Mark Lindquist (born 1949) is an

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sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

in wood,

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, and

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. Lindquist is a major figure in the redirection and resurgence of woodturning in the United States beginning in the early 1970s. His communication of his ideas through teaching, writing, and exhibiting, has resulted in many of his pioneering aesthetics and techniques becoming common practice. In the exhibition catalog for a 1995 retrospective of Lindquist's works at the

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of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, his contributions to woodturning and wood sculpture are described as "so profound and far-reaching that they have reconstituted the field". He has often been credited with being the first turner to synthesize the disparate and diverse influences of the craft field with that of the fine arts world.

Early achievements

Lindquist's work is characterized by an empathy with the natural

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

of wood, technical innovation, and art historical connections. Among his notable early achievements was the introduction of the aesthetic of Asian ceramics into American woodturning. Along with his father, wood turning pioneer Mel Lindquist, he also developed new tools and techniques that expanded the vocabulary of woodturning, and pioneered the use of spalted wood. In the early 1980s, he applied techniques he had developed for large-scale woodturning to create his massive, textured "Totemic Series Sculptures," in the Modernist tradition of Brâncuși.

Ichiboku series

Beginning in 1985, Lindquist created his "Ichiboku series" sculptures: six- to eight-foot-tall () sculptures from a single block of wood, applying the philosophy and techniques of ninth century Japanese Buddhist woodcarving to the formal concepts of

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. Unlike his earlier works, woodturning was not the primary method for their creation. These sculptures were exhibited in 1990 along with seven other influential sculptors of the decade (including

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and

Ursula von Rydingsvard Ursula von Rydingsvard (née Karoliszyn; born 1942) is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for creating large-scale works influenced by nature, primarily using cedar and other forms of timber. Early life and ...

). Lindquist's "Ichiboku" sculptures distinguished themselves from others in the exhibition, and from the work of most wood artists of the time, by their identification with the spirit of the tree, a concept he adopted from the Japanese. Rather than imposing an external idea upon the wood, he "was engaged in a dialogue with trees"; this approach was antithetical to the mainstream of

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, which was intellectually removed from the appreciation of nature.

Public collections

Lindquist's work can be found on permanent display in many American museums and public collections including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

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, the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum,

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, the

, Washington D.C.,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, Yale University Art Gallery and the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Honors and awards

*2010 Honorary Lifetime Member, American Association of Woodturners *2007 Fellow, American Craft Council *1999 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, New England College *1996 Honorary Board Member, James Renwick Alliance *1989 Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts/Southern Arts Federation *1985 New Works Grant, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, Mass. Council on the Arts and Humanities *1984 Individual Artist Grant, N.H. Commission on the Arts *1983 New England Living Art Treasure, University of Massachusetts at Amherst *1979 MacDowell Colony Fellowship, MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, N.H.

Publications

*''Spalted Wood'', Fine Woodworking Vol 2 No. 1, Taunton Press, 1977 *''Turning Spalted Wood'', Fine Woodworking, Taunton Press, 1978 *''Harvesting Burls'', Fine Woodworking, Taunton Press, July August 1984, No. 47 *''Sculpting Wood: Contemporary Tools & Techniques'', Davis Publications Inc.,U.S. 1986 and Sterling Press 1990 *''Reinventing Sculpture'', (Keynote speech given at the launch of ''Wood Turning In North America Since 1930'' at The Minneapolis Institute of The Arts) (''Woodturning Center Archives, Philadelphia, PA'')

References

External links

Example Lindquist Sculpture held by Smithsonian American Art Museum Artist's Official WebsiteExample early 1980s textural vessel in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (with artist quote and Luce Center label)
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American Art, Luce audio tour-167. Mark Lindquist, "Ascending Bowl 3"Biography and discussion of Lindquist's 25 year retrospective at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* ttp://roberthobbs.net/book_files/Mark_Linquist_Revolutions_in_Wood.pdf Essay by Robert Hobbs - Mark Lindquist: Revolutions in Wood. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995; pp 9-23* ttps://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-mark-lindquist-15710 interview with Mark Lindquist, conducted 2009 August 12, by Paul J. Smith, for the Archives of American Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindquist, Mark 1949 births Living people Artists from Oakland, California American woodcarvers New England College alumni Woodturners Sculptors from California