Academics in Pandemic
An online international exhibition showcasing the extraordinary efforts of faculty and students during a global pandemic.
Message from the Jury
When schools began closing around the world, a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, students and teachers were all faced with the same question, “how do we keep teaching, learning, making!?”
As events unfolded around us, we became aware that jewelry was the perfect medium for communication during this unique moment in human history. We were being asked to clearly and boldly define personal boundaries, create social distance, develop new forms of greeting, and protect ourselves from one another. Jewelry has helped us do these things for millennia!
Our Education Committee seized the opportunity to invite professors and students to share ideas and solutions both finished and speculative. Our hope was to bring together our talented, curious, and thoughtful community through our shared interest, jewelry making, while exploring solutions to the variety of issues presented to us. The response was remarkable and diverse.
The result is a Collection of Work that acts as a time capsule for this transformative moment. We hope you will enjoy this exhibition but also gain insight and inspiration to take back into your studios and classrooms.
Thank you!
-Academics in Pandemic Jury
VIEWING TIPS
The best viewing experience will be on a computer.
This is a HUGE collection of work. It might take a little time for images to load.
Award winners are noted in image descriptions.
Click on a thumbnail image, and hover over to view text. With a phone, look for the small dot in the bottom right to bring up image text.
Use left and right arrows to move to next or previous image.
PARTICIPANTS
73 educational institutions are represented in this exhibition.
300 students and educators are represented in this exhibition.
There was no fee to apply.
Fresh! Exciting New Work
Students and educators never cease to surprise us. Despite all the challenges, whether inspired by the pandemic or continuing current research, some Fresh! Exciting New Work happened this semester.
Keep Calm and Carry On
No pandemic is going to break the creative urge and for some students or educators, and has not interrupted the making of work either. This gallery is a testament to those who adapted to the circumstances of the pandemic to continue producing the work they had planned before having to vacate campus studios.
Communication and Interaction
Functional objects can be described and understood in the ways they are interacted with. Their design communicates something about their intended use, which in turn communicates something about their maker or users needs and wants. Students of jewelry and metalsmithing study the craft of communicative object making, exemplified by the objects in this gallery. For some, the pandemic has increased their attention to physical interaction with objects by decreasing physical interaction with people.
Flattening the Curve
Students and educators used this time to contextualize work through their pandemic experiences. Whether self-directed or instigated with assignment prompts, the Flattening the Curve gallery highlights work that addresses the pandemic head on, acknowledging that we all need to do our part to help abate the spread of the virus.
Materials at Hand
When faced with unusual challenges, unusual solutions can be found. The Materials at Hand gallery showcases work made by students or educators who were suddenly faced with limited tools, materials, space, and/or time, and found inspiration from the items within arm’s reach.
In Progress
To finish, or not to finish, that is the question for many students and educators alike. The In Progress gallery highlights work started during socially distant classes as sketches, material experiments, prototypes and works intended for future development. The absence of pre-pandemic studios, in person critiques and conversation has not prevented students from generating a wealth of creativity. This gallery illustrates work in varying states of completion.
Performative
While some objects are designed to make their use apparent, others must be performed to reveal the imagination of their maker. The performance of the objects in this gallery adds necessary information to their narrative.
Speculative
Some work produced by students and educators during the pandemic highlights the ability of art to visualize ideas that are bigger than the piece/s they make. In this collection of works, students have created images, plans or objects addressing hypothetical scenarios and with the suggestion that there are future material and ideological possibilities for the work.
Studio Spaces
Students from introductory to graduate levels were required to break their dependency on institutional facilities. Some already had well-equipped home studios to use, while others found themselves without even the most basic tools like a saw frame, files, or pliers. The Studio Spaces gallery highlights the variety of spaces used to create the work in Academics in Pandemic.
Covid Curriculum
Educators committed to their practice spend countless hours designing their curriculum, and are excited to introduce the world of metalsmithing to students. The shift to remote teaching was hard for everyone, but heart wrenching for those of us who rely on studios filled with specialized tools and equipment.
Developing months of curriculum for students who are suddenly faced with a collection of new challenges was an exercise in problem solving and empathy, many did not anticipate.
The Covid Curriculum Gallery highlights the efforts of the educators who rose to this challenge, including videos, assignments, games, and student examples. It is our hope that this gallery can be a resource for students and educators as we continue to adjust to the challenges of this pandemic.
