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Racine, WI September 3, 2010
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The Racine Art Museum Hosts
The Miniature Worlds of Bruce Metcalf
 | Bruce Metcalf, Deliverance from a Gilded Cage, 1994,
Collection of Nan Schaffer |
This fall, the Racine Art Museum features the engaging and spirited work of leading art jeweler, Bruce Metcalf. Open September 26, 2010 through January 9, 2011, The Miniature Worlds of Bruce Metcalfis the first major exhibition of Metcalf's work. The show features 70 pieces by the artist, dating from the 1970s to 2001, and wall drawings that the artist will create on-site.
Revered as a leading art jeweler, curator, essayist and critic of contemporary craft, Metcalf's work examines social, moral and political issues, many of which he also raises in his essays. Cast in silver or carved in wood, the human-like characters of his sculptural narratives are often physically big-headed figures with atrophied limbs--born from cartoon traditions and acting out issues on the stages of Metcalf's miniature worlds. While not immediately obvious, some can also become wearable brooches to venture out into the world, where they could engage an unsuspecting viewer with their stories about the human condition with a distinctive visual language.
On Friday, October 1, 2010 at 7:00 pm, Bruce Metcalf will guide visitors through a behind-the-scenes tour of Miniature Worlds with RAM Executive Director and Curator of Collections, Bruce W. Pepich. Metcalf will do a book signing immediately following the tour at 8:00 pm. The accompanying exhibition catalogue includes a curatorial essay by Signe Mayfield, along with a guest essay by Dr. Vicky A. Clark, an independent curator and cultural historian, and an essay by the artist himself. The 120-page color publication, available in hard or soft cover can be purchased through the RAM Museum Store. Details
are available by calling the Museum Store at 262.638.8200.
The Miniature Worlds of Bruce Metcalf has been organized by the Palo Alto Art Center, Division of Arts and Sciences, City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto, California. This exhibition has
been 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.
The presentation of this exhibition at the Racine Art Museum was made possible by: Presenting Sponsors - Karen Johnson Boyd and William B. Boyd, RAM Society Members, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., The Hearst Foundation, Inc., and Windgate Charitable Foundation; Gold Sponsors - National Endowment for the Arts, Racine United Arts Fund, Helen Bader Foundation, Inc., The Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, and Wisconsin Arts Board; Silver Sponsors - Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation and Real Racine; Bronze Sponsors - E.C. Styberg Foundation, Inc., Friends of Fiber Art International, and Midwest Contemporary Glass Art Group.
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Together, the two campuses of the Racine Art Museum, RAM in downtown Racine at 441 Main Street and the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts at 2519 Northwestern Avenue, seek to elevate the stature of contemporary crafts to that of fine art by exhibiting significant works in craft media with painting, sculpture and photography, while providing outstanding educational art programming.
Docent led contemporary craft and architectural tours of the museums are available. Both campuses of the Racine Art Museum, are open to the public Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, and are closed Mondays, Federal holidays and Easter. RAM is open Sunday Noon - 5:00 pm, while Wustum is closed Sundays. An admission fee of $5 for adults, with reduced fees for students and seniors, applies at RAM. Admission to Wustum is free. Members are always admitted without charge to either campus.
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For more information or to request images, please contact:
Laura Gillespie
RAM Marketing Assistant
262.638.8300 x 114
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