Beate Marquardt
After a short career at a German University - ending with a Ph.D. in linguistics/biology - Beate immigrated to Canada in 1979 as a "back-to-the-lander." She raised 3 children and many goats before her firstborn son gave her a piece of raw soapstone for Christmas 2006. By summer of 2007 Beate was "hooked" on stone - and has been ever since. Beate learned to carve by trial and error and with the help of internet stone sculpture forums.
Beate usually has a raw stone sitting on her desk until that stone starts revealing to her what's hidden in it. It may be the shape or a certain angle or a differently coloured vein or just a little bump in the stone that provides the clue. Then Beate starts chipping, sawing, rasping and sanding away on the piece until the shape she has seen in the raw stone shows itself to others. Sharing the result of this joyful process with people, who love seeing and touching it, makes this experience even richer and more satisfying.
Beate is a founding member of the Lakes Artisan Cooperative and showcases her sculptures in the Lakes Artisan Centre in Burns Lake, BC. In 2011 Beate was invited to serve on the Advisory Committee of the "Enterprising Artisans Project" a grassroots project initiated by Community Futures of Nadina, now established into "ARTcore54". Her sculptures "Dance" and "Fisherman's Delight" were selected in the 2011 and 2012 Ridley Terminals Northern Art Initiatives for purchase and display before being donated to a charity of RTI's choice.
Beate usually has a raw stone sitting on her desk until that stone starts revealing to her what's hidden in it. It may be the shape or a certain angle or a differently coloured vein or just a little bump in the stone that provides the clue. Then Beate starts chipping, sawing, rasping and sanding away on the piece until the shape she has seen in the raw stone shows itself to others. Sharing the result of this joyful process with people, who love seeing and touching it, makes this experience even richer and more satisfying.
Beate is a founding member of the Lakes Artisan Cooperative and showcases her sculptures in the Lakes Artisan Centre in Burns Lake, BC. In 2011 Beate was invited to serve on the Advisory Committee of the "Enterprising Artisans Project" a grassroots project initiated by Community Futures of Nadina, now established into "ARTcore54". Her sculptures "Dance" and "Fisherman's Delight" were selected in the 2011 and 2012 Ridley Terminals Northern Art Initiatives for purchase and display before being donated to a charity of RTI's choice.
ArtsQuest Blog entry about me and my carvings with a 4 minute video interview at the end of the entry:
http://artsquest.ca/2013/11/20/owls-well-with-stone-carver-beate-marquardt/
Here is another interview Line In The Sand's Tomas Borsa and Jean-Philippe Marquis did with me last year. It's about my stand against the planned Northern Gateway pipeline and two sculptures I carved concerning the topic:
http://vimeo.com/92899843
http://artsquest.ca/2013/11/20/owls-well-with-stone-carver-beate-marquardt/
Here is another interview Line In The Sand's Tomas Borsa and Jean-Philippe Marquis did with me last year. It's about my stand against the planned Northern Gateway pipeline and two sculptures I carved concerning the topic:
http://vimeo.com/92899843