Minor Matters Books

Richard Marquis: Keepers
Richard Marquis: Keepers
Richard Marquis: Keepers
Richard Marquis: Keepers
Richard Marquis: Keepers
Richard Marquis: Keepers
Richard Marquis: Keepers
Richard Marquis: Keepers

Richard Marquis: Keepers

$50.00

9.5 x 10.25 inches vertical, 128 pages; hardcover; $50.00 plus shipping

ISBN: 978-1-732-1241-58

By Vicki Halper, with personal anecdotes by artists Nick Mount, Dick Weiss, Lino Tagliapietra, Dante Marioni, and many others

Richard (Dick) Marquis (b. 1945, Arizona; resides in the Pacific Northwest) is a towering figure in the Studio Glass movement. For fifty years he has been invigorating the art world with works embodying a rare combination of finesse, intellect, and whimsy. The recipient of four NEA fellowships and numerous other national and international awards, he embodies, according to curator and author Vicki Halper, the sacred and the profane.

Marquis has been a lifelong collector of mostly odd objects. Among them are bowling balls, tin coffeepots, anvils, and ceramic dogs. It is no surprise, then, that he also amassed his own work— Marquis calls this private stash his “keepers.” It is from his idiosyncratic collection, which represents all periods in his career, that the selection of objects for Richard Marquis: Keepers is drawn. 

Halper worked with Marquis to select works for this retrospective project, then invited a miscellany of his friends, family members, artists, and art historians—including Suzanne K. Frantz, Dante Marioni, Josiah McElheny, Tina Oldknow, Laura deSantillana, Lino Tagliapietra, and many others—to choose pieces to discuss. Their highly varied commentaries form the body of the book. Also included is an extensive chronology written by Marquis that gives his perspective on a prolific career and well-lived life. 

Richard Marquis: Keepers serves as the catalog to an exhibition of the same name that is now on view at Museum of Glass, Tacoma. It will  travel to Wichita Art Museum and other venues. The exhibition is originated by Museum of Glass and Wichita Art Museum. 

Vicki Halper specializes in art of the Pacific Northwest and American craft. She was at the Renwick Gallery, the Seattle Art Museum, and has curated numerous exhibitions in the Northwest including with Bellevue Arts Museum, Museum of Northwest Art, Museum of Glass, Northwest African American Museum, and others. She is the co-editor of Choosing Craft: The Artist's Viewpoint and Morris Graves: Selected Letters, and author of several exhibition catalogs. 

The Museum of Glass (www.museumofglass.org) exists to ignite creativity, fuel discovery, and enrich lives through glass and glassmaking. 

The Wichita Art Museum (www.wichitaartmuseum.org) brings people, ideas, and American art together to enrich lives and build community.