[Jewelry making - Article 00249] - Re: [Orchid] BFA/MFA Vs technical training

[Lisa Orlando]

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Dear Liz,

    I know you'll get a lot of answers on this, and I'm not speaking
    from the perspective of someone who's an income-producing jeweler.
    But I thought I would share the perspective I now have, after years
    of listening and asking. 

    I have never known anyone with an MFA in jewelry who seemed to have
    benefited financially from it, unless they used it to get themselves
    a teaching position. I don't know anyone with a BFA who couldn't have
    benefited just as much from taking art classes, period. I asked
    these questions of a panel at SNAG a few years ago-most of them had
    MFAs and none of them thought they had made much difference when it
    came to "making it in metal," which was the theme of the conference. 

    At the time I asked the questions, I was thinking much the way you
    are, although I had less training. The best combination seemed to be
    art classes and technical school-if you can handle the pace of the
    latter, which can be fierce if you're going full time. Going part
    time gives you more time to assimilate things, too. Going someplace
    like Metalwerx, if you have the time, might even be better. (Just my
    dream: half-time at Metalwerx and half-time at Mass Art.) 

    The next step seemed to be to get a job working for someone who is
    doing the kind of work you like. This is where it gets rough. Such
    jobs do exist: some of the "bigger fish" have ateliers. For, example,
    I know Barbara Heinrich, Michael Good, and Thomas Mann all hire
    people, but I don't know how many other art jewelers do, or what they
    pay, or what they want. This might be a good Orchid topic: ateliers
    and how they work. Most threads about "apprentices" and "jobs" on
    this forum focus on the kinds of workplaces where you feel you
    wouldn't fit. 

    But there's another side to all this. You say it's frightening. I
    can scare you more by saying that I doubt there is *anything* you
    could do to prepare yourself for the US job market right now that
    would guarantee that you will be able to pay your bills. You could go
    to nursing school and be guaranteed a job, but the conditions might
    be so bad that you'd wish you hadn't. What I see happening is more
    than a blip: the world is changing, and the cheese (as the books
    says) keeps moving, and nobody knows where it's going to land. 

    I do think there's a solution, though-what a few of us on this forum
    would call (at least off list) the daily maintenance of a spiritual
    condition. Doing that might not bring you economic security, but it
    can ease your fear, and help you to make skillful choices in
    situations that might otherwise baffle you. At the moment, I know
    more people who have been helped to move in this direction by reading
    Eckhardt Tolle than by any other means (aside from working a 12 Step
    program). Just reading "The Power of Now," if it speaks to you, can
    calm your anxiety and give you a different perspective. "A New
    Earth"--Tolle's latest-is also great. 

    I hope this helps. Good luck! 

   Lisa Orlando
   Albion, CA, US

    PS: I wonder if there are any transcripts, etc., from the "Making It
    in Metal" conference. There were several presentations and
    discussions that I think really belong in the Orchid archives.
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