Arline Fisch

Distinguished Artist

 

 

 

Fisch made assemblages that interplay with expressions of color, texture and dimensionality to create new territories of enclosure, ornamentation and wearability in adornment.
                

In a career that has spanned over fifty years, artist Arline Fisch has explored the themes of social narrative, history and memory in her works. Through the skills of handcrafting she has fashioned these themes into imaginative new forms of jewelry and decorative objects. Her inventive ideas have found starting points in unusual materials and methods: Fisch pioneered the use of textile techniques in metal when she began to knit and crochet silver, gold, platinum, and copper wire into structural, volumetric jewelry pieces. In this way, Fisch made assemblages that interplay with expressions of color, texture and dimensionality to create new territories of enclosure, ornamentation and wearability in adornment.

Arline Fisch is Professor of Art Emerita at San Diego State University, having founded its program in Jewelry and Metalsmithing in 1961. She has taught generations of students, many who have become notable artists, educators and professionals in the jewelry field. In her long and distinguished career, Fisch has served as the Director and Vice President of the World Crafts Council and as Trustee of the American Craft Council, and is a founding member and past President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths. And in honor of her outstanding work, Fisch has been the recipient of many esteemed awards, among them: in 2001 the prestigious Gold Medal of the American Craft Council; in 2002 an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Skidmore College; in 2006 a fifty thousand dollar fellowship award from United States Artists in support of her creative work; and she is honored by the Fresno Art Museum Council Of 100 as the Distinguished Woman Artist for 2012, for which the exhibition, “In the Garden of Delight: Adornments by Arline Fisch,” is a celebration.

 

 

Jo Lauria
issue 36.1

 

 

 

Jo Lauria
is an independent curator, writer and lecturer. The interview she conducts with Arline Fisch in this issue is the culmination of working with Fisch closely over the course of the last year to prepare for her solo exhibition as the Distinguished Woman Artist of 2012 at the Fresno Art Museum, which Fisch had asked Lauria to curate. Lauria had first met Fisch over ten years ago when working as a decorative arts curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and since has been a devoted admirer and dedicated friend. Lauria considers the experience of working with Fisch on her solo show, and conducting this interview was, as always, an inspiring and meaningful experience, as “Arline has a zest for life that is, well, zesty, and the wisdom and creativity to make life worth living.”

 

 

This article in its entirety appears only in the print magazine.

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