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
VCC
VANCOUVER COMMUNITY COLLEGE
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLuMBIA
2017/18 was an unusual year for VCC Jewellery Art & Design, as I was away at NSCAD University in Halifax, completing my MFA in Jewellery. It was exciting to return to work at the beginning of May, just in time to help set up our annual Student Exhibition. For the final 5 weeks of our two-year program, students work on collections of five or more pieces related to a theme. Each student has one display case in which to create an environment that showcases the jewellery. Themes this year ranged from design influences such as the Bauhaus, to a fascination with mystery and magic (witchcraft, alchemy and fairy tales).
Francesca Cresciullo
Stone-setting Project (2018)
Sterling silver, synthetic corundum
Image credit: Ronnie Lee Hill
Amanda Raymond
Second Year Hollowform Ring Project (2018)
Sterling silver
Image credit: Janet Harrison
Natalie Friesen
Bauhaus The Journey (2018)
18k gold, sterling silver, tanzanite
Image credit: Ronnie Lee Hill
Our curriculum is always a balancing act between feeding students’ creativity, and preparing them for work in the sometimes more conservative jewellery trade. In addition to the creative projects displayed in the annual exhibition, throughout the year students complete projects such as a solitaire ring with a hand-made setting, a pair of omega clip earrings, and a cubic zirconia eternity band. This year we added more stone-setting projects, as we saw that students needed more training in setting unusually shaped stones.
Students were involved in several exhibitions and organizations this year. Graduating student Francesca Cresciullo won the Emerging Artist Award at the Craft Council of BC’s annual Earring Show. Francesca and Afrouz Avani won Honourable Mentions at CJA’s national “Colours of Spring” Design Contest. This spring, Jessica Atkinson, another grad, was elected president of the Vancouver Metal Arts Association.
Karin Jones, Department Head, Jewellery Art & Design
