The role of education in metalsmithing

Jewelry Discussion
21

Hello Deb,

I think this is a fascinating topic. I teach in three different
programs -- one AE (adult education), one CC (community college)
and one summer program. All three on occasion have had the
university art student attend who wanted to get a better "metals"
foundation than they were getting at the university.

Where do you teach? It is so refreshing to hear from an educational
establishment metalsmith who understands what we are asking for and
is not offended by the criticism of art education in general. I am
hoping that this discussion will flush out a few programs that really
do educate goldsmiths.

For those of you who keep insisting that universities have no
obligation to train professional job skills I have this to say. Yes,
a university is supposed to be about MORE than just learning a trade,
but somehow, in some fields, the emphasis on doing more than
preparing knowledge and skill for a profession has mutated into a
contempt for and aversion to teaching practical skills and knowledge.
Thank God that medicine, law, engineering and business administration
are not taught that way or we would be living in a hopelessly
dangerous and impoverished world. Yes, much of the world is dangerous
and impoverished and the biggest difference between those parts that
are safe, healthy and prosperous is how well business, law,
engineering and medicine are practiced. This does not happen without
solid education.

Lots of Orchidians have been telling their personal histories and it
is clear that MANY successful jewelers and metalsmiths do not have
formal training. What does that say about our education system? That
an art degree is not really an advantage! If my living depended on a
teaching salary I would find this criticism extremely alarming. If my
students were no more successful in the field than the self taught or
educated on the job, I sure as hell would not want anyone to figure
that out. Or I might try to make sure that my program really did make
a difference.

Stephen Walker

22

I agree with Daniel’s post.

My best assistant, who now has a career as a jeweler, worked his way
through college (he was a fine arts student) by doing finishing and
assembly for several studio jewelers.

A Mass Art graduate that I employed had to be coaxed into developing
her soldering skills, with the offer of a small raise.

A summer intern from Ireland had a much more robust set of jewelry
skills, the metals program she was in seemed much more hands on than
the college programs here in the US.

I just remember a quote by Stanley Letzin, that 3 months in a jewelry
factory was equal to a year in a college jewelry program. That pretty
much sums it up.

Rick Hamilton

23 
And there, I think, lies the problem. Many people today mistakenly
think college is a place to learn a trade. It is not. When done
properly, a liberal arts education is a place to learn how to THINK
- a thing many people today are NOT very good at!

Beth makes a very passionate point about the nature of education -
very well put, I think. Another posted something of mine assuming
that I mean to exclude her and her work, which I do not. You make
jewelry with your hands, if you want to make jewelry. The brain is
involved, to be sure, but it is made with the hands, and a huge
variety of tools and equipment. If you want to be good enough at it
to make a living - I personally know a couple of people who don’t
have to make a living, but it’s only because they did it so well
before - the rest of us have to work - then you have to learn how to
do it. I don’t mean to denigrate anything, but facts are facts, and
we in the trade come up against the facts frequently, as Daniel said
clearly, today. A good analogy would be chemistry. Imagine if you
took chemistry and they taught you that sodium was a gas that fueled
cars, water was a toxic substance and sulfuric acid is a good eye
wash. That’s pretty much what most university metals programs are
doing - not just incomplete but completely off base. If one enjoys
the program, as a couple have said, then fine. If they make a good
career out of it, then more fine. But to suggest it as a career path
in the jewelry business? Go to Revere, he’s a great guy…

24 
Not one of them could sit down and duplicate a hammered half round
band in sterling silver that I had given them to copy (I mean, a
plain, half round band with a peened surface).

I find this utterly shocking! I’m not saying this to brag, but even
I could have come into your shop and made the ring you described and
I’ve only been making for a year and am self taught. I could make
and pre-finish it in half an hour and have done on many occasions. It
would have taken me a bit longer to completely finish it though. But
to hear that people are coming out of college without such basic
skills is dumb-founding to say the least.

From what I’ve read of this thread though, it sounds likely that
Stephen’s sons already have such skills, having worked in the family
business or at least observed their father’s work. I’m sure they
would get plenty of practice in the summer vacations too, so they
won’t be as lacking in skills as other college arts students.

