Arline Fisch (1931-1924) is one of the most influential and renowned makers of contemporary jewelry in the United States, whose inspiration was gathered from her extensive worldwide travels. She held leadership roles with the American Craft Council as well as the World Crafts Council, and was a founding member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG).

Fisch was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1931 and attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York where she earned a B.S. in art in 1952. She went on to pursue her M.A. at the University of Illinois, Urbana. After her first graduate semester she abandoned her focus on painting and shifted to ceramics and metalwork. She completed her graduate studies in 1954 and was hired by Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts to teach drawing, painting, and design. In 1956 she received the first of three Fulbright grants to study at the Kunsthåndværkerskolen (School of Arts and Crafts) in Copenhagen, Denmark, which culminated in her first solo show at the U.S. Education Foundation. Upon returning to the U.S., she took a teaching position at Skidmore College, her alma mater. In 1961 she was invited to develop the jewelry and metalsmithing program at San Diego State University, where she taught until 2000.

Much of Fisch’s work was distinctive for her employment of fiber techniques in metal. She wove sheet metal strips or created knitted or crocheted pieces with wire. On her third Fulbright grant she travelled to Vienna to develop a knitting machine that could be used to create knitted wire fabric. She designed jewelry with the body in mind, always conscious of the comfort of the wearer and the dramatic effect of the objects in motion. “I make everything I think I’d like to wear,” she told the New York Times in a 2001 interview. Her work can be found in collections around the world, including the Museum of Arts and Design (New York), the Vatican Museum (Rome), the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), and the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC), among others.

Fisch was deeply involved with the American Craft Council and the World Crafts Council, having held multiple leadership positions with both organizations. She also served on the board of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and as President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths. She has an extensive resume of lecturing and teaching workshops around the globe. Her exhibition history is also extensive; at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts she was included in Young Americans (1958 and 1962), The Art of Personal Adornment (1965), and the solo show Jewelry by Arline Fisch (1968).  She received numerous awards, including an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Skidmore College, a Lifetime Achievement in the Crafts award from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and she was named a Living Treasure of California by resolution of the California State Assembly. She was inducted into the ACC College of Fellows in 1979 and was named an ACC Gold Medalist in 2001.

Her papers can be found at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian, as well as an oral history interview with Sharon Church McNabb from 2001.  Additional video content featuring Arline Fisch can be found at Craft in America.