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KENT's Own Renaissance Man
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For those of you who vacationed in Maine this past summer, perhaps you noticed posters hanging up around the small, coastal towns near Port Clyde, informing residents and visitors of an Open Studio Exhibition featuring Björn Runquist. You might have wondered, “Is that the Mr. Runquist I know from Kent?” Well it was, indeed. Though he is best known to most of us in the Kent community as an exceptional linguist, Mr. Runquist is also a very talented painter.
Mr. Runquist is something of a Renaissance man - not only can he speak several languages, but he also has a great talent and passion for art. For over thirty years, Mr. Runquist has explored different depths and mediums. The experience and knowledge that he has acquired over his many years of painting is something he shares during the summer months in art workshops; he has even taught a course at Kent. Mr. Runquist’s works are represented by two galleries in Maine, Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay and Portland, and the Landing Gallery in Rockland. His work can also be found at the Horton Hayes Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina.
Mr. Runquist’s work has been very well received in the art world. When describing his work, art critic Will Barnet said, “Björn Runquist encompasses a broad approach to landscape painting, ‘The American luminist’ tradition, the European plein air school and his modern sensibility merge into a very personal style.” It is his beautiful landscape pieces that drove art critics in the April Edition of Maine Home & Design to list Mr. Runquist in an article called “60 Artists to Collect While You Still Can.”
Mr. Runquist is not the only talented artist in his family as his son, Tollef Runquist, is also a very passionate artist. When speaking of his son, Mr. Runquist said, “Tollef grew up in an atmosphere where he was surrounded by art but he was always his own person – he never copied me.” At Kent, Tollef's aspiring talent did not go unnoticed, as Lisa Brody of the Art Department said that Tollef “is a soulful, deep and intelligent person, all those traits are highly visual in his work.” After Kent, Tollef went on to become a Fine Arts Major at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Today, Tollef is an active and productive artist living in Maine. He has taken what he has learned from his father and his educational career and is now creating more bold and abstract landscapes. This summer, Tollef had his first solo show at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine. A terrific exhibition, he sold forty-one out of forty-five paintings. In the coming year, Tollef’s work will also be shown at the Ober Gallery in his hometown of Kent.
So if you should see a familiar figure topped by a black beret standing in a field or by the river, seemingly staring off towards some beautiful vista with a paintbrush in hand, stop by and take a moment to watch the master at work as he magically captures on canvas the beauty of the world around us.
