We recently found this cool article and interview over at The Black Gnats blog and wanted to pass it along to our readers as well. We have covered Jonathan Marquardt’s work frequently and are excited to here that he is still at it, creating new and beautiful works with his distinct style and techniques.
Jonathan Marquardt
Interview by Garrick Dorsett for The Black Gnats
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or designers in our society, the process of translating an idea into a finished product is one that demands immediacy. Jonathan Marquardt is on the opposite end of this spectrum. This Wisconsin-based artist uses a modern version of early techniques designed for mass communication and reproductions: linocut. Linoleum block printing, or linocut, comes from an early movement in Germany where a wood block or woodcut was used as an image-transferring device. An artist would draw an image on a wooden block, then that image would be carved into the block by a craftsman. As technology advanced, alternative surfaces were introduced, like the linoleum block.
JM at work.
Linocutting is very time consuming and extremely personal. The artist slowly cuts away the material that is not needed for that particular portion of the design. Every area of the block must be touched by the artist’s hand, and each cut is a critical part of the image. We’d like to thank Jonathan Marquardt for helping to keep this amazing art form alive. Jonathan is both an artist and a craftsman, as well as a fly fisherman. His work is simplistic in design, but extremely difficult in technique (sounds a bit like fly-fishing!). He also has one of the coolest company names out there – BadAxe Design!
This week, we chat with Jonathan about art, fly-fishing and the future of the sport. Enjoy!
Black Gnats: Who or what inspired you to get into fly fishing?
Jonathan Marquardt: My dad is a big fisherman. He loves fishing for everything and my brothers and I grew up fishing out of his pontoon boat on Big Green Lake in Wisconsin. Every year we would take a trip up to Canada with a group of my dad’s friends and I remember feeling pretty bored while jigging for walleye. I can’t remember exactly where my interest [in fly fishing] came from, but we signed up for a fly-tying class when I was about 13 and the rest is history.
Driftless Brown
BG: Who or what inspired you to get into art?
JM: Art is truly the one thing I have been doing my entire life. Back to my earliest memories I can remember drawing. Drawing was a challenge and something different that I did within my family, it set me apart. Some great teachers along the way encouraged my talent and over time I became more committed to building skills to enhance my work. Inspiration comes from an interesting place and is hard to describe. When I am making art it gives me a similar feeling to fishing. It is similar to why folks tie flies.
