Tom Joyce
Master blacksmith Tom Joyce moved to El Rito, New Mexico from Oklahoma when he was 12 years-old and has practiced his craft here for 35 years.
Tom Joyce
Santa Fe
2009 Recipient, Blacksmithing and Sculpture
Master blacksmith Tom Joyce moved to El Rito, New Mexico from Oklahoma when he was 12 years-old and has practiced his craft here for 35 years. A recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Joyce is internationally recognized as both artist and scholar, and locally recognized as an unselfish mentor and community unifier.
Joyce has created public art projects in New Mexico and around the world. Local projects include the baptismal font at Santa Maria de la Paz Church in Santa Fe and the gates to the sculpture garden at the Albuquerque Museum. His work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; the Boston Museum of Fine Art; the Museum of Applied Arts in Moscow, Russia; and the Musee Des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, France. He lectured internationally in Ireland, England, Belgium, Italy, Finland, South Africa, Estonia and Canada.
For more than 30 years Joyce has opened his studio to young artists, sharing design concepts and a working knowledge of blacksmithing with students through high school and college level internships, formal apprenticeships and free classes for New Mexico youth.
"Tom Joyce merits this award because he inspires the creative spirit in others and holds the torch for excellence in the pursuit of his passion," said his nominator, Marcia McCoy of Santa Fe.