Arline Fisch

A biography

Arline Fisch was born in Brooklyn, New York. She studied in the United States and Denmark, receiving multiple Fulbright Grants. Fisch also attended Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, where she discovered pre-Columbian textiles. In 1961, Fisch began a long career at San Diego State University, where she founded the Jewelry and Metalsmithing department and began weaving metal with groundbreaking techniques, creating wearable works. At the time of her inclusion in Objects: USA (1969), she was making body ornamentation that plunged from neck to knees. Fisch retired from teaching in 2000 and received the American Craft Council’s Gold Medal the following year.