Oral history interview with Bruce Metcalf
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded as 5 sound files. Duration is 4 hr., 10 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Metcalf, Bruce, 1949-
label: Interviewer
content: Cooke, Edward S., 1954-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Colorado State University -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Kent State University -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Montana State University (Bozeman, Mont.)
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Society of North American Goldsmiths
label: Names
content: State University of New York at New Paltz -- Students
label: Names
content: Syracuse University -- Students
label: Names
content: Tyler School of Art -- Students
label: Names
content: University of the Arts (Philadelphia, Pa.) -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Adamson, Glenn
label: Names
content: Arneson, Robert, 1930-1992
label: Names
content: Bauer, Fred
label: Names
content: Bennett, Jamie, 1948-
label: Names
content: Burns, Mark, 1950-
label: Names
content: Church, Sharon, 1948-
label: Names
content: Clark, Garth, 1947-
label: Names
content: Craig, Gabriel
label: Names
content: Cummins, Susan, 1946-
label: Names
content: Daley, William, 1925-2022
label: Names
content: Ebendorf, Robert, 1938-
label: Names
content: Eidelberg, Martin P.
label: Names
content: Flynn, Pat, 1954-
label: Names
content: Getty, Nilda
label: Names
content: Gill, John, 1949-
label: Names
content: Griffin, Gary, 1945-
label: Names
content: Halem, Henry
label: Names
content: Hammer, Wayne
label: Names
content: Hash, Arthur, 1976-
label: Names
content: Jerry, Michael John, 1937-
label: Names
content: Kington, L. Brent (Louis Brent), 1934-2013
label: Names
content: Koplos, Janet
label: Names
content: Koss, Gene
label: Names
content: Kumata, Carol
label: Names
content: La Plantz, David
label: Names
content: Lechtzin, Stanley, 1936-
label: Names
content: Long, Randy
label: Names
content: Matzdorf, Kurt
label: Names
content: Mawdsley, Richard, 1945-
label: Names
content: Moran, Lois
label: Names
content: Morris, William, 1834-1896
label: Names
content: Pritchard, Marian
label: Names
content: Rogers, Harriet
label: Names
content: Rogers, Steve
label: Names
content: Ruskin, John, 1819-1900
label: Names
content: Schaechter, Judith, 1961-
label: Names
content: Shaw, Richard, 1941 Sept. 12-
label: Names
content: Slivka, Rose
label: Names
content: Slosberg, Jill
label: Names
content: Wilson, Anne, 1949-
label: Names
content: Woell, J. Fred, 1934-
place: label: Place
content: California -- description and travel
label: Place
content: Seoul (Korea) -- Description and Travel
topic: label: Topic
content: Ceramics
label: Topic
content: Communism
label: Topic
content: Deconstructivism (Architecture)
label: Topic
content: Conceptual art
label: Topic
content: Formalism (Art)
label: Topic
content: Jewelers -- Pennsylvania -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Metal-work
label: Topic
content: Jewelry making
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Metcalf, Bruce, 1949-
label: Interviewer
content: Cooke, Edward S., 1954-
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Bruce Metcalf (1949- ) is a jeweler and writer in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 96 Pages (Transcript)
label: Extent
content: 5 Items (Sound recording: 5 sound files (4 hr., 10 min.), digital, wav)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2009 June 10
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.metcal09
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Bruce Metcalf conducted 2009 June 10, by Edward S. Cooke, Jr., for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Metcalf's home, in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Mr. Metcalf discusses his early years in Amherst, Massachusetts; beginnings as a maker with modeling clay and plastic airplane models; undergraduate years at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York in the late 1960s; early interest in architecture; early disenchantment with modernist discourse and theory; introduction to Marxist theory and idealism of the 1960s; summer trip to California in 1970; return to the East Coast upon the death of his father; return to college, transferring into jewelry in his senior year; influence of his teacher Michael Jerry; seeing the work in "Objects: USA" exhibition (1969) and influence of the work of J. Fred Woell, Richard Mawdsley, L. Brent Kington; rejection of current trends in art, including conceptual art and formalism; his affinity for the medium of metal, and hammersmithing; influence of funk ceramics, including work by Fred Bauer and Richard Shaw; brief stint at Montana State University, Bozeman; working in cardboard and wood; graduate school at the State University of New York, New Paltz; working with Robert Ebendorf and Kurt Matzdorf at New Paltz; work as a production artist/craftsperson; attending Rhinebeck, New York, craft fair in the mid-1970s; the influence of writings by William Morris and John Ruskin and the notion of "dignified labor"; graduate school at Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; formulating his aesthetic of narrative symbolism; publication of his first article in 1977 as a response to review of the exhibition "Forms in Metal: 275 Years of Metalsmithing in America" (1975); yearlong teaching position at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; taking a teaching position at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio (1986-1991); publication of his article "Crafts: Second-Class Citizens?" in the first issue of Metalsmith, 1980; growing involvement with the Society of North American Goldsmiths; development of his notion of "social utility" and the role and function of crafts and making; expansion of his writing on craft; rejection of the deconstructivist school of thought in the 1980s; abandonment of sculptural objects for jewelry in the early 1990s; return to Philadelphia in 1991; early teaching of history of craft, first at Kent, then on a Fulbright scholarship in Seoul, South Korea (1990), later at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, in the early 1990s; influence of Martin Eidelberg; development of his vision for a history of craft course; collaboration with Janet Koplos on "Makers: A History of American Studio Craft"; use of his medium and craft to explore issues of nurturing and anxiety; the psychological/social effect and aesthetic importance of wearing jewelry (for the wearer and the artist); the pros and cons of craft collectors; the problematics of installation work by craft artists; recent trends in craft, including Anne Wilson's notion of "sloppy craft" and an "anti-craft" attitude; recent artists, including Arthur Hash and Gabriel Craig; lack of exhibition opportunities for younger/emerging artists; influential recent texts, including "Shards," by Garth Clark. He also recalls Robert Arneson, Randy Long, Carol Kumata, Jamie Bennett, Steve and Harriet Rogers, Wayne Hammer, Stanley Lechtzin, Gene Koss, Henry Halem, Mark Burns, Rose Slivka, Nilda Getty, Jill Slosberg, Sharon Church, John Gill, David La Plantz, Lois Moran; Gary Griffin; William Daley, Marian Pritchard, Glenn Adamson, Pat Flynn, Susan Cummins, and Judith Schaechter.
label: Scope and Contents
content: The following oral history transcript is the result of a recorded interview with Bruce Metcalf on June 10, 2009. The interview took place in Bala Cynwyd, Penn., and was conducted by Edward S. Cooke, Jr. for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. This interview is part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Bruce Metcalf has reviewed the transcript. His corrections and emendations appear below in brackets with initials. This transcript has been lightly edited for readability by the Archives of American Art. The reader should bear in mind that they are reading a transcript of spoken, rather than written, prose.