Jerry L. Caplan Papers

Jerry Caplan (1923-2004) was a prominent Pittsburgh artist and art professor at Chatham College. He was recognized for his innovative art techniques including smokeless raku, pipe sculptures, and paper pulping.  Caplan shared his art techniques through workshops held around the world. Caplan was born to Jewish Ukranian immigrants, Louis and Yetta Kapler, and grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. His father worked in the Strip District at the Pennsylvania Railroad Produce Terminal. Caplan had a life-long aspiration to become an artist, attending drawing and painting classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art from the age of seven. Caplan served in the US Army as a member of the 84^th Engineer Battalion. He and other artists in the Battalion were responsible for creating military camouflage. They wove camouflage netting and constructed dummy boats, planes, and tanks to throw off enemy surveillance. As the Battalion photographer, Caplan was responsible for taking aerial photographs of the dummy installations. After the war he was employed in the pipe industry, manufacturing large clay pipes. Here Caplan gained inspiration for pipe sculptures and ceramics, which led to the creation of some of his seminal works. Under the GI Bill, Caplan attended Carnegie Mellon to attain both a bachelors and masters degree in art. He was the student of Louise Bouche, Morris Kantor, Jon Corbino, Byron Browne, and John Hovannes. Caplan was Professor of Art at Chatham College from 1959 to 1988. He served as the chairman of the art department from 1962 until 1972 and again in the 1983-1984 academic year. Caplan taught art courses on advanced drawing, ceramics, clay and metal sculpture, casting techniques, design, oil painting, raku, and watercolors. His primary subject was sculpture. His lasting contributions to the Chatham University campus include the sculpture Metamorphosis and a tribute sculpture to Martin Luther King Jr. Caplan organized and taught art workshops throughout the country and internationally. His most prominent events were pipe sculpture workshops at Logan Pipe in Logan, Ohio, at Pipe Symposiums across California, and workshops in England. In Pittsburgh Caplan taught at the Pittsburgh Center for the arts and served as President of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Caplan has been recognized for his creative work with Jewish communities including Temple Emmanuel in Upper St. Clair, Temple Beth El in Mt. Lebanon, and the Holocaust Center at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. Jerry Caplan and his wife, Becky, had two sons, Gregory and David.  Caplan had two grandchildren, Jemila and Sharon through Gregory Caplan and his wife Susan.  Jerry Caplan’s second son, David Caplan, died of a brain aneurism at age 21.  Donna Hollen Bolmgren was Jerry Caplan’s best friend and studio associate from 1969 until Caplan’s death in 2004.

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