M.A.S.K (MAKING ART SUSTAINABLE and KIND)
Alejandra Carrillo-Estrada
The University of Texas at El Paso
The objective of the assignment M.A.S.K. which stands for "Making Art Sustainable and Kind", was to think critically of what it means to wear protection, what message(s) are masks and shields sending, and how to make art sustainable by using found objects, recycled materials, and repurposing function. Students were tasked to refrain from buying and/or ordering material and tools. However, they could borrow tools and ask for donated materials from friends/family, all while keeping a safe social distance.
*UTEP student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
ZERO KARAT ONE-WEEK WEARABLE CHALLENGE
Anika Smulovitz
Boise State University
In order to keep my students focused, engaged, and in an attempt to lower anxieties during the "Idaho COVID19 Stay at Home Order", I tried to use the quick transition to remote teaching as an opportunity to stay connected, create a stronger community, and further develop our creative problem solving skills. In teaching my students to use the materials they had available to them (recyclables, etc), and low tech methods to create in both metal and non-metal materials, I chose to view and present these new parameters for creating as a positive challenge. While I have always used a variety of materials in my own work (including recycled grocery bags and thrift store clothes), creating with recycled materials seems to have even more weight during this time. I am finding a stronger voice in these materials and hope to create new work with this renewed sense of purpose.
*BSU student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
3D MODELED AND CAST RING
Chloe Darke
University of Wisconsin-Stout
As an instructor, I still had access to the studio. Because I still wanted my beginning students to experience the process of designing and making a ring, the project was changed to a 3D designed ring. I 3D printed their ring designs in castable wax resin, then cast them in sterling silver with the help of my colleague and acting Metals area head Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro. Once they were cast the rings were shipped to the students for finishing. Throughout the semester I made videos tutorials detailing the 3D printing, casting, and finishing processes for them to view.
*UW-Stout student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
SPOON A DAY
Jina Seo
Missouri State University
As all my classes moved to online very abruptly in my school without any preparation time, most of my students were sent home with empty hands. My goal was to design new assignments that are flexible in terms of materials and tools needed while still maintaining the academic standards expected to metal courses. It was important to think about what are the core values that must be taught within the troubling circumstances.
HOLLOW CONSTRUCTION
Jina Seo
Missouri State University
I created a paper hollow form project for beginning students since they were not able to learn one of the fundamental techniques like soldering and fabricating hollow forms.
FUNCTION VS FICTION
Jina Seo
Missouri State University
For my intermediate and advanced class, I focused on providing opportunities for deeper research on ideas and inspirations on hollowware.
I truly appreciate students' commitment to finish their semester strong during this difficult time.
*MSU student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
FOUND OBJECT AS JEWELRY: DOCUMENTATION
MATERIAL EXPLORATIONS: RECYCLED NECKPIECE
(project created by Mallory Weston)
RING A DAY CHALLENGE
(project created by Yvonne Escalante)
Joshua Kosker
Indiana University - Bloomington
With the Coronavirus changing the way we are working and living our daily lives, students had to adapt to their newfound limitations. Many students created makeshift studio workspaces off campus to continue their creative practices. They had to mine their world for inspiration and identify unlikely materials for jewelry, often using objects found in and around their immediate environment. This shift in making presented students with an opportunity to explore more experimental materials and processes, while applying the same rigor and thoughtfulness they apply to your normal hands-on studio practice.
*IU-Bloomington student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
FROM HOME: ARTIFACTS OF ISOLATION
Part 1: Spaces of Isolation
Part 2: Responsible Radius
Material Exploration
Kerianne Quick
San Diego State University
Jess Tolbert
University of Texas El Paso
AWARD WINNERS
The project brings together students working in Jewelry and Metalwork programs at San Diego State University and University of Texas El Paso. The project connects our students through considering the shared experience of sheltering in place and physical distancing. The students were asked to re-evaluate the spaces where they are required to shelter and the potential for making within them. All levels of my Jewelry and Metalwork classes are participating.
*SDSU and UTEP student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
MAKE ME LOVE IT!
Kristi Wilson
University of New Mexico Gallup
University of New Mexico Gallup students received information regarding the project via email, weekly Zoom check-ins and a few by phone. Most of my students live on the Navajo Reservation and had restricted use of Wi-Fi due to mandatory shut down and National Guard entrance points into Gallup. One student even had the virus and was able to communicate and complete the project after receiving medical attention. Some of my students live in multigenerational homes and do not have running water. I cannot stress how challenging this time was for them and yet through all of this my students continued to find ways to communicate with each other and continue to not only make the work but photograph it from home while asking relatives to volunteer to model the necklace for this project.
