Martin Metal; aptly-named sculptor
Hyfler/Rosner
March 17, 2007 Saturday
BYLINE: Jesse Hamlin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Martin Metal -- Berkeley sculptor
Martin Metal, a Berkeley sculptor whose gates, lamps and
free-standing pieces graced restaurants, churches,
commercial buildings and homes around the Bay Area, has died
in Berkeley.
His death, on Feb. 28 at age 88, followed a brief illness.
Working variously in aluminum, stainless steel, welded
rebar, cooper, wood and stone, Mr. Metal created purely
abstract and semifigurative works that were often
commissioned by architects and private clients.
His projects included the 70-foot-tall campanile at St.
Bartholomew's Church in San Mateo, its steel columns adorned
with brass, bronze and copper grille filigree; the curving
metal gates at the original entry to the Berkeley Repertory
Theatre courtyard; a 10-foot-long voluptuous reclining nude,
made of bent rebar, above the bar at the old Narsai's
restaurant in Kensington (the work is now at Narsai David's
home); and a rusted steel piece called "Iron Horse" -- an
abstracted horse head hovering above a locomotive-like
form -- outside the Office Depot in San Ramon.
"Everybody loved Martin. He had a calm, grounded energy that
emanated from his being and attracted people to him," said
Mr. Metal's friend, Rosalind Gordon. "He was a delightful,
wonderful person."
As an artist and teacher, he touched many lives, said
Madeline Metal, one of his six daughters.
"Our father was a true original," she said. "Many people
will remember him. I've been approached by many before and
after his death who have told me the same: that he was the
most influential and inspiring teacher or mentor in their
life. These people would include his wives, friends, and
children, as well as his students."
Mr. Metal was born in Chicago in 1918 and earned his
bachelor's and master's degrees in humanities at the
University of Chicago.
During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy. He moved to
the Bay Area in the late 1940s, completing his doctorate
degree studies at UC Berkeley between 1949 and 1955. He
taught art and related subjects at the Illinois Institute of
Design in Chicago (where one of his colleagues was the
Hungarian master Moholy Laszlo-Nagy), the California College
of Arts and Crafts and City College of San Francisco. He
also taught in later years at the Richmond Art Center and
the Mosswood Park Art Center in Oakland.
He worked for a time as curator at the old San Francisco
Museum of Art, where he helped design exhibits and
eventually exhibited his own work. He also had exhibitions
at the Oakland Museum and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.
"My father filled our lives with art, music, literature and
science," said daughter Aurora Metal. "He never thought we
were too young to learn, and from the beginning made it
priority to nourish his daughters' artistic and intellectual
growth."
Another daughter, Bronwyn Moreno-Metal, recalled, "How we
would look forward to those breaks when he would emerge from
his workshop, smelling of dust and metal, to teach us chess
or challenge us to a game of cards. On Sundays he always
took the time to plan special outings for us, usually to the
ocean or to Redwood Park for barbecues and picnics."
In addition to sculpturing, Mr. Metal was a talented
musician, playing both the violin and the piano. He also
wrote poetry.
Mr. Metal, who was married three times, is survived by son
David Reid of Los Angeles and daughters Meta Metal of
Fremont, Maurya Metal of France, Bronwyn Moreno-Metal of
Salinas, and Mercedes Metal, Madeline Metal and Aurora
Metal, all of Berkeley.