Tom Joyce

Tom Joyce began blacksmithing at age 13 in the small farming community of El Rito, New Mexico and by 16 knew this would be his life’s work. In 1977 he moved his studio to Santa Fe to forge sculpture, architectural ironwork, and public art for projects throughout the United States. In 1986 the Artist Blacksmith’s Association of North America awarded Tom for his “outstanding contribution to the art and science of blacksmithing” and in 1989 he received the Highest Honorary Fellowship into the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths in London, England, the first to be given to a non-native smith since the charter was established in 1571.

He was inducted into the American Craft Council’s College of Fellows in 2003, the same year he received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In 2004 the Smithsonian Institution’s Oral History Program conducted an extensive interview for the Archives of American Art and in 2006, the Rotary Foundation for the Arts gave Tom the Distinguished Artist of the Year Award. In 2009 he received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and in 2011 was awarded a United States Artists Windgate Fellowship.

His work can be found in the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Detroit Institute of Art; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; New Mexico Museum of Art; Mint Museum of Art; Racine Art Museum; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Museum of Applied Arts, Moscow, Russia; Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France and most recently at the National September 11 Memorial Museum in a project forged from 8,000 lbs. of World Trade Center steel to be dedicated at Ground Zero in NYC this fall. Tom is here for his 2nd residency to create sculptures from special alloys that infuse collected iron fragments marked by poignant histories.