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Bellevue Arts Museum Presents Arline Fisch: Creatures from the Deep

For almost forty years, world-renowned jeweler Arline Fisch has pioneered the application of textile techniques in the creation of jewelry, but she has rarely forayed outside this realm. Creatures from the Deep, originally commissioned by Racine Art Museum in 2008, challenged the artist to bring her work to a grand scale, using knitting and crocheting techniques to create ‘families’ of jellyfish out of her signature color-coated copper wire.


Arline Fisch, Corals, 2009. Coated copper wire. Vary from 13 x 5 x 5 inches to 6 x 8 x 8 inches. Collection of the Artist. Photo: William Gullette

Each of Fisch’s ‘families’ in the installation varies dramatically in form and color, suggesting different species of jellies. A series of corals and sea anemones rest below, all fabricated in the same very small gauge of wire through hand and machine knitting and hand crochet.

Fisch first explored jellyfish in her silver work in the mid-1960s, fascinated by their many forms and brilliant colors, and then revisited the form in a necklace based on the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish in 1999. For this commission, she again chose the creature as her theme, inspired by Racine Art Museum’s proximity to the waters of Lake Michigan. The larger-than-life sea creatures in Fisch’s installation, now traveling for the first time, seem right at home in the Puget Sound. Suspended in air and swaying together in the galleries, they submerse visitors in a captivating and otherworldly undersea environment.

Arline Fisch is a perennial figure in the metals community and author of the book Textile Techniques in Metal, published in 1975, 1996 and 2001. She currently holds the title of Professor of Art Emerita at San Diego State University.

Arline Fisch: Creatures from the Deep is organized by the Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin. This exhibition is made possible by Racine Art Museum. Premiere Sponsors: Karen Johnson Boyd and William B. Boyd, RAM Society Members and S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. The local presentation of this exhibit has been made possible in part by ArtsFund.

Bellevue Arts Museum is the Pacific Northwest’s center for the exploration of art, craft and design. Innovative exhibitions, dynamic educational programs and special community events engage audiences of all ages in new conversations about art and the many ways in which it shapes our lives and communities.
The history of Bellevue Arts Museum parallels the growth of the city of Bellevue. In 1947, a group of extraordinary volunteers founded the Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Association, BAM’s parent organization. They had two goals in mind: to promote the artists of the region, and to establish a cultural and educational center serving Bellevue and the greater Eastside.

Bellevue Arts Museum
510 Bellevue Way NE
Bellevue, WA 98004

www.bellevuearts.org

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