Class Character

Class Character is a platform for faculty of Canadian Jewellery programs to share the victories of their graduating students and open the doors of their respective departments to the MetalAid community.  This is an ongoing, annual project.  If you would like to see your school featured in future editions of Class Character, please contact us for submission guidelines and details.

Compiled by: The MetalAid Team
Published: 2018/07/15
 

ÉCOLE DE JOAILLERIE DE MONTRÉAL
MoNTRÉAL, QUEBEC

Established in 1973 by Madeleine Dansereau and Armand Brochard, on rue St-Vincent in Old Montreal, this studio-school came into being when two jewellers from very different spheres but driven by a shared passion joined forces to create a vibrant, distinct and unique training centre. They were so successful that within two years they moved into larger quarters, establishing the École de joaillerie et de métaux d’art de Montréal. In 1989, the first cohort of Cégep students registered in the technical crafts programme, jewellery option, affiliated with the Cégep du Vieux Montréal. Not only did they garner recognition for the instruction they offered in jewellery making, they also actively promoted this programme, calling for it to be recognized in its own right by the arts community in Montreal and across Quebec. Students mastered jewellery techniques as well as gemology, the lapidary arts, and design.

In order to provide professional support and resources to both its Cégep and continuing education students, the School makes its workshops and equipment available in a variety of ways: workshop and equipment rental, free workshop access for school projects, technical assistance, information and counselling, research, special projects, and a documentation centre.

Now known as the École de joaillerie de Montréal, it is attended each year by over 400 students who are divided into three groups – continuing education, college-level instruction, and advanced training – and is the only Canadian in ÉJM’s mission is to share jewellery, contemporary jewellery, and craft-specific knowledge and skills with its diverse student body and the larger jewellery and art worlds.

The 13 graduates of the Cégep du Vieux Montréal’s jewellery program will present their graduation projects at MAI, 3680 rue Jeanne-Mance, from June 14th  to 17th, 2018. The vernissage will take place on Thursday, June 14th at 5:30pm. J’ai oublié que l’on avait une rencontre refers to the effervescence of student life and its many work appointments. The 2018 cohort, a group of young professionals focused on their plastic and technical imagined an exhibition highlighting all their creative potential and their manual skills significant to the profession of a jeweler. The presented works offer an insight into see the affinities between materials, processes and styles peculiar to each student.

Banner image: Yann Poirier, Mue Bracelet (2018), Sterling silver, titanium, lapis lazuli, magnets