The Miniature Worlds of Bruce Metcalf

Images: 

Deliverance from the Gilded Cage, 1994

Chance Encounter in the Wasteland, 1996

Bruce Metcalf is an acclaimed sculptor working primarily in metals, whose works and writings on the interactions of art and craft have made him one of the country’s most recognizable thought-leaders in contemporary art circles.

In this exhibition, diminutive size matters. Cast in silver or carved in wood, Metcalf's vulnerable protagonists animate contemporary issues on the stage of miniature worlds. Some of his pieces serve dual lives as wearable brooches, where the protagonists venture into the world and engage the unsuspecting viewer with their stories and distinctive visual language. 

This major exhibition of his work examines social, moral and political issues, many of which Metcalf has also raised in his essays. His work has been featured in major exhibitions including the American Craft Museum, New York; Akron Art Museum, Ohio; Dayton Art Institute, Ohio; Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia; and the Galeria Universiteria Artistos, Mexico City. Equally adept as a curator and a critic of contemporary craft, his essays have appeared in such publications as "American Craft," "Metalsmith," "Crafts Australia," and the Korean publication "Design." Currently, he is co-authoring "Makers: A History of American Studio Craft" with Janet Koplos, Senior Editor, Art in America, to be published by the University of North Carolina Press in May, 2010. Metcalf has received multiple NEA, Pew Foundation and Fulbright fellowships.

The exhibition was organized by the Palo Alto Art Center, Division of Arts and Sciences, City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA.  It was made possible through the support of the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation; Rotasa Foundation; Windgate Charitable Foundation; the Arts Council Silicon Valley; and private contributions.

photo credit:  John Wilson White