THEN AND NOW: SCANDAL AND JEWELRY
Lucy Louise Derickson
Montgomery College
Research historically significant pieces of jewelry, and then create an exaggerated necklace that you would place in the center of a contemporary scandal (real or fabricated).
PAPER MACHE PPE
Lucy Louise Derickson
Montgomery College
Using primarily paper mache, create a body extension of some kind that will work (conceptually) as a new form of personal protective equipment.
*MC student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
PERSONAL ARTIFACT, SELF PORTRAIT
Leslie Shershow
New Mexico State University
Students were asked to create a Personal Artifact/Self-Portrait piece of jewelry using found materials and whatever tools they had access to. Special emphasis was placed upon "capturing" found objects using non-traditional stone setting techniques and materials, because the course's semester emphasis was on stone setting.
*NMSU student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
CARVING OUT TIME and
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Luci Jockel
Towson University
Adjusting the syllabus to an online course was a great challenge. As a craftsperson and artist, I feel as though we are experienced with innovating. Problem-solving is a part of our practice and can be rewarding. From hardship comes growth. The project prompts I am entering with resulted in interesting responses from students. Students were emotionally and mentally depleted during this time and it was a challenge to keep them interested and passionate about the coursework. With this in mind, I created prompts that would help them to continue working their hands and prepare them for the real world as an artist.
*TU student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
STAY HOME!
Rose Schlemmer
Indiana University East
I was inspired to have my students stay safe and healthy by washing their hands with soap but somehow turn it into jewelry. The idea to have my students create soap rings focused on hopefully using items and tools students would have on hand and not require them to make an unnecessary trip out to the store. I also wanted them to work with a ring design as Metals 1 would have been creating hollow ware rings and Metals 2 would have been creating a series or production line jewelry if we had continued F2F classes.
*IUE student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
PENDANT EXERCISE
Christine Dwane
Ecole de Joaillerie de Montréal
With the sudden shut down, and being out of a job, I initially tried to have individual online consultations with some students who were asking for guidance. The consultations using the zoom or whatsapp platforms were seriously lacking and I quickly found that jewellery making, being so “hands on”, meant that teaching must be as well. I proposed something simple to exercise basic skills that didn’t require soldering for students who were not equipped at home with a torch. Tracing, drilling, sawing, filling and a bit of shaping and voilà you get a pendant with a sawn motif and volume as well as. The experience just didn’t translate well online.
*EJM student work can be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
QuarantZine
Mary Kay Palazzo
Brockway Center for Arts and Technology
QuarantZine is a project that I made for my peers in the metalsmithing community and for my metals students. It is a printable activity book comprised of four different metalsmithing-themed activities; three word puzzles and a coloring page. My goal for this project was to help metalsmiths keep the “smithy” parts of our brains active— even while many of us have lost access to our studios— by making puzzles that highlight different metals tools, techniques, and trivia. While this project is largely a fun way to exercise metals knowledge, I also hoped that it could serve as a comforting distraction for metalsmiths who are missing their studios and are uncertain about the future of their practice. I feel that it is more important than ever to look out for each other, and making this project was my way of giving support to my metals community.
VALUE-OPTIMIZED PRICING
Sarah Rachel Brown
Podcaster, Guest Lecturer
I am an advocate for understanding one’s value, especially the value of the objects we make, the value of our time, and the value of our talents. My passion for this topic has led me to creating a podcast and most recently, a pricing workshop for students entitled 'Value-Optimized Pricing.' As the situation with COVID19 escalated, I was furloughed from my primary employer and as an attempt to remain financially stable, I sought online teaching opportunities through my peers working in academia. I adapted my in-person pricing workshop to be conducted online and have further developed VOP into an online seminar which includes a 1 hr presentation with Q and A, 2 digital handouts, an online pricing exercise, multiple assignments based on the educator’s needs/wants, and an in-depth follow-up discussion regarding the results of the student’s online pricing exercises.
THE CORONA JEWEL PROJECT
Einav Benzano
Institut De Bijouterie De Saumur
My students were asked by me, to create a piece that expresses their current feelings, like frustration, anger, helplessness, fears, loneliness. I was interested to see their translation from feelings and thoughts to materials. The jewel must be carried out with the means of edge and the possible thing to do with their close environment, because certain student did not leave home during 2 months.
