Marushka

A few weeks ago I received an email telling me that Richard Sweet died. Richard Sweet was an art teacher from Grand Haven, MI who started the company that produced many, many Marushka silk screens that were very popular in the 70's especially in West Michigan.

I went to college in West Michigan and any college student will tell you that thrift stores are good places to find decorations for your dorm/house. It was very common to find a Marushka at a thrift store and some are actually pretty cool. My fraternity had a house that was called Marushka's and the walls were covered with hundreds of those paintings. Every time someone found a Marushka it would eventually end up there. I found one at a thrift store in Illinois the summer before my senior year. It was a sailboat with a big sun in orange in blue (school colors), pretty cool. I paid $2 for it and decided to take it up to my house at school (I did not live at Marushka's). I left it there after I graduated, although now I wish I hadn't. Eventually it ended up at Marushka's.

Anyway I thought I'd pay some tribute to Mr. Sweet, whose mass produced art became a part of my formative years, just the name Marushka's floods my mind with good memories, and I bet many of my friends could tell you lots of stories of their own, if you bring up Marushka's. The fraternity doesn't have that house any more. I wonder what became of all those Marushkas.