Overview

Michael was one of the founders of RSP Architects, and his eye for architecture is readily visible in drawings of iconic as well as little-known structures in Rome, Versailles, Paris and Patmos. His deft use of light and shadow carries through in his drawings of Italian hill towns, Montana trout streams, and the rugged farmland of his childhood home in northern Wisconsin. Paintings and screen prints of flowers, birds, African animals and his mother's hands cradling a rose show the artist's sense for telling detail. The work is presented on 230 lush 140gsm Mattart pages, which include five gatefolds that open to reveal spectacular landscape paintings and drawings. The rich package of art is wrapped by a threwdsewn hand-stitched binding covered by Wibalin cloth over boards stamped with foil. French folds hold the durably-coated jacket in place. Every detail of the book has been meticulously selected, including a press check of the jacket done personally by Michael to ensure the cover's shade of ochre red met his expectations. Draw is accompanied by Michael's poetic essays about the artistic influences on his life, ranging from his mother and childhood friends to encounters with masters of light and space. The eloquent text also explores the visual philosophy of voids and portals, the mystical connections offered by rivers and hill towns, and the metaphorical links between parables and creatures. Accompanied by ruminations about a lifetime of discovering the world by sketching lines on paper, Draw: Quotidian Lines is a handcrafted collection that resonates with the author's love of life, art and architecture.

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9780982913147

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Michael James Plautz (1944-2012) had a career spanning forty-plus years in art, design, and education. A childhood in Wisconsin, professional education as an architect at the University of Illinois, extensive international travel and teaching and his primary role as founding principal of RSP Architects have shaped the work illustrated here. While the pursuit of architecture has been the Mother Ship, his greatest joy was chasing light and capturing an image. Whether it be a gestural sketch, a layered watercolor, a photograph, a three-dimensional orchestration of space and volumes in architecture, a programmatic brief, a city plan, a poem, a new light fixture, Michael had the good fortune and cultivated the practice of making no distinction between work and play; of rendering no acknowledgment between the traditional professional boundaries between art, engineering, and design. Michael and his wife Gloria split their time between Minneapolis and their home and studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They had a wonderful family in their daughter Andrea, her husband Scott Folland, and two lovely granddaughters, Zoe and Stella.

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