Maybe you could write something up for BEaJEWELER, and we can publish it in
the “Jeweler’s Voices” area? I think it’s important to get this awareness
in front of young folks who want to become jewelers - the idea that
understanding the jewelry side of art is great, but that if they want to
work their way up as a jeweler they will also need specific technical
skills.
Sharing the experience of jewelers is such an important part of introducing
young people to the trade. They need to come in with realistic
expectations, and when they have those, then they are free to love the work
and throw themselves into the career without getting disillusioned at some
point.
Anyway, if you (or anyone!) care to share your perspectives in a Jewelers’
Voices post on BAJ, I’ll be happy to publish it. And it occurs to me that
we should link back to the Orchid forum as well, so that potential jewelers
can see first-hand how even seasoned jewelers are constantly investing in
learning new things and sharing information.
Gerald-I have both a technical and fine arts background in metals. I loved
my time at the University of Oregon studying under Max Nixon. I was so
blessed to find him. Before he taught metals to arts folks he was a
professional hand engraver and ended up teaching after his eyes went bad.
He was happy to direct his students in either an arts or a jewelry as a
business direction. I left after a little over two years because I knew I
didn’t have to have a degree to do what I needed to do to make a living.
I have found that in the education biz that universities are really into
for the money. Not for the student’s best interest. I find it immoral and
almost criminal that art schools will take on any student with a pulse and
access to education loans. Leaving them with debt to the tune of 50-100
thousand dollars, A debt than can never be forgiven even in bankruptcy.
The graduates then have to take on crummy minimum wage jobs to pay down
their debt. Either that or they go back for an MFA so that they can teach
since they can’t make a living as a jeweler. They are so busy trying to pay
off their loans that they can’t make time to make art. Let alone buy a
house or have kids.
I have had to personally retrain so many graduates that have no idea how
to make jewelry. I just had to explain to someone with an MFA who is
teaching jewelry what an Ultrasonic is for! Sigh.
We need trade schools, but the education for profit biz has too many
lobbyists in their pockets to ever let it happen.
Plus there is class snobbery. “My kid went to X Ivy League school” is the
new status granting accessory.
We were dong a casting for an MFA recipient a couple of years back because
she didn’t know how todo it. I asked her why she chose the school she
did…" Well I did a bunch of research and found they, the un named local
art school, offered a strong emphasis on Art as a business.
“So what did they each you in that class?”
“Oh they taught us how to write grants.”
“Ya know if you’re any good you don’t have to write grants. People will
just pay you money.”
She looked at me like I was on Crack.
We need more focus on giving young folks access to the skills that they
want and need to make a living.
I’m not all about the money though. I still do pieces just for art’s sake
and have big fun doing it.
Rant over.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
-Jo Haemer www.timothywgreen.com
Hi Jo,
As you might know, im in the UK and am passionate on teaching aspiring
metal smiths the right approach to getting started and how to make a
living from their work.#
From what you have just written there seems to be a real case for a
class action against the courses that dont fit their purpose. IE as above.
If you go to uni to become a doctor, or lawer or accountant or business
studies you expect to be taught the skills you need to get the job you want.
It doesnt seem to be the case in the arts world. Its the same here in
the UK, our local arts uni wanted a tutor and I went to see them, with
my 47 yrs odd successful design making and marketing skills, but because
all i had was a degree in aviation engineering I wasnt good enough!!
I know of several folk who are good designers with a Ba in art who
havnt a clue how to make a living.
A real shame.
I so agree with this topic. I get calls all the time from Uni teachers and
students who don’t have a clue on the most fundamental jewelry making or
repair jobs.I’m just saying what do they learn for all that
money?..Audrita
Although it wasn’t in jewelry, I taught part time for 7 years at a local state university with no degree. I had been producing corporate video for at least a decade and decided to take a class to upgrade to digital editing, at the end of the class the instructor (and department chair) asked if I’d like to teach it the next semester. I did pick up a few other classes as well, had a great time. The students kept me on my toes and learning new things. It can happen. Then again the local community college talked to me about teaching a few classes, but they told me no when they found I didn’t have a masters. Go figure! Ben Brauchler
I have found here in New Zealand that the schools are very good at teaching design and touching on practical skills. The issue is (for the most part) teacher student ratios.
My young apprentice has been with me for 2 years now. He was a product of 1.5 years at a jewellery fabrication school. He found out that at the end of his 4 years of training he was not going to end up with a trade cert and he would be $16000.00 in debt for school fees alone. He started asking questions and realised if he could convince someone in the industry to take him on, the same for years would get him the certification he wanted without the massive loan and the need to find an apprenticeship at the end.
