Arline Fisch
- Also known as
- Arline M. Fisch
- Arline Marie Fisch
- Active in
- San Diego, California, United States
- Biography
Arline Fisch was born in Brooklyn, New York, and received a B.S. degree in art education from Skidmore College and an M.A. from the University of Illinois. In 1956-57 she studied silversmithing at the School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen and in 1966-67 returned to Denmark for further training in metalsmithing. Since 1961, she has taught full time at San Diego State University.
Fisch has played a central role in the revitalization of jewelry as a contemporary art form. Her outstanding contribution has been the introduction of weaving techniques into the field of jewelry making. Employing flattened gold and silver wire, she knits, braids, plaits, and crochets lightweight, flexible forms with dense, light-reflective patterns, subtle textures, and glowing color. She first encountered artistic jewelry in the Egyptian collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which she frequently visited as a child. Along with other historical ornaments there early impressions continue to influence the form and meaning of he work. In 1985, Fisch was declared a "Living Treasure of California" by the State Assembly.
Kenneth R. Trapp and Howard Risatti Skilled Work: American Craft in the Renwick Gallery (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998)