Metalsmithing & Jewelry

FAQs

• What are some of the career paths for someone who majors in Metalsmithing & Jewelry?

  Students can become a bench jeweler for a jewelry store, set up a gallery and studio, or become a self-sustaining one of a kind jeweler or production jeweler. Other options include the field of teaching art, management within a large jewelry corporation, graduate school, or the profession of a watchmaker.

• How do you prepare your students for the real world?

  Beyond our Professional Practice courses, students are also required each year as a major to apply for a juried national student exhibition, We encourage students to do internships and we work with local jewelers and metalsmiths to provide competitive opportunities for our students. Once a major, students learn to develop their own studio practice. Students are expected to work more independently while learning to generate, develop, and execute work from self-determined areas of inquiry.

• What are some examples of what your alums are doing?

  Examples include gallery owners,educators, studio artists, watchmaker, bench jewelers, jewelry sales reps, self-employed as independent jewelers, exhibit work at craft shows, museums and galleries, many students continue on to graduate school. Students also leave the institution with such skills as technical proficiency (the ability to manipulate and construct with materials, are visually acute, gain critical capabilities, and are creative problem solvers). These skills can be applied to many fields in the arts, in industry, and in an entrepreneurial business practice. Our students are empowered to think creatively and many have the ability to link unorthodox connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. This kind of insight regardless of what they choose to do, encourages new ways of thinking and can solve problems at large.

• What are the prerequisites to major in Metalsmithing & Jewelry?

  Students must complete MJ 101 and any of the five rotating elective courses that include Casting, Tableware, Enameling, Design for Production, and Independent Projects.

• What unique skills do your students get?

  Students learn how to learn. They learn how to design, develop ideas, and execute them with skill. They learn how to research and pursue answers to questions on their own. There is a strong emphasis in developing all aspects of ones work that include strong technical skills and design sensibility in relationship to one’s idea as well as developing on tools and mechanics (the way things work).

• Will I be able to incorporate other media or interests with my work as a Metalsmithing & Jewelry major?

  As students move through the program they are also encouraged to explore non-traditional materials and their potential meaning in relationship to jewelry and hollowware. Students learn how to transfer the technical and problem solving skills they learned in metal to manipulate new materials. Students have incorporated multiple materials in their work that include felt, wood, orange peels, pantyhose, plastic, gut, glass, rubber and much more.

• What are some of the classes that are offered in your department?

  After gaining basic skills in MJ 101, the 1st and 2nd year elective classes focus on introducing students to multiple aspects of the field that include enameling, casting, tableware, and production. All assignments address technique, design considerations, and concept in relationship to the diverse formats of jewelry and hollowware.

• What are some of the unique aspects of this program?

  Students begin by learning how to view metal as a plastic, malleable, seductive material. All of the techniques that students need to begin expressing their ideas is covered in Metals I and II. These techniques are taught through ideas and concepts.

• What are the faculty like?

  Our faculty are working artists and dedicated educators who bring diverse expertise and aspects of the field to the classroom. Their voices both compliment one another and provide varying viewpoints to a student's experience and artwork.

• What are your facilities like?

  Facilities include general elective classroom space with enameling facilities, a forming and casting room, a finishing room, and majors studio space. Our studio is well equipped to learn techniques required to become a successful jeweler and metalsmith. These techniques include basic jewelry and metalsmithing skills as well as specific equipment necessary to learn forming, raising, enameling, and casting. Our majors share a generous studio space where each students has their own bench and storage for two years.

• What are some examples of internships your students have done in the past?

  Portland has a wealth of self-employed jewelers in the Portland area and many of our students have pursued internships with them. For example Folia, a local gallery and jewelry shop, has hired many of our students to do internships. Patti Daunis, another locally successful jeweler who does shows throughout the country also hires students. These students are exposed to a number of new technical skills and begin to see the inside operations of what it takes to run and own a business. Students have also pursued internships in NYC, Vermont, and Seattle, Washington. If a student is interested in developing a production line we will work with them to find the appropriate person to do an internship with so that they also learn the many aspects of designing for production. This year three students will be doing internships with the Metalsmithing & Jewelry faculty over the summer. Students will learn about various ways in which different artists pursue their work and learn new technical skills as well.

• How many students (juniors and seniors) do you typically have in your major?

  Anywhere from 10-18 students.