Helen
UK

25 
I graduated from college and two weeks later started as stone
picker in a factory.

Please Elaine, I have the utmost respect, and no offense is meant,
but what course of study was it that prepared you for this job and
how did this job use or require your college education? Does the
career of a Stone Picker really require a BA? I also suspect that the
term “high paying job” might be somewhat subjective. My son has a BA
in Business and got a job the day after graduation working for a
Business. Of course the Business was in the business of selling
shoes. Compared with his income (read that “allowance”) as a student
I guess the term “high paying job” probably applied.

Dave

26 
Do be aware that most kids DO change their minds about what they
want to do.

I read a study recently that most people change careers at least
three times in their life. So it’s not just kids. College can be a
help in the study of learning, but I think it’s way over emphasized
in today’s society. My son has a BA in Business and our journeyman
jeweler has a BA in Philosophy. Both of them have said that their
degree has helped them exactly none in their chosen field of
goldsmithing when we were discussing this thread. Were they a waste
of four years? Probably not, they made lifelong friends, partied like
crazy, and learned how to carry on a conversation, and hopefully
after tens of thousands of dollars learned how to think at least a
little. But both of them said they wished they had gotten into
goldsmithing much earlier.

A four year business degree is also of very little help in running a
small business, especially when compared with the time and cost of
taking a few seminars on the subject. I learned how to fly and run an
airport (not to mention my minor in Partying) in my pursuit of a BA
in Aviation Administration. All of which are great skills, and a ton
of fun, but just about worthless to me now (except the partying part,
the skills of which I continue to hone).

If a kid wants to be an engineer, or a doctor, or a lawyer or
something like that, college is the way to go. If they want to pursue
the jewelry field, a resident GG from GIA, a few months at the Revere
Academy or Paris College and a few carefully selected workshops and
seminars would serve them much better, imho. And never let the
learning stop. That’s one of the greatest things about our chosen
field. There is always more to learn. The vast majority of which will
not be found at any college or university not specializing in
jewelry.

Dave

27 
I will have to say I am looking to take training in England, as
the University of Central England in Birmingham has a great
program.

Ah, the motherland! I was born and brought up in Birmingham and wish
I’d thought of going into jewellery making when I still lived there!
Although Birmingham Polytechnic (former title of University of
Central England in Birmingham) might not have had such a good
programme when I was living there and I didn’t have such a supportive
husband back then either.

Your possible training in Birmingham sounds exciting Susan! You’ll
have to let us know how it goes if you decide to do it. The metals
“bank” seems like a great idea too.

Helen
UK
http://www.hillsgems.co.uk
http://www.helensgems.etsy.com

28

I agree with those who have said that there are better options than
a college degree for those who wish to enter the jewelry industry.

As an new educator, I have been very honest with my students
regarding how I thought their college education was preparing them
for the “field.” I have told people about other options if their
desired career path was working as a bench jeweler, a production
jeweler/designer, etc. A typical college degree requires 30 credit
hours (10 courses) in the major or concentration. Studio classes
generally meet for six hours a week, fifteen weeks a semester. That
is a total of 900 contact hours with an instructor, divided by the
number of students in the class. That is equivalent to 22.5 40-hour
work weeks (less than six months). The students should be working on
their own outside of class, but that is up to each individual
student. Of course a student could become specialized more quickly
and efficiently through on the job training, or with an
apprenticeship.

In that 900 hours, there are hundreds of techniques to be taught,
plus design considerations, decision making processes, etc. And there
are multiple constituencies claiming that one degree should prepare
someone to begin work in that field. Am I teaching people to be
artists, jewelers, silversmiths, designers, sculptors?

I would also like to ask the number of jewelers here what skills
they expect someone to have before getting an entry-level job?

Bryan Park
www.bryanpark.net

29

Hi,

I have the utmost respect, and no offense is meant, but what course
of study was it that prepared you for this job and how did this job
use or require your college education? Does the career of a Stone
Picker really require a BA?

I missed the part of the original post that said “high paying.” It
certainly wasn’t high paying. It was exactly average for female grads
with BAs that year.

