Modern and Contemporary Craft: Selections from the Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection

Artist Biography

Known for his utilitarian metalwork, Gary Griffin is a practicing metalsmith, educator, curator, and writer. His creations, particularly his commissioned gates and fences, tend to act in tandem with their surroundings, often echoing the encompassing landscape or architectural structures. A highly decorated artist, Griffin is furthermore a widely published writer. Aside from being awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, as well as the Master Metalsmith Award from the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, he has also been published in magazines such as American Craft and Metalsmith, and serves as a Fellow on the American Craft Council. Griffin received a BA from California State University, Long Beach, followed by an MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He went on to teach as Associate Professor of Metalsmithing and Jewelry at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, and was Head of the Metalsmithing Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, until his retirement. His work is featured nationally in prominent private and public collections, including the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, The Detroit Zoo, Michigan, University of Detroit, Michigan, and, in 2004, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art interviewed Griffin for their collection.