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Thomas Muir named BGSU Distinguished
Professor BOWLING GREEN, O.—The Bowling
Green State University Board of Trustees has named
Thomas Muir a Distinguished Professor of the Arts. An
internationally known metalsmith who has worked in gold
for more than 20 years, Muir has mentored some of the
most accomplished graduates of the BGSU School of Art.
Since
1985, Muir has participated in more than 300
exhibitions, in the United States and abroad. His and
his students’ work has been viewed by millions of people
worldwide. Part of his personal mission is to educate
the public about the ancient art as it is practiced
today.
Muir
has long been a leader in the discipline of
metalsmithing and is one of the foremost artists working
in hollowware. The recipient of several grants and
fellowships, he has received eight best-of-show and 26
other awards. His pieces have been purchased by the Art
Institute of Chicago, the Renwick Gallery of the
Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Air and
Space Museum of the Smithsonian.
In
1993, his work was chosen for the White House collection
of crafts holiday exhibit, which was seen by one and a
half million people.
A piece
from Muir’s “Changing Hand” series was included in a
major 2003 exhibition of German and American works, a
collaboration between the Klingspor Museum of Book Art
in Offenbach, Germany, and the Museum of Arts and Design
in New York.
In
addition to numerous galleries, his work has been shown
at the Chicago Athenaeum and the Museum of Arts and
Design (formerly the American Craft Museum) in New York,
and is included in “The Art of Gold,” a three-year
traveling exhibition mounted by the Crocker Museum of
Art in Sacramento, Calif. With works by 82 nationally
acclaimed metalsmiths, the show of fine jewelry and
objects is the first of its kind in 50 years and
features contemporary American goldsmithing.
Articles
about Muir and photographs of his work have appeared in
many books and publications, from America to Australia.
These have included the New York Times and American
Craft. Last year, a story in the South Korean magazine
Crart featured Muir and the BGSU metals program. In
summer 2004, Metalsmith magazine, the premiere
publication in the metal arts, published a retrospective
of his work over the past 20 years, focusing in
particular on his contributions to the field of
hollowware.
Muir
furthers his educational mission with frequent lectures
on art history and workshops on the craft of
metalsmithing. At the University, his “presence in the
field has also been felt through the students whose
careers have been launched in the BGSU metals program,”
according to School of Art Director Dr. Katerina Rüedi
Ray. “Over the past 14 years, some 40 of his students
have exhibited in national and international
exhibitions.”
A
resident of Perrysburg, Muir joined the School of Art
faculty in 1991 and since 1999 has been the chair of the
3-D Division. He earned a master of fine arts degree in
1985 from Indiana University and a bachelor of visual
arts degree in 1982 from the Georgia State University.
(Posted June 24, 2005 ) |