Talking to the apprenticeship board here we were able to give him credit for prior learning for his time and academics. An apprenticeship here is 8000 hours total and practical training with 6 academic training manuals per year. An apprentice must be supervised one on one for this time. So if there is only one master there can be only one apprentice (yes there are Sith Lord parallels).
In contrast to the school there were 35 students to one teacher. school starts at 9am and finishes at 3pm they have 1 hours worth of coffee breaks and 1.5 hours for lunch. they also have 4 school terms with 2 weeks break in-between and 2 months at year end. An instructor in this position splitting 3.5 hours a day between 35 students can not possibly give the proper supervision to every student. Independent study with group assessment is the only avenue
there is value in this. Theory and design create great concepts, but there is nothing like real time practical getting your hands dirty to learn a craft and a trade.
The trade here is les formal in the sense that anyone who buys a box of tools and starts bending forks can call themselves a Jeweller or metalsmith. You can belong to the guilds and the association if you pay your fees and follow the rules but your progression will be slow and you will never be able to officially train someone else. There is a movement here to try to fix this. The industry is in communication with the schools and more certified smiths are raising there hands to take on apprentices. But no matter how hard they push, a learning institution will never be able to certify a trades person with the class sizes they have and the time they invest in relation to the money the students have to pay. More and more students are now going the apprenticeship route when they realise it will cost them $4000.00 a year for 4 years to complete less than 1/3 of the time and training needed to get certified by attending school.
Certification and trade marking is starting to get a big push here in New Zealand. The industry is starting to up the game in many ways. Learning institutions are going to have to stop looking at students as bank accounts and revenue and start looking at the needs of the trade so they can compliment what the trade is doing and prepare apprentices for jobs. They will also have to look how they employ instructors. If the trade is valuing knowledge taken from a craftsperson rather than someone with a degree in education the diploma a student gets at the end of the program will not mean very much. Taking in an apprentice that knows the basics of how to solder and finish as well as knowing what things are called is far more important and useful to me than employing a graduate with a great resume that has no clue how to put in a saw blade yet calls themselves a goldsmith.
As part of my business i run a drop in Jewellery making class every Tuesday night. I do this more to inform and instruct interested people what actually goes into making jewellery. It keeps me fresh and sharp. I hear lots of questions that i would never have come up with myself and students get to go home with something they had a hand in. I have had some students for 5 to 7 years show up every Tuesday without fail. They can confidently sell what they make at weekend markets and make some wonderful gifts for friends and family. Passing on skills and constantly being questioned and challenged has defiantly made me a better craftsperson. Anyone that has the facility to do this i encourage to do so.
The rewards defiantly outweigh the time investment.
just my 2 cents. Please if i have offended anyone it was not my intention.
Hi Les,
so you have an apprentice. One on one.thats good, but you don’t say what it costs you or what the apprentice/family pay you for training him in the mysteries of the art as it used to be.
Can you update us how the money side is arranged.?
I pay the apprentice minimum wage for his work. his responsibilities include cleaning and sales as well as the metal work and training. The apprenticeship training manuals registration come out of his pay and are billed to me every quarter so he pays this as a wage deduction. It cost him about $2500 a year paid to the trades registration board.
As part of New Zealand work and income i was given in the form of a grant his first 3 months salary to take him on board and work through the teething process. Here in NZ when you hire someone they are on a 3 month trial period. to encourage employers to give a proper chance to a prospective employee they will fund the trial period. This is offered in any job starting situation and is not limited to the jewellery trade. If i decided that he was not going to work out i could at the end of 3 months tell him to go back to school and find another apprentice. I would at that time be able to reapply for the 3 month training salary for a new prospect.
It is a far cry from what i refer to as the good old days when i paid the master i was under for my first year of apprenticeship until he decided i was making him more than i was costing him but in this case i was lucky. My young Padawan is an aggressive learner and was pretty much plug and play.
I get nothing from his family except thanks and praise. If a person came into me cold without any experience or understanding i would expect them to pay me for my time. In this day and age this just dose not happen very often. If you are not a college or university people just don’t value your training time until they have been through it.
I have had that conversation with prospects where it gets to the point that they say what will you pay me and my response has been “no in this case what are you going to pay me” it ends with a non starter.
I think that the direction the NZ board is taking is that at some point for the first few thousand hours masters will be paid to have an apprentice. we just are not there yet
Gerry,
A major reason is that taught techniques and design aspects are applied to generate copies or imitations that appear to the public somewhat like a recreation of the teacher’s products. Those products are then offered for sale (or even given away for promotion purposes) for prices much much lower than the teacher’s creations, sometimes even below material costs… The far reaching implications are economically unbearable for the teacher’s livelihood, etc.
PB