Artist Background

Mulberry Tree, St. Mary's College of Maryland

Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller, 1895-1983
Visionary. Designer. Philosopher. Inventor. Architect. It’s impossible to categorize Bucky Fuller. Born into a well-to-do New England family noted for raising up nonconformists, Fuller was expelled from Harvard on two different occasions, labored as a textile-mill mechanic, worked in the meat-packing industry, created the geodesic dome, and kept a diary from 1915 to his death in which he recorded a new entry every 15 minutes. Following his early adventures, by 1927 he found himself destitute in Chicago. He was tormented with guilt when his young daughter died from pneumonia, turning to alcohol for comfort and even considering suicide. On the very edge of life, he was struck with a sudden idea: he would embark on an “experiment” to discover what difference he, a self-described average individual, could make in the world. While Fuller was a visionary who dreamed of a utopian “Spaceship Earth” (a phrase he invented), he was also a materialist. He understood the world as a finite place with limited resources. It was up to human ingenuity, he believed, to find more sustainable ways of living. His particular genius is the way he was able to blend his visionary ideas with the manipulation of the material world. In his moveable sculpture “Jitterbug,” (above) we see the playful side of Fuller. With its whimsy and sparkling, silver surface, it communicates the optimism-meets-imagination sensibility that is, perhaps, Fuller’s greatest legacy.