Marquiscarpas and Dog Pieces: 1990s
“While Dale Chihuly is the tide that raised all boats, Marquis
is the craft intelligence that made the vessels seaworthy. He taught
the second generation of American glass artists that skill extends
freedom instead of limiting it.” – Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-
Intelligencer, Art Critic’s review of Whole Elk Theory at the Elliott
Brown Gallery, July 6, 2001.
Marquis, according to his “whole elk theory,” wastes nothing,
saves everything, and tries to use every bit of the glass he creates
on current or future projects. In the early ’90s, his stock of patterned
murrine and Scarpa’s work made at Venini before and after World
War II inspired a new series. “But the objects in my head looked
exactly like the things Scarpa had made. I was in New Zealand
walking on a beach with Lino and Dante, and Lino said, ‘Make
them anyway, close to the originals, and soon they will change and
be your own work.’ Lino came up with the name, Marquiscarpas.
Essentially, I’d gotten permission from an Italian maestro to go
there.” Although the work did indeed change quickly, people in the
know will note the Scarpa influence.
In 1997 the monograph Richard Marquis Objects was published,
and a retrospective exhibition of the same name was held at the
Seattle Art Museum. Shooting and coordinating all of his own
images for the book required the artist to take a year and a half off
from object making.
Eventually work on the Marquiscarpas resumed, but not without
challenges. Marquis had compatibility problems brought on by the
combination of German color rods and the colors he made himself.
Daniel Schwoerer and Lani McGregor suggested that Marquis come
to Bullseye Glass Co. in Portland, Oregon, and try his process using
their tested-compatible Bullseye glass. Today, Marquis continues
to use Bullseye, not only for the Marquiscarpas but for all of his
Slab Constructions. “I owe Dan and Lani a lot.”
Richard Marquis, Marquiscarpa #2000-6, fused,
slumped, blown, and wheel carved glass, murrine
technique, 5" x 4-1/4" x 3-1/2", 2000.Richard Marquis and Therman Statom, Untitled
Installation at San Jose Museum of Art, glass,
mixed media, found objects, 1986.12 • Glass Art TM • May/June 2016 http://www.GlassArtMagazine.com