The Way of the Artist: Reflections on Creativity, and the Life,
Home, Art and Collections of Richard Marquis
April 14 – May 18, 2007
Guest Curator | Barry Behrstock, MD
About the Exhibition
The Way of the Artist includes 64 artworks by glass artist Richard Marquis together with more than 300 objects from his extensive collections of ephemera—hats, rubber toys, buoys, hammers, hose nozzles, oil cans and more. The exhibition focuses uncharacteristically on the home, studio, and collections of the artist, as well as his chosen medium of glass. Historically, galleries and museums have devoted only scant attention to these particulars, yet these are integral parts of every artist’s life and can serve as an avenue to enhanced understanding of an artist’s oeuvre. Dr. Barry Behrstock, curator of the exhibition and author of the accompanying book, brings a fresh perspective to the consideration of what it means to be an artist.
Richard Marquis has been an artist working in glass for more than 40 years. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s, and studied in Italy with the glassmakers at Murano, developing the techniques that have made him a leader in the studio glass movement. He is renowned internationally for his own work as well as for his innovations in glass-working techniques and his teaching acumen.
Barry Behrstock is a physician, writer, photographer and glass artist. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, and his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco. He has published The Parent’s When-Not-to-Worry Book and Lying as Still as I Can, and has participated in numerous international volunteer medical expeditions. His artwork has been included in photography and glass exhibitions.
A 182-page, cloth-bound book, The Way of the Artist, is a thought-provoking collection of essays by Barry Behrstock, illustrating his ideas with glassworks, collections, and photographs from the home and art of Richard Marquis. While exploring Marquis’s way of life as representative of “a life well lived,” Behrstock brings the reader into the game as he muses on Marquis’s creativity. He shares thoughts from Eastern philosophy, quantum physics, and his own experience to highlight and celebrate each individual’s unique importance in the creative human equation.
