Expressed In Metal

Using his welding, metallurgy, and jewelry design skills, Bucks County designer-craftsman Paul Evans (1931-1987) established a reputation as a creative designer of unique sculpted metal furniture. Constantly experimenting with new materials, technologies, and designs, his shop operated much like an industrial laboratory, and his highly innovative experimental approaches to metal have attracted an international following, especially over the past decade.

This first comprehensive survey of Paul Evans’s work documents Evans’s role in the midcentury American studio furniture movement, his approach to furniture as sculpture and abstract composition, and his unremitting new approaches to metal. Opening at the Michener March 1st thru June 1, 2014, Paul Evans: Crossing Boundaries and Crafting Modernism is comprised of some sixty-five works, spanning the artist’s entire career with choice examples of Evans’s early metalwork and jewelry, collaborative pieces made by Evans and Phillip Lloyd Powell during the fifties when they shared a studio, as well as a comprehensive selection of Evans’s studio work representing his sculpted steel; verdigris copper; copper, bronze and pewter; argenté sculpted bronze, and cityscape techniques. The show also includes examples of Evans’s sculpture as well as a selection of work he produced for Directional Furniture Company.

Art of Life visits The Michener Art Museum in Bucks County, PA and talks with several people about why this is a “Must-See” exhibit. We speak with Dorsey Reading, Evans’ former shop manager, and first actual employee. Reading shares what it was like working so closely with Evans and why he has remained one of the biggest fans of his work. David Rago, of Rago Arts & Auction Center talks about the rise in value of Paul Evans’ pieces, and Constance Kimmerle, Michener Curator of Collections, fills in the details about his life and work.

Learn more about The Michener Art Museum and this exhibit. Edited by Tyler Horst