Silversmithing, Goldsmithing & Jewellery – (B.A.)

Contents

Syllabus (11/12*)

Year 1

The first year concentrates on the development of the your abilities to conduct basic investigations, evaluate findings, and organise and realise creative, practical and theoretical ideas and concepts in both 2 and 3 dimensions that respond to the divergent needs of the different craft areas. This is combined with an introduction to the alternative applications and demands of hand processes and technology.

* Introduction to design, form and structure - introduction to the methodologies associated with the processes of design combined with a variety of fundamental and important workshop processes/techniques.
* Design practice - development of design research skills, and the 3D realisation of design proposals through workshop practice.
* Design and decoration - introduction to designing and making for the goldsmithing/small work market.
* Perception and meaning - introduction to areas of theory that explores how we perceive and structure information (perception), the meanings we attribute to forms of communication (semiotics), and the social and cultural contexts within which human communication takes place (anthropology).
* Silversmithing - design of larger scale work and provides the opportunity to research and explore domestic silverware that is often functional but also enjoyed for aesthetic reasons.
* Jewellery and goldsmithing - introduces you to a longer span of study time to begin the process of working towards the second year curriculum where greater levels of independence and autonomy are encouraged and required.
* Modernity and modernism - lecture series which strives to articulate the notion of modernity and modernism by examining some of the key intellectual, philosophical and aesthetic positions that influenced design and the visual arts from the late nineteenth century.

Year 2

The second year is designed to build upon the values of the first year studies and to extend each student's development as it relates to research, experiment, creative design, presentation and the manufacture of ideas in specific fields of precious metalwork and related materials.

* Professional practice - you to engage in three tasks: a creative design proposal, a creative design for jewellery and a creative design proposal.
* Jewellery: creative design - offers you the opportunity to engage in a broad range of creative practice and in particular, to express individuality and to design with personal identity as a key aesthetic and conceptual concern.
* Postmodernity - lecture series which explores key ideas that have contributed to the development of postmodernism and their impact on creative practice.
* Conceptual and technical design - encourages you to embrace technology as a creative tool, to engage in a speculative and conceptually lead design for artefacts and consider the application of precious metalwork as domestic product.
* Creative production design - important pilot for third year projects in conceptual and production design.
* European or International exchange (optional)
* Research (framing practice) - this unit address the needs of practitioners to formally place their work within complex frameworks of theory and practice. It aims therefore to prepare you for an advanced engagement with theory and practice through the examination of current critical perspectives that illustrate how ideas and theories impact upon contemporary professional practice.

Year 3

You have the opportunity to consolidate all the values of previous study and refine your creative design, manufacture and learner skills. This can be in either a single field of precious metalwork, or more than one, and this is identified in individual statements of design direction by students at the onset of their degree year supported by academic guidance.

* Conceptual and production design - challenges your abilities to engage in the conceptual and technical skills required for the contrasting area of one off and production design led work.
* Dissertation - a substantial period of self-directed research on a subject that is related to the historical, theoretical or critical concerns of the student's discipline or professional area.
* Major project - you are required to engage in a sustained development, refinement, and realisation of design proposals. You will need to engage in independent learning and reflective practice in order to achieve the requirements of the project, and conduct your studies in a professional manner commensurate with advanced levels of work.

* Please note the syllabus content is for the academic year indicated and is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change.