his quirky, playful work that incorporates flawless technique and underlying seriousness about form and color.


Early life and education

Richard Marquis was born on September 17, 1945, in Bumble Bee, Arizona, the second son of an itinerant grocery-store worker and a ceramics-hobbying mother. Marquis and his older brother were the first persons in his parents' families to finish high school, and he was the first to attend college. As a child he began a life-long absorption with collecting found and scavenged objects in categories (cigar bands, bottle caps), though the collections disappeared each time the family moved. He also engaged in building hobby models. Because of disagreements with his father, Marquis left home at fifteen, though he remained in his Southern California high school, where he developed an interest in ceramics. In 1963 he moved to the San Francisco area and began architecture studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He became more and more interested in ceramics, studying with Peter Voulkos and Ron Nagle. His quirky style was influenced by the funky environment surrounding Voulkos and the other Berkeley ceramicists of the time. After Marvin Lipofsky began a glass program at Berkeley in 1964, Marquis was attracted to glass, and by 1967 he had established his own studio. He earned his BA degree at Berkeley in 1969. In 1969, Marquis was awarded a Fulbright-Hays fellowship to work on
Murano Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was o ...
, in
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, Italy. Given the title of guest designer in the
Venini Venini were a British artrock band, featuring members of Pulp and Ladytron, who were active between the years 1998 and 2001. History Guitarist and violinist Russell Senior left Pulp in 1997 and began writing and demoing songs with vocalist/ly ...
factory, he worked his way through the glassblowing line, watching the masters, making drawings, and then doing it himself. As he mastered the
murrine Murrine (singular: murrina) are colored patterns or images made in a glass cane that are revealed when the cane is cut into thin cross-sections. Murrine can be made in infinite designs from simple circular or square patterns to complex detailed d ...
techniques, Marquis realized he could use them to make objects with colorful patterns, and even to embed lettered words in blown objects. Many of his early objects, inspired by his Berkeley free-speech-movement days, were shaped like oversized recreational drug capsules, and included American flags, hammer-and-sickle symbols, and four-letter ''f-bombs''. Returning to the US in 1970, Marquis taught for a year at the University of Washington, then returned to Berkeley to earn his M.A. in glass in 1972. His thesis was on the making of murrine and their use, and for his exhibition he made two canes that could be cut into murrine: one of the American flag, and the second a remarkable and complex word-cane of the entire ''Lord's Prayer''. Murrine cane can be stretched out to any desired diameter, so that the wording in the prayer can be easily readable, or reduced to the size of a pinhead. For several years, Marquis included ''Lord's Prayer'' murrine of various sizes in his work.


Career and work

Following his M.A., Marquis maintained his headquarters in Berkeley. Over the ensuing years, he operated several studios, some in partnership with other artists, where he did production work (e.g. murrine marbles) both for income and to improve his skills, as well as original work. In the first few years, he traveled extensively, visiting Central America, Europe, the Far East, and Australia (twice). On many of these trips, he taught glassblowing techniques and established workshops. In 1977 he accepted a teaching position at UCLA, and from 1977 to 1982, he commuted weekly between teaching in LA and his studio in Berkeley. In 1982 he pulled up stakes in both California locations, and moved entirely to an island in Puget Sound, where he maintains his studio today. For a few years, he continued a production enterprise, which he terminated at about the time of his marriage in 1987. Throughout his career, Marquis developed and refined glassblowing techniques, and explored experimental directions, some successful, some not. Of one experiment, a set of blown glass and neon heads, he said "I had this need to go backward, to do something entirely stupid.". He engaged in collaboration with other artists including Therman Statom and Dante Marioni, learning and perfecting new techniques and approaches, which were then reflected in his own work; and at the same time teaching, and influencing the work of those with whom he collaborated. Marquis's body of work is characterized by a large number of series, often clearly evolving from one to the next. The work is "deceptively irreverent, playful, and frequently witty", but with amazingly perfected technique and a great deal of attention to form and color, and frequently with reference to classical glass shapes. There are also a number of signature forms, most notably murrine teapots, but also including geometric shapes, zanfirico handles, eggs, and elephants. Found objects, from Marquis's innumerable collections, are often included in his pieces.


Personal life

Marquis married Johanna Nitzke, a painter and former arts administrator and gallery director, in 1987. They maintain a home and studios on an island in Puget Sound, and the space, both indoors and out, is filled with Marquis's many collections. "Because Marquis is a collector, and his collections are vast, they are important in terms of understanding his work. His collecting 'categories' include Model A Ford Trucks, Studebakers, metal advertising signs, old pump insect sprayers, rubber squeeze toys, salt shakers, graniteware, anything with a Mexican Siesta or English Setter motif, Hallware, Aloha shirts (he sold this collection to the musician Rod Stewart), push-button knives, paint-by-number paintings, burnt match furniture, outboard motors, old slide viewers, Christmas bubble lights, kid's chemistry sets from the 1940s and 1950s, Fiesta tableware, old cans, bamboo fly rods, fat pencils, and expired, unexposed film. Vintage bowling balls, repurposed as building blocks, are stacked in a large pyramid next to the studio ... "


Selected solo exhibitions:

