Style & Spaces

From the Archive of Suz

Glenn MacDonald is an accomplished professor at the Olin School of Business and a published economist, but his interests don’t stop there. In addition to his primary career in economics, he’s lived a former life as a professional studio guitar player and continues his passion for music to this day, releasing and performing electronic compositions on Soundcloud under the name S B V R T. MacDonald’s interests cross different fields, but he believes that there is a three fold methodology that unifies his business and creative endeavors: Subversion, the flavor of change that works within structure; Minimalism, the drive for simplicity and elegance; and Action, the concrete steps that move things forward.

Glenn and his wife Michelle built a modern masterpiece of a house with architect Thomas P. Mont Alto Architecture, which now sits in the middle of a forested hill in Wildwood. The home appears, as desired, like a serene white box, organized against the disorderly natural elements surrounding it. The home is designed in high modern minimalist style and remains discreet about its contents from the front, as the majority of the windows are on the back side of the home. The interior is equally as impressive as the crisp exterior, with a strong attention to materiality in the raw concrete floors, scattered natural wood details, and high ceilings with exposed beams. The space is predominantly neutral in color, but the bright blue-centric kitchen and poppy-red bar stools add a pop of color and whimsy. The walls are decorated with thoughtfully curated art by artists Richelle Flecke, Candice Taylor Jones, Daniel Kime, Julie Malone, and Maggie Robertson.

The story behind Candice Taylor Jones’ large-scale tarp tapestry reminiscent of east Asian ink wash painting that hangs on the largest wall is indicative of MacDonald’s approach to art curation. During one fateful trip to Starbucks, he got to talking with the barista, and discovered she was an artist. Glenn commissioned a large scale piece from her with minimal direction. He believes in allowing artists to create work they’re passionate about producing, as it can lead to the best kind of authentic and organic results. He also took this approach with his favorite piece of art, a sculpture by Andrew Arp in the back yard, for which Arp carved into stone with a drill for four months, crafting a fantastic shape that flows so smoothly it appears as though it sprung from the ground.

Jones also has an outdoor piece at the MacDonald residence in an unexpected location. Below the walkway that leads into the home, stands an exterior support wall where cracks in the cement have begun to develop. Jones painted her second commissioned piece there where she painted a line connecting the cracks reminiscent of the top of a mountain range or the curve of a river. MacDonald applied his three-fold methodology in collaborating to develop this new piece, as he embraced change and worked within a structure, pursued simplicity and elegance, and took steps to move things forward. Subversion, Minimalism, Action. After hearing this story, I couldn’t help but recall MacDonald’s lecture on utility, defined as usefulness or satisfaction obtained from a good or service, in MEC 290 Microeconomics. Apparently there is utility in life’s flaws if one only knows how to find it, and Glenn MacDonald, the consummate economist, just so happens to.