Following the completion of the first year, second-year graduates identify their personal areas of interest essential to the development of their thesis research and practice. Students are required to outline and pursue independent work with a self-determined structure, timeline, and intentions. Regardless of outcome, students are expected to evidence their progress weekly during individual meetings with faculty. Central to the second year, graduates are required to demonstrate a high level of self-motivation, vision, and initiative reflected through their concentrated inquiry and the rigorous exploration of their ideas. In conclusion of the term, second year graduates are required to complete a thesis presentation, to a J+M faculty review committee, in approval of their preliminary objectives and strategies in preparation for Graduate J+M Thesis.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This history seminar provides an overview of personal adornment in both western and non-western cultures. The goal is for the student to gain a deeper understanding of the history of jewelry and the context in which the objects are placed. The course is structured around weekly, thematic slide presentations that are supported by visits to RISD Museum collections, local research facilities and fieldtrips. Readings and class discussions examine topics such as placement of value (spiritual, material, social, sentimental) and how these are reflected in the contemporary field. Class projects focus on strengthening research and presentation skills.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for both jewelry and small objects. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes. Lectures on historical and contemporary jewelry supplement, inform, and inspire students' work.

Elective

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for both jewelry and small objects. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes. Lectures on historical and contemporary jewelry supplement, inform, and inspire students' work.

Elective

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for both jewelry and small objects. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes. Lectures on historical and contemporary jewelry supplement, inform, and inspire students' work.

Elective

Whether you work with pencil and paper or create drawings on the computer, the tools of a designer are all means by which you can define an idea, create a model, and make a finished piece of jewelry. This course begins with a series of design study assignments, in-class lectures, and technical instruction in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Using these tools, students learn the fundamentals of image manipulation, illustration, laser cutting, vector graphics, layering, and graphic editing on the computer. Play and experimentation with materials will be expected and by the end of the course, students will have an understanding of how the use of computers combined with handwork can create exceptional pieces of jewelry.This course will bring technology to the bench.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

Graduate J+M Thesis is a 9-credit course that meets twice a week with two different instructors. Each instructor evaluates students focusing on both studio thesis work and the theoretical concerns of the Graduate Jewelry 2 seminar. Graduate students select two advisors, for their thesis committee with J+M faculty to provide additional insight and support into their thesis work, as well as to foster other professional contacts. The final thesis requirements are a written thesis document, curriculum vitae, artist statement, artist book and professional portfolio. The resulting body of thesis work is featured in the Graduate Thesis Exhibition at the Convention Center in May. It is expected the Graduate J+M Thesis investigates unexplored territory, reveals personal idiosyncrasies and demonstrates a high level of artistic authorship and sophistication.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This course utilizes general and specific topoi to critically analyze the field of contemporary jewelry. Students will develop the ability to write and speak with precision and complexity regarding their own work and that of others. In the process, we will create a communal topography generated by a network of inquiry to aid in locating ourselves and objects. Students have significant latitude to incorporate individual interests in written assignments. Themes addressed include but are not limited to: cultural identity, material history, marginalization, and exhibition strategies.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

J+M Senior Seminar serves as a continuum to J+M Junior Seminar. This course focuses on ideas and theories that relate to a professional studio practice in a craft based media or methodology. The information presented in the course will reflect the historical and contemporary development specific to Jewelry + Metalsmithing and its relationship to the field of crafts at large as well as contemporary visual culture. Readings and class discussion will explore critical issues such as the role and responsibility of the artist in today's society, artistic authorship, context and representation, the relationship between the wearer and the audience experience, the body as content and site, etc.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

Spring seminar focuses on research, writing, and presentation as essential skills for both studio and professional practices. Emphasis is placed on the students' ability to locate, examine, and discuss their work within contemporary and historical contexts. Jewelry, along with objects of our discipline, will be considered through a variety of theoretical frameworks and cross-cultural and historical perspectives. Research, and the language that evidences it, is the foundation of this seminar. Various modes of writing are employed to mine, develop, and articulate ideas, and to further refine this information into artist statements, grant proposals, and presentations. Reflective writing will be practiced throughout the term in order to make sense of past work, clarify current work, and to formulate questions and ideas for work in the future. The term builds towards and culminates with a formal artist presentation. This is an opportunity to carefully consider and craft the language and the photographic representation that supports your work. The goal is to bring all of these things into alignment and to explore the symbiotic and poetic relationships between them.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In the Senior J+M Degree Project students focus on a clearly defined, individually chosen, subject of inquiry for 12 weeks. Seniors are required to take full responsibility for the evolution and articulation of their creative practice. Two faculty serve as DP advisors, meeting weekly with students, to discuss and facilitate the progress of their work. Although seniors are required to be self-reflective in identifying the individual impulses and motivations in their work, emphasis in review and discussion begins to shift from the voice of the personal to that of the greater collective, context, and role of the audience. The DP culminates in an exhibition at Woods-Gerry Gallery on the RISD campus. Graduation requirements include: CV, professionally documented digital portfolio, artist postcard, and artist/degree project statement.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This course is devoted to developing one's abilities to write and speak with precision and complexity, about one's own work and the work of others. We will examine trends and movements in contemporary art through the lens of critical theory. We will investigate what contemporary art can tell us about the relationships between history, images, and visual culture, subsequently developing the skills necessary to write about your work, what it articulates and argues, and the ideas and traditions from which it emerges. Each term will identify and address a new set of themes relevant to course content.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

The fall seminar concentrates on critical reading as an opportunity to locate, examine, and discuss your work within a broader field of inquiry. The additional objectives are to increase critical thinking, hone reading and writing skills, expand vocabulary, and build presentation skills. Woven into all of this is the understanding that research can be a valuable, if not essential, component of making - each informing and enriching the other. The focus of the spring seminar shifts to writing and presentation as an integral part of both studio and professional practice. Each spring brings a new team of guest instructors who introduce various modes of writing as a means to mine, develop and articulate ideas in a concise and authentic manner, and, to further hone that information into artist statements, written theses, and public presentations. Throughout the term writing will be the vehicle in which to move between private and public realms. This journey will begin with 'automatic writings' and culminate with your public artist presentations.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In this studio, first-year graduates begin to recognize and develop personal areas of interest. Direction is given to bring structure to the exploration of various processes, materials, concepts, and formats. Weekly individual meetings focus on student's progress and response to assignments, as well as independent research.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In Graduate Jewelry 2, first-year graduates hone in on recognized personal areas of interest specific to jewelry from the Fall semester. Students are encouraged to embrace new studio habits in order for individualized working methodologies to become apparent. Faculty, work with students, to foster the strengths of their natural proclivities and problem-solve areas of personal sabotage. Critical to the success of this course, it is essential that first year students demonstrate a high level of self-direction, curiosity, and drive reflected through their bench work and independent research. Course content continues to focus around jewelry's power and potential as a platform and catalyst for dialogue.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In this studio course, second-year students identify and pursue personally driven research. Weekly individual meetings and studio visits take place with the instructor, and also with scheduled first-year and second-year group critiques. Students are required to maintain a continuous record of their research and development through drawings, writings, samples, models, etc. Active participation in group discussions and critiques is mandatory.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for jewelry. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes.

Elective