Tom Joyce

Who is Tom Joyce?

Tom Joyce is an artist, blacksmith, and designer living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since 1977 he has forged sculpture, architectural ironwork and public art for projects throughout the United States. Joyce infuses many of these works with meaning by incorporating inherited histories represented by the specific material he uses. In both public and private commissions, he encourages individuals to participate in the making process by donating iron objects collected from the landscape or that hold particular significance to their owner. From the "Rio Grande Gates", forged from iron refuse retrieved from a quarter mile stretch of the Rio Grande for the Albuquerque Museum of Art, to iron sculptures forged from massive industrial scrap, Joyce re-examines the social, political, economic, and historical implications of using iron in his work.

For over 30 years, he has shared his design concepts and working knowledge with students through high school and college level internships, formal apprenticeships and free classes for New Mexico youth. Joyce has lectured in Ireland, England, Belgium, Italy, Finland, South Africa, Canada, and throughout the United States.

His work is held in the permanent collections of more than 25 public institutions. Since 1981, he has exhibited in 148 solo and group exhibitions including at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Minneapolis Institute of Art; National Building Museum, Washington DC; Detroit Institute of Art; Houston Museum of Contemporary Craft; Boston Museum of Fine Art; New Mexico Museum of Art; Albuquerque Museum of Art; Luce Foundation Center for American Art; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina; National Metal Museum, Memphis, Tennessee; Museum of Applied Arts, Moscow, Russia; and Musee Des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France.