DOYLESTOWN, PA.- The Michener Art Museum presents the first major retrospective of work from internationally recognized designer-craftsman and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, resident Paul Evans. The exhibit, Paul Evans: Crossing Boundaries & Crafting Modernism, will be on view March 1 through June 1, 2014 in the Paton | Smith | Della Penna-Fernberger Galleries.

“We’re proud to present this first comprehensive survey of Paul Evans’ work that documents his dynamic career, evolving from metalsmith to furniture maker to designer, along with his unremitting new approaches to metal, and his shifting focus from the New York craft world to the national world of design,” said Constance Kimmerle, Curator of Collections at the Michener. “Evans’ significant achievements demand that his work be written into the larger history of furniture design, and our upcoming Evans exhibition promises to be a fitting tribute to this creative and prolific designer of unique studio furniture.”

The exhibition includes 60 works, spanning the artist’s entire career with choice examples of his early metalwork and jewelry, collaborative pieces made by Evans and Phillip Lloyd Powell during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a comprehensive selection of Evans’ studio work. The show will also include examples of Evans’ sculptures as well as work he produced for Directional Furniture Company along with a selection of studio craftwork by his contemporaries.

Conceptualizing furniture as sculpture and abstract composition, 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.

“Paul Evans was a major figure in modernist furniture design whose practice blurred the boundaries between art and craft,” noted Paula Marincola, Executive Director of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. “The Center is proud to support the Michener Art Museum’s timely and scholarly re-examination of his important work, which also highlights the rich craft and design traditions of Bucks County.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a short-form documentary that includes interviews with Evans’ shop workers, family members and contemporary collectors of Evans’ work including musician and actor Lenny Kravitz. The film, directed by Lauren Merrill and Todd Merrill and produced by Undeletable Productions, can be viewed online at www.michenermuseum.org/catalogue/evans/documentary.