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
ocad university
Ontario college of art and design university
Toronto, Ontario
OCAD University provides students with the tools and strategies to develop critical skills needed to take agency and direct their own career path in jewellery. Focusing on an independent self-directed project in their thesis year, students create jewellery and sculptural forms with metal and alternative materials embracing traditional fabrication methods alongside computer-aided design. The 2018 graduating class was a diverse group, producing work ranging from entrepreneurial approaches to production, as seen in the work of Eugenia Chan and the development of her brand "Yours Truly”, to conceptual installation work.
Eugenia Chan
“Yours Truly”
Image credits: Robert Mitchell and Frank Pisani
In recent years many of the students develop work inspired by complex social issues engaging with thesis as a cathartic way of coping with personal or societal concerns, Qiuchun Wei’s thoughtful body of work Loss is a good example of such an exploration.
Quichun Wei
Relationship (Brooch)
Image by the artist
Students are often encouraged to approach thesis as an autobiographical study drawing on their personal experiences, cultural backgrounds and narratives. In the work, Exodus: The Boat and I Charlize Nhung Nguyen draws on the diaspora of the Vietnamese people and her experiential memories of leaving her homeland as a child.
In this body of work Charlize explores her physical and emotional memories in tactile forms as a sensory experience. Charlize was the winner of the 2018 Metal for Material Art and Design, OCAD University’s highest departmental award and her thesis work was included in the international Autor Exhibition in Romania. Charlize will be continuing her exploration as an Artist-In-Residence at Harbourfront Centre.
Charlize Nhung Nguyen
Grandpa Pa
Image credit: Frank Pisani
Congratulations to the Class of 2018.
Robert K E Mitchell Mdes, Assistant Professor, Material Art and Design
