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This article originally ran in the January 1997 issue of The Crafts Report.

Six years ago, Doug Bucci aspired to be a painter. Today, he is close to completing a master of fine arts degree in metals at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in Philadelphia. He also has taught metalsmithing at Tyler and is preparing for his thesis exhibition, which will be held in a world-renown venue -- the World Wide Web.

In 1990, Bucci enrolled in the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, intending to pursue a career in painting (which he now refers to as a pipe dream), and instead fell "head over heels in love" with metalworking after taking it as an elective. The head of the metals department, Sharon Church, soon became Bucci's mentor, and his pipe dream became a real-life expedition into a different world. And the journey has only just begun.

After graduating from the University of the Arts with degrees in metals and education, Bucci readily embarked on his next venture -- graduate school. "At graduation time, I had already decided I wanted to go on to graduate school," says Bucci. "I really want to teach college, where the students are at an adult level and are really serious about making metals a full-time experience. The way to grab that was to pursue my MFA."

The quest began for graduate schools that would arm Bucci with the skills and knowledge to reach his destination: "I was looking for one of the top graduate schools in the field; I wanted to find the best and then see if I could get in." He caught wind of Tyler School of Art's crafts department, and also heard about Professor Stanley Lechtzin and Tyler's highly regarded metals/CAD-CAM (computer aided design/computer aided manufacture) department.

While the choice may have been a fairly simple one, the significance of it in Bucci's life was far more complex. "At the time," Bucci explains, "I didn't really have a full understanding of what the department was all about. So my first year was a little bit of a fight -- with all of the issues and concerns about working in CAD. There were a lot of the same issues involved in benchwork, which I had been doing up until then, but it was a totally different environment -- a computer environment. You're dealing more with 'virtuals' instead of 'tangible' metal that you can feel. It was a big transition."

After some initial disquiet, Bucci seems to have melded with his new milieu, leaving his bench idle and now working almost entirely with CAD. (Most work created via CAD in his department is eventually created in "tangibles.") "It was a smart choice," he affirms. "I've moved on to a different level, and I'm turned on by it -- it's fun, it's exciting! Once I got over the fight in my head I realized that I'm still making jewelry, I'm just making it through a different vehicle. ... Now, I want to see how far I can take it."

He is certainly getting off to a good start. Bucci says he started showing his work primarily in downtown Philadelphia. He became involved with the Maidie Franklins gallery, where he was the subject of an exhibition with one other University of the Arts graduate. He then enlisted the company of other metalsmiths, some Tyler graduates and University of the Arts students, and began to exhibit as part of a group. One of the first people to open their door to the group was metalsmith Todd Noe, owner of the Noeware gallery in Old City, Philadelphia, and a teacher at the University of the Arts. "Todd was great to take us in. He took in a lot of the senior shows and gave them access to that scene. We got a lot of exposure from the openings; a lot of traffic goes through there."

The group Bucci exhibited with is now a support group of sorts for metalsmiths in the area. They hold monthly meetings, which Bucci admits he has missed recently due to the intensity of his graduate work.

Bucci also acquired a great deal of experience in the show circuit while working for Anthony DiRienzi, another Philadelphia metalsmith, who has since relocated to Phoenix, Ariz. "I traveled to a lot of shows with him, wholesale and retail," he explains. "It was an amazing experience, where you learn all sides of the field. You see how involved doing shows can be, how much time it takes to do them and prepare for them, and how the artists have to take on a dual personality -- of the artist and the businessperson."

The experiences couldn't have been more valuable to Bucci, who realized then that the show circuit was not for him: "I want to teach; I don't want to work in that area." His interest in teaching wasn't the only factor that contributed to reaching that conclusion: "The crafts show market seems over saturated right now. I see a lot of craftspeople in that area having a really tough time -- people that are going from show to show and have families to support; I don't know how they do it." Part of the problem, Bucci believes, as do others, is that shows are sprouting up across the country at astounding rates and starting to "shadow" other shows, moving into their market, creating different images of craft than the larger shows, and, he says, "basically taking the food out of people's mouths. As a student, it seems kind of absurd talking about this, but it's extremely disenchanting."

What is enchanting to him? Computer aided design. "It's amazing when you think about how much of our everyday life is involved in [the computer]," Bucci reflects. "And your work really speaks about your surroundings -- your time, yourself and what your life is, what it's involved in." As Bucci sees it, he has stepped into a new dimension and is exploring, learning, creating and hopefully contributing. "But," he says, "it's obviously not for everyone. We all make choices in our life, and this is what works for me. I love it."

In light of Bucci's involvement with the computer, his thesis exhibition will be held on the Internet next December. Tyler's Metals/Jewelry/CAD-CAM departmenthas been very active in that venue, no doubt compliments, at least in part, of virtual pioneer Stanley Lechtzin.

Bucci explains that the Web is the best venue for his work right now: "It just makes sense to show my work in its home environment. People in the computer environment are the people I want to reach, to talk to -- actually have a dialogue with. If you're working with computers in any field, you have a lot in common with anyone else working with them in another field. It's a common language." In addition, Bucci recognizes a limitation in the audience scope of the real-life galleries, while "the Internet has the potential to reach people all over the world," he says. "The chances that people from all over will even happen upon your work are a lot greater."

When asked if he thinks he'll tire of CAD and return to his bench, which stole his heart so easily from painting, he replied, "No. It's like I'm leaving off at that point; I stopped doing benchwork because I'm doing CAD, and to do both simultaneously would really be an impossible task." Without the foundation he built in benchwork, however, he admits he could have never made it to the work he is doing now.

Bucci's latest exhibition (in which he was recognized with a second place award among participants) at the Aaron Faber Gallery in New York City, featured his benchwork. "It made a nice ending to that body of work; now I'm switching entirely to CAD."

Although an integral venue for Bucci's self-promotion, gallery exhibitions may soon be replaced entirely in Bucci's world by "virtual" exhibitions. His promotional strategy, however, he concedes, has been "nothing high-tech." Up until now, he has done pre-exhibition post-card mailings to his mailing list, but will now re-focus his efforts on marketing his work on the Web and to people that access the Web.

As devoted as he is to CAD and metalsmithing, it's no wonder Bucci foresees no other major work transitions in his near future. But, as for 20 years from now, he portends, "Who's to say that something else won't eventually take me in another direction? I don't expect it to, but I also don't even think about that -- this is the future right now."

Noelle Backer is the associate editor of The Crafts Report.
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To view the original article with pictures follow this link:
http://www.craftsreport.com/january97/virtualcraft.html