Bruce Metcalf

Bruce Metcalf presents interests and skills complementary to those of his co-author Janet Koplos. Metcalf is a practicing artist with 34 solo exhibitions, 244 shows in the United States and 30 abroad. A graduate of Syracuse University with an MFA from Tyler School of Art, he has 20 years experience teaching jewelry and metalsmithing at Kent State University in Ohio, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and other institutions. He has also taught a history of modern crafts course at several universities, including Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. His major awards include a Pew Fellowship in 1996, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in 1992 and 1977.

Metcalf also has a long record of philosophical and critical consideration of the crafts. From 1987 until 2000, he wrote “Recent Sightings” a regular column for Metalsmith magazine. He is widely known for two important essays that appeared in American Craft magazine, “The Hand: At the Heart of Craft” in 2002, and “Replacing the Myth of Modernism” in 1993. In recognition of the influence of his writings, he has been invited to speak at symposia and conferences from Australia to Sweden.

As a skilled maker with experience not just in metalsmithing, but in ceramics, furniture making and weaving, Metcalf has an intimate knowledge of how craft technique influences both the conception and design of craft objects. He brings to this project the sensibility and concerns of a maker, along with substantial writing experience and 34 years of immersion in the issues of American studio Crafts.