SEVEN HILLS
Lisa Arnott
Silverhub Jewellery School and Studios
Jessica Howarth
Silverhub Jewellery School and Studios
It has been an incredibly stressful time for everyone as we balance this new life. When we closed the studio each of our foundation students received a small kit of basic tools and equipment to enable them to continue to work from home and enabled them to set up a bench at home. The health and wellbeing of our students has been important, so we have checked in with them to provide some support to them so that they can continue to be creative and make during this time.
The students work has been a creative response to being assigned one of the seven hills in the city of Edinburgh to explore and creatively respond to in the form of a jewellery collection.
*SiIverHub student work can also be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
A PANDEMIC PROMPTS EVOLUTION
Malissa Kuznicki
University of North Dakota
Below is a short essay about how my teaching adjusted for online delivery and how I think being forced to re-evaluate how we teach will ultimately be beneficial.
DISCUSSION PROMPT: DAVID BIELANDER’S CARDBOARD CROWN
Amy Edwards
Hempfield High School
*HHS student work can be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
CHAPIN’S $1 CHALLENGE
CHAPIN’S FLEXSHAFT CHALLENGE
Chapin Dimond
Boulder Metalsmithing Association
Students were challenged to continue honing their skills at home through “Chapin Challenges”. Videos were made of me (Chapin) explaining the challenge and modeling the process. BoMA’s Instagram, Facebook and e-newsletter were used to share the challenge.
Go to the Boulder Metalsmithing Association facebook or Instagram page for videos of the $1 Challenge and the Flexshaft Challenge.
ALTERNATE DIMENSION/ALTERNATE REALITY
Emily Cobb
Humboldt State University
I am submitting materials that reflect my experience teaching in an "alternate universe" during the past few months of the academic semester. In this parallel world, terms like face-to-face, remote, synchronous, asynchronous, and zoom fatigue surround you. Jewelry faculty across the nation support each other through social media platforms and share "alternate material" prompts as source of inspiration for new assignments.
I embrace this mindset and develop two other project prompts within this theme: "alternate dimension" (exploring 2D as part of your 3D practice) and "alternate reality" (goodbye physical world, hello virtual realm). As I rearrange the class curriculum, I rearrange my living room to make space for a home studio. Time spent on the computer is tenfold, so now I prefer painting sewing, and baking over clicking, scrolling, and typing. A certain theme song won't stop playing in my head as I wait for my students to arrive, so I recite it out loud to an empty Zoom meeting "this is the dimension of imagination...it is an area which we call...The Spring 2020 Semester."
*HSU student work can be found in Academics in Pandemic galleries.
Jurors
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Andy Lowrie
(he, him, his)
Student Committee Chair
MFA Candidate, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVirginia Commonwealth University sits on the ancestral territory of the Powhatan peoples.
Andy’s Website -
Dr. Elizabeth Shaw
(she, her, hers)
Advisory Board
Head of Fine Art Program and Head of Jewellery and Small Objects Department at Queensland College of Art Griffith University, Queensland, AUS
Griffith University sits on the homelands of the Meeanjin, the traditional lands of the Turrbal, Jagera/Yaggera.
Elizabeth’s Website -
Kathleen Kennedy
(she, her, hers)
Board Member
Radical Jewelry Makeover DirectorAssistant Professor of Jewelry and Metalsmithing, Department of Theater, Art, Graphic Design and Animation at Longwood University, Virginia, USA
Longwood University sits on the ancestral territory of the Lumbee, Monacan, and Occaneechi peoples.
-
Lucy Louise Derickson
(she, her, hers)
Education DirectorAssistant Professor and Coordinator of the Jewelry and Metalsmithing/Craft Area at Montgomery College, Maryland, USA
Montgomery College sits on the ancestral territory of the Piscataway nation.
-
Susie Ganch
(she, her, hers)
Advisory Board
Radical Jewelry Makeover DirectorAssociate Professor & Metal Area Head
Department of Craft/Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts, Virginia, USAVirginia Commonwealth University sits on the ancestral territory of the Powhatan peoples.
Academics in Pandemic is powered by our Education Committee
The Education Committee builds a community that champions the most sustainable practices in the metalsmithing and jewelry fields. Through questioning and interrogating accepted standards, we foster curiosity to find best practices. We disseminate this information and build calls to action through projects such as Radical Jewelry Makeover, International State of Practice, So Fresh + So Clean, and Criticalsmiths.