[Jewelry making - Article 00256] - Re: [Orchid] Where is the best training?

[Peter W. Rowe]

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    I'll second that.  But the type of training is different.  The GIA
    program is not intended to teach artistic compentence or creativity. 
    It's not aimed at anything other than basic competency in traditional
    industry/tradework types of skills.  The sorts of things you need to
    know to work at the bench in a typical retail jewelry store.  For
    that market, the GIA courses are very well done and an efficient way
    to learn these skills.  They aren't, of course, the only such trade
    schools, but the do have the advantage of being able to couple the
    benchwork skills with what's likely to be the best gemological
    education you can get in the U.S.  Since knowlege of gems is so
    crucial to much of what a trade jeweler needs to know to be effective
    and safe around fine jewelry, this gives the GIA program a decided
    edge. 

    However, keep in mind that we're talking here about a program you can
    finish in six months. 

    The college level programs are often four year bachelors degrees in
    fine art, or even 2-3 years added work after that leading to master of
    fine arts degrees, which will not only expose you to a far, far, wider
    range of techniques and skills relating not just to trade level
    jewelry work, but to all phases of original creative work in many
    types of media, and within the jewelry field, a variety of metals
    (GIA, for example, will not be teaching you to do granulation or
    mokume, or how to raise a six inch diameter flat circle of sterling
    silver into a seamless container with just a selection of hammers and
    stakes... And the college programs (the good ones, at least) will also
    be adressing business concerns of how to survive as an artist, how to
    market your work, and the like.  And importantly, lets not forget the
    universally required series of art history courses, which will teach
    you about the various things done, both in metals and elswhere in the
    arts, in the past.  The number of trade jewelry designs produced by
    proud but untrained (aesthetically) jewelers which are merely tired
    repeats of work that is often already decades out of date is
    astounding.  A good art school background can help you to produce work
    that is actually new and unique and creative, not just rehashing all
    the stuff that others have already done before. 

    But it's important to also mention that because the art schools are
    generally aimed at producing independent creative artists, not
    commercial bench workers, the training offered in some of the
    traditional skills covered in the GIA courses, may be actually less. 
    While GIA's courses will make very sure you know how to do repairs on
    chains and sizing on rings, many college course may not go into such
    mundane details.  So the graduates of the college programs sometimes
    need to brush up a bit with some of the GIA courses, if they then wish
    to go just work in the industry as commercial jewelers.  If what you
    are looking for is specifically those skills needed to work in a
    jewelry store or trade shop environment, then the GIA type program may
    well be the better choice. 

    And in between GIA and the full blown college level programs, there
    are also other options.  Alan Revere's acadamy in San Francisco
    deserves special mention here, as it bridges the gap between the art
    schools and the straight trade oriented programs rather remarkably. 
    Revere's programs offer much of the metals oriented technical
    training of both art school programs and the GIA style programs.  The
    courses will be more specifically focussed than the very broad ranging
    college programs, but will still cover many of the interesting and
    unique techniques.  And you won't have to sit through countless art
    history slides  (both good, to those who dread such, and bad, for
    those who could benefit from the added understanding of our historical
    roots) 

    Among the various college level programs I'm aware of, which are
    worth specifically mentioning, are (no particular order) 

    Tyler school of art, part of Temple University, Philadelphia.  Where
    I earned my MFA. Rhode Island School of Design. (RISD) San Diego State
    University University of Wisconsin, Madison (where I got my original
    start in jewelry, way back when) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
    Indiana state Southern Illinois University at Carbondale University of
    Washington, Seattle State University of New York (SUNY) Kent State
    Washington University, St. Louis Cranbrook Acadamy of Art (graduate
    level only) 

    There are many more, many equally good but which don't quickly occur
    to me as I write this.  Also, these are mostly schools which have, in
    addition to a good undergraduate department, also good graduate level
    programs, which speaks well to the depth of the undergraduate program
    as well as the facilities and reputation of the faculty.  There are
    many, many college, junior college, and community college programs in
    jewelry that are also quite fine, but which may be smaller, or not
    have graduate degree programs.  These may be lesser known, yet still
    be very fine programs for their size.  Often these programs will be
    less costly than the bigger better known ones.  Some of the well
    known programs, though, will still be cost efficient.  Temple/Tyler's
    tuition, for example, as part of a state funded university system, is
    far less than schools like RISD, which is a private institution. 
    (When I was looking at grad schools, I was accepted at both of them,
    among others.  I preferred the Tyler program both for it's unusually
    extensive facilities and great location, and also for the fact that
    it's tuition was less than half the cost of RISD as I recall... 

Hope this helps.

Peter Rowe


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