I had a Tyler graduate working for me awhile back and she hated
someone named Stanley. What the story with that guy. Mark P.
Mark,
Stanley, back in the early to mid 70’s, was the chairman of the
crafts department at Tyler. The metalsmithing program was in the
crafts department and since he was a metalsmith (he actually only
did electroformed torques) he was in charge of the metals program
too. He would only teach the grads, he didn’t have “the time to
teach the others” as he called us undergrads. Small balding man
with glasses who has an enormous Napoleonic complex. While I was
there (76 to 79) he married one of his grad students and then got
her a job on the staff. He finally irritated others in the
crafts department as well as the dean at Tyler and he was
removed from the chairmanship of the department, left with only
the metals program to oversee. He was also forced to teach
undergrad classes, so he decided to teach seniors ( I was lucky?
enough to have him for one of my senior classes and he never
smiled the whole semester). He has an enormous amount of
he could share with his students, but while I was
there he didn’t like to share much of it. Shame too. I don’t
know how he treated you Jessica, but he wasn’t at all helpful to
us guys. Especially if we were taller than he was. So there ya
have it Mark. My view of Stanley. Ask Jessica for hers, get the
woman’s point of view. Sounds to me though, that he hasn’t
change much.
Stanley, back in the early to mid 70’s, was the chairman of the
crafts department at Tyler.
I have heard a quote attributed to him- “Three months in a
jewelry factory is equivalent to a year in (metalsmithing)
school.” I did learn a lot more as a designer/modelmaker in a RI
factory.
I had one of the other useless instructors- Richard Mafong, who
was also ill equipped for teaching. Senseless how these people
linger for decades in the university system.
"Three months in a jewelry factory is equivalent to a year in
(metalsmithing) school." I did learn a lot more as a
designer/modelmaker in a RI factory.
I would have to say I learned a lot doing both. Two completely
different educations and both well worth the time. In school I
learned to use creativity, was able to experiment with all
processes, and develop my own sense of what jewelry should be.
As a designer/modelmaker in RI I learned about the manufacturing
process and how to make a saleable product from beginning to end.
I would not trade either experience.
Well I did only have one class with MaFong. Everything else I
learned from professional jewelers and craftspeople, by reading
and watching and practice, and from the modelmakers at Astor
Jewelry Co. That is one of the interesting things about this
field- very few people have the same training and learning
experiences. In general, from what I have seen with various
helpers over the past 15 years, most university training does
not really prepare a person for the realities of production.
You are right, though, that working for several years in a well
equipped studio does allow for a lot of experimentation in
various processes. MaFong’s idea of what those processes were was
limited to forging, raising and soldering. In his first few weeks
of an introductory class at Mass Art, a friend was introduced to
etching, casting, found objects, soldering, stone setting, roller
printing, and probably a few others he didn’t tell me about.
Barry I enjoyed your e-mail about Stanley. I applied for grad
school there, went for an interview and tour, met Stanley and
decided NO WAY! At the critiques the students were attacking each
other and did not seem happy. I ran away! Ended up at Indiana
University where the philosophy fit my personality. Thanks for a
chuckle.
You were smart. Tyler has one of the finest programs in
metalsmithing in the country, but it just isn’t worth putting up
with Stanley. Good luch to you and if I can be of any assistance
in any way just e-mail away.