From Personal Archive Units to Teapot Goblets: 1980s
Assemblage sculpture was also the method of choice for Ther-
man Statom, with whom Marquis collaborated from 1981 to 1988 in
the creation of large-scale environments using flat glass and found
objects. “It turns out we are the same person. We work in exactly
the same way. Neither of us had fear about what we were doing or
where it was going. We worked quickly and didn’t measure anything.
We called it ‘hard fun.’”
Marquis loved teaching at UCLA but was a fish out of water liv-
ing in Los Angeles. Also, he wasn’t actively honing his glassblowing
skills, because he was always instructing students. He decided to
sacrifice teaching in order to make a “bunch” of things. “In those
days there weren’t hired guns, like the blowers who work nowadays
for people like Dale or Lino, who can get really good because they’re
just making things all the time.” Following a survey of great places
to live, Marquis decided on the Pacific Northwest and opened Noble
Effort Design with friend Ro Purser on Whidbey Island. There he
made objects in service of improving his glassblowing.
Though the Noble Effort partnership dissolved in 1987, Marquis
kept the studio and has now been on Whidbey Island for half of his
life. His acreage on the island is home to house, barn, and studio
outbuildings, wife Johanna’s amazing garden, a couple of cats and,
of course, Marquis’ many collections, from bullet nose Studebakers
and bowling ball pyramids to the smaller collectibles such as his
siesta motif collection, antique oil cans, ballpoint pens, outdated
film, and metal and porcelain signs that adorn his working space.
Richard Marquis, Razzle Dazzle Boat
#10-1, fused and wheel carved glass, slab
technique, 5" x 22" x 6-1/4", 2010.Richard Marquis with his two assistants,
Amy Rueffert and Jeanne Brennan.
Photo by Russell Johnson.8 • Glass Art TM • May/June2016 http://www.GlassArtMagazine.com