And the BA had zero to do with the job, except for helping to get
hired, since a BA was either required or preferred, I don’t
remember.

As to the preparation that actually mattered, I mentioned that in
another post – I did GIA, jewelry trade school and ASA during
summers in college. I later did USPAP. I took two metalsmithing
classes during college, those were helpful in getting hired only in
that they added to my general experience and knowledge of jewelry
and how is put together.

I would say the most important component of my education that opened
doors for me was my GIA training.

Elaine
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com

30 
I'm not saying this to brag, but even I could have come into your
shop and made the ring you described and I've only been making for
a year and am self taught.

Yes, IMO Helen is doing quite well in her quest. She has things
posted, and has also sent me pics of her work. There were some
rumblings the other day on this thread that probably should be
clarified. There is method, and there is style. Method is how things
are done - in our trade it includes more than just soldering, it’s
ring technology, catches, bracelet technology, necklaces, layout,
metals, QC and many other “mental” things that need to be known.
After the method is learned, there’s nothing to prevent anybody from
applying it in an way they choose. This is why I keep saying that we
are all the same -because we are. There is no Us and Them. I use
exactly the same methods as anybody else here, I just apply them in
my own chosen way. That’s the importance of learning at a good place

  • getting a base of skills and knowlege that will set you on your
    way fully stocked.
31 
I graduated from college and two weeks later started as stone
picker in a factory.

Could you, or someone, enighten me as to the exact duties ofa stone
picker?

Thanks.
Jerry in Kodiak

32 
Both of them have said that their degree has helped them exactly
none in their chosen field of....; a resident GG from GIA, a few
months at the Revere Academy or Paris College and a few carefully
selected workshops and seminars would serve them much better, imho.

Thank you David!!!

I’ve been teaching gem cutting and fabrication for over 8 years now
after working for the Govt for nearly 40 years. I can’t tell you how
many incoming students tell me, “well I’m a jeweler already…I have
a BFA and did this and that”. I ask them to ‘go along with me’ and do
my basic classes first and then we can gauge their level. In almost
every case, they cannot even complete the most simple project without
instruction! In the end, most all tell me they learned more in my
basic class than in 4 years of college study. Not that I’m so good,
its just that they never had anyone explain the details of what they
need to do and how to do it. Thats not the end of it though. I know a
number of associates who went to more tailored classes at schools of
design who can make excellent jewelry with very little help…But, in
general, BFA level college classes just don’t cut it in the jewelry
discipline.

By the way, I just took my first Art Silver Clay course and really
enjoyed it. Yeah, I’m over 70 and I’m still learning!!

Cheers, from Don at the Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where simple
elegance IS fine jewelry!

33 
Could you, or someone, enighten me as to the exact duties ofa
stone picker?

“Pick” the stones that go in the rings to fill the orders, according
to the color/clarity for that order… Also quality check incoming
parcels. And I was also in charge of metal.

Elaine
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com

34 
University metalsmithing programs, in all my experience (beginning
with taking one) do not teach anything related to what goldsmiths
actually do, and graduates walk away with skills and knowledge, to
be sure, but completely disconnected from the real industry...

My experience in hiring people with BFA’s in metalsmithing to be
goldsmiths is that they are not a whole lot better off than those
hired right out of high school’s which had a good jewelry program. In
either case they need to be fully trained to work as goldsmiths. That
is not to say that the college graduates wasted their time and money,
those years in school exposed them to a wider range of experiences
and opened their eyes to bigger world than the right out of high
schooler’s. The good college students have learned how to learn and
that will serve them well the rest of their lives. But it didn’t
necessarily make them better goldsmiths and it didn’t increase their
starting pay much. They are both started off with the basic’s
(soldering, filing, shaping to establish good work habits) and then
taught progressively more difficult skills based on ability. I’d say
that natural ability and personal drive have more to do with the
ultimate skill level and success of a goldsmith. The most important
thing a young person who wants to be a goldsmith can do is find a
good goldsmith or shop to work for, one who will let them advance
their skills as far as they are able.

