Drawing the Imperfect Circle

 Conversations about art are always surprising, as they often wind or become tangential discussions which take the interlocutors to myriad and myopic places, just to suddenly bust open and visit upon them the most expansive and inclusive thought or concept. And often with these dialogues, of course, there is no (predetermined) purpose. With David B. Dahlquist, however, the winding is more like wending—there are unexpected delights along the way, while there does seem always to be direction and purpose. As if he will always get to wherever he started out going to. And that is precisely why we are here today, in his studio, six feet apart—Dahlquist is coming full, if not perfect, circle.

Dahlquist’s mother was an artist, and when he was a child, they had art nights together. Young David loved poetry, as well, but he says, “I couldn’t be a poet, because my brother was a poet.” He had a love of architecture, and later, he knew clay would be his medium of choice, with a strong appreciation of processes such as terra cotta restoration. Dahlquist also knew he wanted to teach. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, the top-ranked program of its kind nationally.

In 1983, Dahlquist was the Des Moines Art Center’s Artist-in-Residence, and four years later, became an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University, in the Art and Design Department. This chapter of his story lasted until 1993 when he left academia to incorporate Dahlquist Clayworks, Inc. (1994). His studio was located at 316 SW 5th in Des Moines, in the building that came to be known as Art 316, five stories of artist studios for local talent who made a living making art. Through Dahlquist’s close friendship with Davis Sanders, owner of Art 316, they helped create an incubator for artists. Expansion and collaboration were two ways of hatching something new. To that end, in 2004, his company, Dahlquist Clayworks, Inc., became part of RDG Planning & Design. For the past sixteen years, he led the RDG Dahlquist Art Studio as Creative Director and became one of the Principals of the nationally recognized multi-disciplinary design firm. He works collaboratively with Matt Niebuhr as a public-artist team: designing, fabricating and installing site-specific sculptural projects across the country. Now Principal Emeritus, Dahlquist continues to consult for RDG.

 After working on over 80 public art projects across the country since 1988 (these include the well-known High Trestle Trail Bridge project and the Art-in-Transit program for the Iowa DOT), Dahlquist wanted to show his own work again, to return to the life of a studio artist. He says ideas had been percolating; it felt like it was time to start “making things” again because he had “something to say with the material.” Knowing what you want to make is good, but he acknowledges that it is also important to know “what you don’t want to make.”

Dahlquist knew. He believes “it’s time to get dirty again,” and now wants to be “hands-on,” no longer managing and administrating. He laughs about 20/20 being “perfect” or “normal” vision. It was to be the year of this transition, though he needed to see a few pending public projects through to their completion. He could not have predicted what 2020 would hold for and spread across the world. Despite the worst global pandemic of the century, Dahlquist made it happen for himself.

Clay, of course, is what Dahlquist has returned to. For him, clay compels one to “get inside something. It creates environment, memory, and discovery, allowing for an “ontological process that captures original motivations.” He has been drawing, honoring the desire to return to drawing from nature. Thus, the leaf has become a personal symbol, because for him the leaf is “a recurring memory.”

Each of Dahlquist’s ceramic “drawings” has a story embedded/embodied in it, because drawing is communication. And these ceramic “vessels” do the telling between the lines within the works. Just like the layers of patina he so appreciates on what he calls the “ceramic-ness” of the material, Dahlquist’s storytelling is layered. The resultant artworks, born from a word/idea/concept, transition from place to place in a sharing—studio to office, studio to gallery, studio to home. Wherever they land, the art separates and defines space, creating environment, which sets the scene for “meaningful experiences.”

Dahlquist and his brother Daniel, the poet, exchange emails daily. This correspondence sometimes sparks something like the sketches Dahlquist calls ‘little haiku.’ Two haiku he recently wrote for his “Fence Series” intimate the rotational elements of our physical and emotional lives:

Night Sky

 Green turns grey turns black

A few words in the distance

Our echo returns

***

 O. Henry’s last leaf

On snow fence north of our house

Waiting for the fall

These poems are now the titles to the ceramic pieces. Like a “sketch,” the haiku capture a moment in time—a spark that shapes and moves the work forward.

 Through all the post-university chapters of his life, Dahlquist recognizes that he “never stopped teaching,” he simply did it in different ways. Mentorship is paramount to his life and work, both as mentor and mentee. Connections are important and maintained, as is evidenced by his relationship with his former high school teacher, artist Wendell Arneson, with whom he will show at Moberg Gallery later in 2021. They also engage in regular correspondence via email— once a week, Arneson sends “The Friday Work of the Week.” Having never lost touch, they’ve long looked forward to exhibiting their work together, returning “full circle” to their friendship and art.  

In 2009, Dahlquist received the highest honor an alumnus can receive, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education Alumni Award. This award acknowledges Dahlquist as an exemplar of professional accomplishment and leadership, as well as recognizing him for the ongoing support of emerging artists and public art education. And in 2016, he received the Governor’s Excellence and Innovation Award from the State of Iowa, recognizing his contribution to the arts in Iowa and his career achievement.

 As he prepares for his first showing at Moberg Gallery, in The Winter Group exhibit, 2021 has just begun. With his new, custom kiln from Alfred, New York, Dahlquist is primed for this new and exciting arc.