DENISE BARR: SPOTLIGHT EXHIBIT
December 9, 2017 – January 27, 2018
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“I have been involved in the process of making jewelry for over thirty years
I share Dicks obsession with collecting Americana and found objects. The juxtaposition and use of these objects in his work, I find brilliant. Our collections overlap, we trade bottle caps, small Japanese screen-printed tin cars, old dice, vintage pins, etc.
I have always used found objects in my jewelry. I believe they help tell a story, reminding us of our own memories and shared experiences. When I bezel a found treasure, it becomes more precious and can hold it’s own next to any gemstone.
When Dick saw my jewelry, he suggested the possibility of including some of his murrine into the mix. The intricate work that goes into one of his murrina is astounding to me. They are truly special handmade little jewels. I am honored to be given the opportunity to include Dick’s murrine in my jewelry.”
About the work of Dick Marquis:
Above: Dick Marquis, ‘Sphere Pyramid.’ Blown glass, murrine / granulare technique, wood.
“Marquis began the technical groundwork for his pieces in 1969, when he was a Fulbright-Hayes fellow at Venini Fabbrica, an art-glass shop on the Venetian island of Murano, Italy. There he began using murrini, pencil-thin cylindrical glass canes that are embedded with a pattern and are used to create the bits of colored glass found in paperweights. The technique of picking up these bits of glass cane and blowing them into vessel forms was invented by 15th-century Italian glassmakers and introduced to the United States by Marquis. Marquis has mastered this complex technique and, consequently, has the respect of the glass-art community. But instead of exclusively creating scads of beautiful, well-crafted vessels, he also assembles wacky combinations of found and fabricated objects, including the large pyramid of second-hand bowling balls on the grounds of his home and studio.”
- Kate Bonansinga