Arline Fisch

Arline Fisch (August 21, 1931 – August 20, 2024) was 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.

Learning Arline Fisch was born in Brooklyn, New York City 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.

Fisch studied at Skidmore College, receiving her B.S. in Art she traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, on a Fulbright Grant to study silversmithing. where she was introduced to weaving by Jack Lenor Larsen and Ted Hallman. Fisch founded the San Diego State University program in Jewelry and Metalsmithing in 1961.

Metalworking

Fisch was best known for the way she handled metal in her pieces. She worked with thin wire to create forms manipulated in ways similar to knitted, woven, or braided fabric.

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.

She said that the jewelry of ancient cultures was a continuing reference and inspiration for her work. 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. 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, and in 2013 at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco.

Education 1952 B.S. in Art, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York 1977 NEA Craftsman's Apprentice Grant 1986 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY CSU Award for Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity 1989 Fulbright Grant, Lecturer, Montevideo, Uruguay 1996 Outstanding Professor, San Diego State University 2000, Distinguished Educator's Award, James Renwick Alliance 2001 Gold Medal, American Craft Council 2006, Fellowship award, United States Artists in support of her creative work 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. Craftsman-Trustee, American Crafts Council (1972–1975) Board of Trustees, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine (1973–1982; 1991–2000) Vice President for North America, World Crafts Council (1976–1981)

Archives

A Finding Aid to the Arline M. Fisch Papers, 1931-2015, in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution An interview with Arline M. Fisch, conducted in 2001 July 29-30, by Sharon Church McNabb, for the Archives of American Art