Rick Lundsten – The Harbor Quartet

Artist Statement

Living in Minnesota, we have so much beauty right in our backyards or within driving distance and much of the scenery includes water. It’s hard not to take a scenic image here that doesn’t have a lake, river, or pond as a central part of it. While not all of my paintings have had water in them and not all of my paintings are Minnesota images; most of my work is from Minnesota and does include water. Being a watercolor artist, water is always a part of my work no matter if it is depicted in the images or not.

For this reason; it is only natural to adopt the theme Water-Colors by Rick as the theme by which to identify what I do in painting. My ultimate goal is to better represent the magnificent creation all around us, and moreover… its magnificent creator.

Artist Biography

There’s something in the water. That in a way describes the inspiration, the background and the artistic journey of Rick Lundsten. Rick hails from Northern Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. Taking an interest in painting at a young age, Rick grew up in a very healthy artistic environment. His initial inspiration was cultured and fostered in high school by his art teacher and working with a very gifted group of students. His interest and growth as an artist continued to develop with a post secondary commercial art degree. Through the many changes that life has in store with its ups and downs, one major element of life that was always there was painting. Being surrounded by water all of his life, Rick has a passion for painting water themed images. With work ranging from nautical themes, images from the great lakes, to serene rural lakes scenes, to rivers and waterfalls, the common denominator is water. Painting with watercolors and gouache, water is also the method by which he paints. His ambition is to continually grow and develop his art and his life in a way that honors God and is an inspiration to others.

His list of achievements and recognitions include:  Second place and honorable mention awards in “An Artistic Discovery” competitions in Minnesota’s 7th congressional district in high school.  He earned an Associate of Arts degree from Staples technical college. Rick has also won several 1st, 2nd place and people’s choice awards in regional shows in the early 1990s. He produced a series of images on a collectors series of prepaid calling cards in 1996. In more recent years, he received recognition in several national and international shows, both in-person and online. These have included corporate sponsor awards in Arts North International Shows as well as 5 sponsor awards in the NorthStar Watermedia Society National Shows. He has also won second place and honorable mention awards several Minnesota Watercolor Society Shows and Artist of Minnesota Shows. Rick has appeared in several gallery sponsored online shows and received the distinction of being featured twice in the International online art publication  “Artistonish”.

In 2024, he had the honor of being invited to participate in a world wide in-person show called “Modern Art Masters” at the Complex du Louvre in Paris.