Mark

35 
I read a study recently that most people change careers at least
three times in their life. So it's not just kids. College can be a
help in the study of learning, but I think it's way over emphasized
in today's society. My son has a BA in Business and our journeyman
jeweler has a BA in Philosophy. Both of them have said that their
degree has helped them exactly none in their chosen field of
goldsmithing when we were discussing this thread.

The end of your statement completely contradicts what your thread
started out as, a discussion of how people are frequently changing
careers. I might add this applies even more so to college age kids
today than middle agers like me. Maybe your son’s business degree is
useless now, when he is pursuing a goldsmith job, but what about 20
years from now, when he wants to do something else? Or wants to
start his own jewelry store? A few business seminars is enough to get
you into trouble. If that’s the way your career path has gone and
that’s your option, then go for it. But young adults starting out
would be much better served by the business degree, which allows a
myriad of career options available to them later as well as an
ability to think outside of their own box. Then spend a year at a
trade school getting specific training or take a minor in it. My
double major business degree (management and marketing) with a minor
in art took me 3.5 years to earn. Jewelry training 1 year. Am I
overqualified to be a bench jeweler? You bet, especially for what
they get paid. But I don’t want to be a bench jeweler, I want to run
my own small jewelry business.

A four year business degree is also of very little help in running
a small business, especially when compared with the time and cost
of taking a few seminars on the subject.

What? I just put my entire business together (all marketing, all
merchandising, booth construction/signage/lighting, inventory,
getting a web host, choosing a credit card provider, etc.) in 6 short
weeks in preparation for my first show on Sept. 6th. There’s no way a
few business seminars would have prepared me for that!!! The skills
to merchandise my booth attractively will come directly from my early
retail experience. (shoes, fabric, clothes, what difference does it
make what you sell?) Above all, you learn customer service. How can
you run a successful business without that?

Yes, if you want to be a bench jeweler for the entire rest of your
life, skip the college degree. But make sure you don’t change your
mind, because going back to college is a lot harder when you have a
job and a family to support, than it is when you are young and free
and mom and dad are helping you pay for it. For my business degree, I
paid my own way by working part-time retail sales. Since it was my
own money, I wanted to make sure I could get a job when I graduated.

Lynn White

36 
Could you, or someone, enighten me as to the exact duties of a
stone picker?

Hopefully Elaine will reply, since it was her job, but in case she
doesn’t…

The last production job I had, I would get “job bags” - printed
envelopes like the repair envelopes people use, but these were custom
for the company. In each there might be one or two pieces, but more
often there were 25 or 50 rings to be worked on and maybe assembled,
and maybe 5 or 6 envelopes like that. Somewhere in that process they
go to the setting department. This ring would take 3 two pointers,
the next would take 5 graduated stones, the next would have eight
rounds and 4 baguettes, and the next would have 25 diamonds, all
precisely the same size. That’s 25 pieces of each, or 50 - 6-800
diamonds a day with 2 or 3 setters plugging away (and fine work,
too). That’s not to mention centers - 350 quarter caraters… All
of a sudden the person who does the work of filling those orders
becomes pretty important, even if it’s maybe a little boring… I
could have answered more simply, I figured a little more insight
might be good…

37

Hi,

I have been involved with FIDM in LA starting a jewelry program that
will offer a student a BA, AA or a PD (Professional Designation) all
accredited degrees.

The students have 2 quarter of hand rendering, 3 quarters of
Metalsmithing which includes everything from mokume, repouse to stone
settings. Wax working, 2 quarters of CAD, gemology, history of
jewelry,and 3 quarters of Jewelry design workshops, major art
movements, sample case development, Methods and materials, The
creative process,Professional practices. They work hard in getting
the advanced students internships or par time jobs in jewelry while
they finish their schooling. Also they built the jewelry studio in
the heart of the LA jewelry district.

In the Jewelry design workshop the students select some source of
inspiration (famous designers, special client, anthropology,
history, painting etc.) and render a collection of 5 pieces and then
pick one and decide how to make it. The school gives them money (X$)
to make the project and they have to turn in their receipts as well
as the renderings, the source and the finished piece.

I teach wax, CAD and the design workshops. It is the best jewelry
program I have ever taught. I think schools are realizing they have
to offer students both a professional and academic education.

