Richard Marquis: Keepers

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 select