Goldsmith Muir named Distinguished Professor of the Arts

Crafting of internationally acclaimed metalwork has earned Thomas Muir the new title of Distinguished Professor of the Arts from the board of trustees.

Thomas Muir

A renowned metalsmith who has worked in gold for more than 20 years, Muir has also mentored some of BGSU’s most distinguished graduates.

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.”

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 Georgia State University.

To be eligible for consideration as a Distinguished Professor of the Arts, BGSU faculty members must have attained the rank of professor and have established outstanding national and international recognition through creative or artistic achievement in their respective disciplines.