Sue Ann Dorman
www.suedorman.com

38 
As to the preparation that actually mattered, I mentioned that in
another post -- I did GIA, jewelry trade school and ASA during
summers in college. I later did USPAP. I took two metalsmithing
classes during college, those were helpful in getting hired only
in that they added to my general experience and knowledge of
jewelry and how is put together.

That’s exactly what I thought. I’m also going to guess that your
experience at the factory coupled with your training outside of
college was far more beneficial to you professionally long-term,
given what you are doing now. But it’s the total of our life’s
experience that makes us all what we are.

A long time ago, when boys went to college, girls were sent to
“finishing school”, to learn how to walk and talk and generally
become a lady. Fortunately, we’ve moved beyond that, but it’s become
apparent to me in the last few decades that college has become more
of a finishing school experience than a preparation for a career.
Secondary schools seem more and more to have dropped the ball, and
more and more kids require remedial reading, writing and math
training in their freshman and even sophomore years just to begin to
get anything out of college. I guess that’s where the emphasis on
college has come from, that a high school diploma means very little
more than what used to be a sixth or seventh grade reading level. And
I guess that’s why the factory wanted their stone pickers to have a
sheepskin. They needed to be sure that a new hire could read, write
and do simple math at the very least, and a high school diploma is no
longer such a guarantee.

Thanks, Elaine.
Dave

39

Hi there,

For a college degree I would highly recommend The California College
of the Arts in Oakland & San Francisco, CA…This was formerly known
as The College of Arts & Crafts…As a guest lecturer in the Fall 2007
program, I saw first hand how good and thorough their program is.
This would include a degree with Bachelor of Arts and a major in
metals and jewelry arts. Not only did these students do traditional
college courses but the overall quality, technical ability, and
creativity in the metals program was of a very high caliber. By the
time of the senior exhibition, a student is well-rounded and
competent in their field. As a small shop owner, I would have no
hesitation to hire one of their students. The department chair,
Marilyn da Silva,and her staff–Curtis Aremis,interim chair; David
Cole, senior lecturer; Nick Dong, lecturer; and Deb Lozier,adjunct
professor are some of the most qualified in the jewelry/metals
field. In fact, some of the students were already working in
trade-shops & stores part-time…It was an honor on my part to be a
small part of the staff last fall and if we had family interested in
the metals field, I would not hesitate sending them there.

From sunny Northern California & a hot workshop,
Jo-Ann Maggiora Donivan

40 
But young adults starting out would be much better served by the
business degree, which allows a myriad of career options available
to them later as well as an ability to think outside of their own
box.

Actually, any GOOD liberal arts degree will do this. The point of a
good liberal arts education is to learn to think, to research, and
to communicate; and to broaden and deepen your general knowledge.
With the rapid change in careers and options now, and the huge number
of job changes people go through today, any genuinely good liberal
arts degree should prepare the recipient to be able to quickly learn
any missing knowledge in a new job. It does not have to be a business
degree by any means.

Skills, on the other hand, are an entirely different matter. They
must be well taught, and must be practiced until mastered. This is
true whether you are talking about jewelry making skills, baking
skills, gardening skills, or whatever. Proper tuition and lots of
practice make perfect.

A liberal arts degree is a jumping off point, not a final
destination. A trade school degree is much more of a final
destination, although increased competence with practice and time
would certainly be expected. But if you know one narrow thing really
well, it would be much harder to jump successfully in a widely
different direction than the broader background of a good liberal
arts degree.

Which most certainly does not mean a liberal arts degree is better!
Just DIFFERENT. A different beast with a different purpose. If you
really firmly believe you know what you want to do for the rest of
your life, and you can learn it in a trade school, and you are not
much interested in the breadth of a liberal arts degree feeling that
it is not of interest to you, then there is every reason to do a
trade school course and skip the liberal arts degree. Why waste time
and money on something you aren’t interested in? For the many folks
who think they know what they want to do, but want wiggle room, or
who don’t have a clue, a good liberal arts education is time and
money well spent.

The keys to any type of education, of course, being the quality of
the instruction and the application of the student.

Beth in SC