[Jewelry making - Article 00639] - Re: [Orchid] Jewelry design - what & where to learn

[R . E . Rourke]

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>     What advice would the forum give to people who want to be more than
>     just a technician, soldering part A to part B? 

    I recommend the book by Elizabeth Olver, *The Art of Jewelery Design
    *, Emerson's *Handmade Jewelery*, and Rose and Cirino *Jewelry
    Making and Design* as well as books on the History of Ornament and
    jewelry history. A. R. Emerson was a master goldsmith and his now
    out-of-print book (though it can be gotten on Alibris or ABE books,
    or amazon) has exercises that may seem basic but give one a great
    foundation in assembly and design steps, rather than working from
    sketches with out a grasp of the basic techniques necessary for
    executing a successful piece. The designs per se are a bit dated,
    but the techniques timeless and not simply A to B soldering..Olver's
    reads encyclopedic and is a handy reference and you should not be
    without a copy of Harold O'Conner's *Bench Reference for Jewelers*.
    It is the single most used book in my (quite extensive ) library-
    His formulas, recipes and alloys are indispensable and alone, or in
    combination with Tim McCreight's Complete Metalsmith (any edition-
    for me the 1st ed is my favorite as I appreciate the hand lettered
    and drawn illustrations and feel of the book) may be the only books
    you ever need purchase if only two were allowed. 

    I disagree with Elaine on the point of taking all the classes you
    can take- I emphatically feel that many classes out there all miss
    the proverbial mark, particularly for novices as many of the
    instructors are simply sharing their new found knowledge with no real
    experience in x technique or material..I have been to many schools
    where the students all report that they are taking Silver 1 ( in
    example) for the 3rd time..All because they don't feel anyone covered
    the basics or materials and they keep spending money on these classes
    ( often at the same schools) over and over hoping they will glean the
    information they seek without asking prior to the class, the level of
    or exactly what material will be covered..I have found this true in
    most schools springing up in the past 5-10 years..While most are
    designed for people beyond the novice level and specific, the
    attendees fail to research the teachers backgrounds, or lesson plan,
    if you will, for the course they are taking based solely on the
    course's titles. 

    When I offer an open studio night at our small school, I get
    responses from novice jewelry students that they have taken x courses
    in the past but no one covered, say, annealing, or spring-hardening,
    or alloying, or any number of basic topics the open nights center
    around in addition to the opportunity for constructive criticism from
    others present that present the student or attendee with objective
    perspectives and problem solving in a forum -like setting. Also a
    former teacher and colleague of mine pointed out that many classes
    are just a tool for self-promotion and more akin to inflating the
    instructors sense of their worth than actually educational. Imirror
    that sentiment - many courses that i have audited or co-taught seem
    to be a tool for teachers to promote their lines, or sidelines..when
    an instructor offers a course to profit from, aside from their fee
    for teaching and time, per Diem, etc. the entire affair is more about
    economics than addressing the needs of a given group of students. One
    instructor that I have seen actually tailor classes to the group in
    attendance is Patsy Croft. 

    Butin Patsy's case she has a background in fine arts, experience over
    many many years as an enamelist of the highest caliber, and jeweler
    with world-class recognition and awards and distinctions that truly
    qualify her to teach jewelry making, design and sub-genres of jewelry
    arts and crafts to an group or individual that can clearly identify
    what it is they want to learn- Patsy has the talent and education to
    back it up and experience to provide a successful learning experience
    whatever the topic. this is also true of Tim Creight, Dee Fontans,
    Carles C. Armegnol, Elinor Moty, et al and not specific to Patsy as
    there are many that have ample background to be considered jewelry or
    metal smithing educators and whose classes are not only informational
    and experiential but inspirational. I do agree that whenever possible
    the support through attendence at one's local community college in
    arts programming is beneficial not only to the continuation of those
    types of programs on local levels but for the wide range of arts
    educaton one can gain from out-of-genre courses. 

    Drawing in particular: perspective in rendering is an important skill
    to have in ones repertoire as a jewelry design professional, and
    stages of development of a piece or a collection is dependent on that
    skill particularly if you are hiring a casting service to execute
    your designs until one becomes proficient in casting on their own, or
    can afford the equipment necessary to execute the process. However,
    one should not simply enroll blindly in classes wihtout checking out
    the instructor's background, looking at their work when possible or
    speaking to former students or at least reading their comments
    regarding past classes that were offered by x instructor. Those can
    be most telling, when the students are honest enough to go past
    flattery and actually assess the quality of the programatic content.
    I feel quite strongly about this topic of education as I think far
    too many "classes" are out there at premium prices that offer little
    or no foundation or are simply a survey of the materials used in a
    given technique, rather than knowledge about the materials and their
    properties before attempting to use them. 

    I for one think it ridiculous that some schools require 2 or 3
    repetitions of say, Silver 1 before allowing a paying student to take
    whatever course he or she wants to take with a particular instructor
    ( although in the particular school that I am referring to this
    "process" can be circumvented by contacting the instructor directly
    and advising the person of your intentions and skill level without
    having attended that particular school in the past). In that case it
    is simply that school's covert, if you can go that far, method of
    covering their costs of modernizing the facilities and renovating the
    site..though the school is purportedly staffed by "volunteer"
    instructors that are willing to play that game with the schools owner
    to be invited back repeatedly. Some other schools are far differently
    operated and have a functional board that oversees and eliminates
    game playing as regards the educational content offered in various
    arts and crafts genres- those are the schools to seek out for
    specific instruction in specific topics that interest you or help
    build your own techniques arsenal to a level in which you wish to
    operate. 

    So the notion of taking all the classes you can doesn't work at all
    in my experience of the jewelry school circuit. In seeking an
    education do a bit of research before enrolling in any class that
    comes along not only to receive the best education you can afford,
    but to weed out the "schools" that have little to offer in helping
    you build your techniques and understanding of processes that are
    useful to the type of jewelry making you want to practice and
    execute in the long-term goals you set for yourself regarding your
    profession or your passion in creating adornment for whatever your
    target market may ultimately be. 

RER
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