RACINE - Arline Fisch was in second grade when she first realized she wanted to be an artist. That's when the jewelry maker, whose work is currently featured at the Racine Art Museum, won her first medal for a piece of her artwork.

It wasn't until much later in graduate school, however, that Fisch would discover metal as her medium of choice. After pursuing her childhood dream by studying painting and art education at New York state's Skidmore College, where she received her undergraduate degree, the Brooklyn native went on to get her master's degree from the University of Illinois and it was there that she began making jewelry.

"The graduate assistant I was assigned to was a silversmith," Fisch said during a recent visit to Racine, "Working with him was my introduction to working in silver."

(Story continues after video tour of exhibit)

Perhaps it was fate that then led Fisch to take a teaching job at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. That area of the state was home to several major jewelry manufactures (including Monet) at the time, and a lot of the people who worked in the factories had their own workshops where they did metal work at night, Fisch said. One generous gentleman offered the young teacher the option of sharing his studio space and that opportunity allowed her to further explore her interests in jewelry making.

"The work that I did there helped me to solidify that this is what I was going to do," she said.

From there Fisch went on to study silver smithing at the School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a Fulbright scholarship in the mid-1950s. She returned to Copenhagen in another scholarship in the mid-1960s.Fisch also taught at Skidmore from 1957 until 1961 and then founded the jewelry program at San Diego State University, where she taught from 1961 to 2000.

Throughout her teaching career, Fisch has continued to produce her own creations and along the way her work has earned her a slew of awards including one for Lifetime Achievement in the Crafts from the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1994 and a Gold Medal from the American Craft Council in 2001.

Stretching boundaries

Today, Fisch is one of the most respected jewelry makers in the field. And one of the things that sets her apart is her use of techniques normally associated with fibers in her metal sculpting. She is also known for pushing the boundaries between jewelry and dress.

A prime example of her ability to stretch herself can be seen in Fisch's exhibit in the RAM's Fifth Street window galleries. Called "Creatures from the Deep," the exhibit features families of brightly colored jellyfish forms that have been knitted, woven and crocheted out of coated metal wire (magnet wire).

Inspired by jellyfish Fisch has encountered throughout her life - both while living on the West Coast and while studying in Denmark - the glittering red, gold and purple inhabitants of this waterless aquarium are the largest pieces she has ever made. They were designed specifically for the Windows on Fifth Gallery and while they are especially beautiful when lit up at night, a closer daytime inspection reveals the intricate braiding, weaving and knitting that make these creatures unique.

Fisch's tendency to incorporate textile techniques into her metal work can be traced back to her mother who taught her much about textiles when she was growing up.

"She taught me how to make baskets and how to knit," Fisch said. "I made many of my own clothes for a long time and having that experience of following a pattern helped me to figure out how to make pieces of jewelry fit the body."

Step inside

Examples of Fisch's work that cross media lines can also be found inside the RAM in her career survey jewelry exhibit called "Ornament as Expression." This exhibit features 40 wide-ranging pieces from bracelets, pendants and brooches to collars and full-length body pieces which have been designed to move with the person wearing them. Among them you will find feathers as well as sterling silver and copper. You will also be able to see hints of the natural world and the art of ancient cultures, which the artist says have greatly influenced her work.

"Back in the '60s, I looked at a lot of pre-Columbian artifacts that incorporated both textiles and metals and that had a big influence on my understanding of what was possible," she said.

While she has worked in a number of mediums throughout her life, it is metal that has kept Fisch coming back to her workbench year after year. Metal is her medium of choice because she likes its stability.

"I like the fact that it doesn't do anything by itself," Fisch said. "I worked with clay for a while, and while I can control the clay during construction, I don't know what is going go happen in the kiln."

Metal offers a lot of possibilities in how it can be manipulated, but the final outcome is determined by the person working with it, she said.

"Metal doesn't change unless I change it."

If You Go

WHAT: "Ornament as Expression: The Jewelry of Arline Fisch"

WHEN: Now through Dec. 7. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Racine Art Museum, 441 Main St.

COST: Admission to the RAM is $5 for adults; $3 for students and seniors; and free for children under age 12.

INFO: Call (262) 638-8300 or go to http://www.ramart.org

NOTE: "Creatures from the Deep," Fisch's exhibition in RAM's Windows on Fifth Gallery will continue through July 26, 2009.

Also at RAM

Also on display at the Racine Art Museum is exhibition of baskets which represents a significant gift of contemporary baskets given to the museum by the Los Angeles-based collector Lloyd Cotsen. "Basketworks: The Cotsen Contemporary American Basket Collection," includes 70 works from the 151-piece collection which Cotsen donated to the Museum recently.

When added to the RAM's existing collection, Cotsen's gift creates one of the largest contemporary basket collections in any art museum in the country, according to Bruce Pepich, RAM's executive director. The gift collection features multiple examples of work by some artists.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Cotsen collection is its focus on women artists, according to Pepich.

As is the case with the rest of the RAM's permanent collection, pieces from the entire Cotsen collection will be rotated in and out of the museum's galleries as they relate to various scheduled exhibitions, Pepich explained. Some of them will be featured, for example, in the upcoming "All Tied Up: Knitted and Knotted Works in the RAM's Collection," which will run Dec. 21 through March 8, 2009. The "All Tied Up" exhibit, which was inspired by Arline Fisch's knitted "Creatures from the Deep," will feature objects made with a variety of materials which are knotted or tied together in some form, he said.

The current "Basketworks" exhibition will run through Jan. 4, 2009, at the RAM.

For more about Cotsen and his collection, go to

http://www.ramart.org