*1969
Palomar College Palomar College is a public community college in San Diego County, California. The main campus is in San Marcos and three centers and four education sites are located elsewhere throughout north San Diego County. Academics Palomar College off ...
, San Marcos, CA *1976 Tasmanian Art Museum, Hobart, Tasmania *1976 Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston, Tasmania *1978 Peabody College Art Gallery, Nashville, TN *1989 Auckland Art Museum, New Zealand *1997-98 "Richard Marquis Objects: 1967-1997,"
Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in ...
, Seattle, WA *2002 Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark *2003 "A Commentary on Nature and the Indy 500,"
Museum of Northwest Art The Museum of Northwest Art (also referred to as MoNA) is an art museum located in La Conner, Washington La Conner is a town in Skagit County, Washington, United States with a population of 965 at the 2020 census. It is included in the ...
, LaConner, WA *2007 "The Way of the Artist," Fullerton Art Gallery, CSU, Fullerton, CA *2013 "Masters of Studio Glass: Richard Marquis,"
Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning (city), New York, Corning, New York, United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Incorporated, Corning Glass Works and currently has a ...
, Corning, NY *2019 "Dick's Works",
Museum of Glass The Museum of Glass (MOG) is a contemporary art museum in Tacoma, Washington, dedicated to the medium of glass. Since its founding in 2002, the Museum of Glass has been committed to creating a space for the celebration of the studio glass movem ...
, Tacoma, WA


Awards and honors

*1963 National Merit Scholarship *1966 Eisner Prize for Design, U.C. Berkeley *1967 President's Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley *1969
Fulbright Grant The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
, Venice, Italy (Venini & Co.) *1974, 75, 76 Australian Crafts Council Grant *1974, 78, 81, 90
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
Grant *1979, 80, 81, 82 Research Grant, U.C.L.A. *1982, 88 Fulbright-Hayes Grant (Senior), New Zealand *1995 Elected to the College of Fellows of the American Crafts Council, New York *1995 Selected Distinguished Alumnus, College of Environmental Design, U.C. Berkeley *2000 Outstanding Achievement in Glass, Urban Glass, New York *2004 Libensky Award, Pilchuck Glass School and Artist Series Meritage, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Woodinville, WA *2005 Lifetime Achievement Award, Glass Art Society *2006 Lifetime Achievement Award, Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass *2009 James Renwick Alliance Masters of the Medium Award,
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
, Washington DC *2010 Neddy Artist Fellowship, The Behnke Fellowship, Seattle, WA


Public collections


United States

*
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
**
Mobile Museum of Art The Mobile Museum of Art (MMofA) is an art museum located in Mobile, Alabama. It features extensive art collections from the United States, Europe, and non-western art. The museum hosts exhibitions, multi-disciplinary programs (including film, ...
, Mobile, AL *
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
**Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA **
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...
, de Young Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA **
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...
, Los Angeles, CA *
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
**Lannan Foundation Museum, Palm Beach, FL - Palm Beach Community College Museum of Art *
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
**Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN **
Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...
, Indianapolis, IN *
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
**J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY *
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
**
New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...
, New Orleans, LA *
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
**American Glass Museum, Millville, NJ **The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ *
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
**
Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning (city), New York, Corning, New York, United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Incorporated, Corning Glass Works and currently has a ...
, Corning, New York, NY **
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, New York, NY ** Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY (formerly American Craft Museum) *
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
**Mint Museum of Art/Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC *
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
**
The Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
, Toledo, OH *
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
**Carnegie Mellon Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA **
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
, Philadelphia, PA *
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
**Museum of Art,
Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...
, Providence, RI *
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
**
Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in ...
, Seattle, WA ** Seattle First National Bank, Seattle, WA **Seattle Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Seattle, WA **Swedish Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle, WA **Prescott Collection of Pilchuck Glass at U.S. Bank Center (Seattle), Seattle, WA *
Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
**
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; 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 one of the world's lar ...
, Washington, D.C. *
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
**Johnson Wax Collection, Racine, WI ** Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI


Australia

*
Australian Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announc ...
, Sydney, Australia *
Australian National Gallery The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
, Canberra, Australia *City Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia *Tasmanian Art Museum, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia *
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...
, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia *
Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explori ...
, Sydney, Australia *
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery The Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery (QVMAG) is a museum located in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest museum in Australia not located in a capital city. History The foundation stone for the original building to house the ...
, Launceton, Australia


Canada

*
Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...
, Toronto, Canada


Denmark

* Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft, Denmark


England

*
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, London, England


Finland

*Finnish National Glass Museum, Riihimaki, Finland


Germany

*Kunstmuseum, im Ehrenhof, Düsseldorf, Germany *Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany


Holland

*National Glasmuseum, Leerdam, Holland


Japan

*New Glass Museum, Tsukuba, Japan *Koganezaki Glass Museum, Shizuoka, Japan *Sea of Japan Collection *World Modern Glass Arts Museum, Hiroshima, Japan


New Zealand

* Dowse Art Museum, Wellington, New Zealand *Museum of Art, Auckland, New Zealand *National Art Museum, Auckland, New Zealand


Switzerland

* Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland


References


Bibliography

* pp. 110–111. * * pp. 152–155. * pp 138–141. * * pp. 67–69. * Plates 93-96. * pp 163–165.


External links


2006 Oral History interview with Mija Riedel for Archives of American Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marquis, Richard American glass artists Living people People from Yavapai County, Arizona Sculptors from Arizona University of California, Berkeley alumni 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American male artists American contemporary artists Glassblowers Pacific Northwest artists 1945 births