Arline Fisch (born August 21, 1931) is an American artist and educator. She is known for her work as a metalsmith and jeweler, pioneering the use of textile processes from crochet, knitting, plaiting, and weaving in her work in metal.[2]
She developed groundbreaking techniques for incorporating metal wire and other materials into her jewelry.[3]
Arline Fisch was born in Brooklyn, New York City[4] on August 21, 1931, and grew up in New York. She first was taught to sew by her mother, and made many of her own clothes. Her father later gave her lessons at Singer Sewing as a gift so that she and her mother would stop arguing about sewing. Fisch also picked up a passion for bright colors from her father, who loved red.[5]
After teaching drawing, painting, and design for two years at Wheaton College,[8] she traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, on a Fulbright Grant to study silversmithing.[6]: 14 While there she was able to work in a large jewelry workshop at Bernhard Hertz Guldvaerefabrik, to develop her technical skills.[9][7]
She received three additional Fulbright grants, one to conduct further research in Denmark and two to lecture in Austria and Uruguay.[10]
She also attended and has taught at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts[11][12] where she was introduced to weaving by Jack Lenor Larsen and Ted Hallman.[8][5] By the 1960s she was beginning to "incorporate weaving in her jewelry" and think about "structuring metal in woven forms".[8] While in Denmark on her second Fulbright in 1966, she spent part of her time studying chasing at the Goldsmiths’ School (Guldsmedehøjskolen) in Copenhagen.[8]
Fisch has taught at Wheaton College (1954–1956), Skidmore College (1957–1961), and San Diego State University (1961–2000).[9][10]
Fisch founded the San Diego State University program in Jewelry and Metalsmithing in 1961.[10] She retired in 2000, becoming Professor Emerita of Art at San Diego State University.[13]
Arline Fisch is best known for the way she handles metal in her pieces.
She works with thin wire to create forms that have been manipulated in similar ways to knitted, woven or braided fabric.[14][15]
Fisch has exhibited extensively all over the world in group shows and solo exhibitions.[14][9]
Her book, Textile Techniques in Metal for Jewelers, Textile Artists and Sculptors, is a demonstration of the techniques she developed while trying to combine the textures of weaving with a metal material.[15]
She has stated that jewelry of ancient cultures is a continued reference and inspiration for her work.[16] In the exhibition American Metal Work, 1976 at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, her sterling silver Hat was described as equally suited to a Byzantine princess, a modern bridal costume or an evening dress.[6]
Her exhibit Creatures from the Deep created an underwater world of floating sea creatures, jellyfish, corals and sea anemones, knitted and crocheted from wire. Versions of this work were installed in 2008 at the Racine Art Museum, in 2011 at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft,[2] and in 2013 at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco.[17]
2012, Distinguished Woman Artist for 2012, Fresno Art Museum Council Of 100, with the exhibition, "In the Garden of Delight: Adornments by Arline Fisch," as a celebration.[10]
Fisch, Arline M. (2000). Elegant fantasy : the jewelry of Arline Fisch. San Diego: San Diego Historical Society. ISBN9783925369018. (English & German Edition: Stuttgart: Arnoldsche.)
Fisch, Arline M. (2003). Textile techniques in metal : for jewelers, textile artists & sculptors (1st pbk. ed.). New York: Lark Books. ISBN9781579905149.
Fisch, Arline M. (2009). Crocheted wire jewelry : innovative designs & projects by leading artists. New York: Lark. ISBN9781600594816. OCLC317253475.
^ abcdefgGeske, Norman (1976). "American Metal Work, 1976". Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications. Lincoln, NE: Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications. 95. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
^"Faculty List". Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
^Greenwold, Diana; Arauz, M. Rachael (2019). In the vanguard : Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 1950-1969. Oakland, California: University of California Press. ISBN9780520299696.
^National Endowment for the Arts (1975). Annual Report 1974(PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 107. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
