KEY POINTS:
Qualification: Bachelor of Fine Arts in jewellery and metalsmithing
Where: Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin
Contact: Ph: 03 477 3014 or 0800 762 786, email info@tekotago.ac.nz, online otagopoytechnic.ac.nz
Entry requirements: Minimum of five years secondary education. Applications open September 27 (before NCEA level 3 results) so selection is initially based on portfolio and writing skills (minimum of 15 NCEA Level 2 credits in English, art history or similar). Mature students need an equivalent. Interviews sometimes required.
Length: Four years, but becoming a three-year degree from next year.
Annual tertiary fees: $5239 plus minimum $1000 for materials.
Starting salary: Even established artists may need supplementary income.
Artists are not generally known as money-makers, although jewellery artists do have the advantage of being able to create more attainable or fashionable pieces of art.
Otago Polytechnic head of jewellery and metalsmithing Andrew Last says students study jewellery in the context of fine arts rather than craft.
"Craft is about acquisition of skills," he says.
"A craftsperson develops high levels of skills in processes and material. But with fine arts, students also learn to research ideas and manage projects.
"You're not copying a master craftsperson but taking personally driven briefs and projects and learning how to generate ideas or solve problems."
Intellectual copyright is a big issue for artists, says Last, so it is important students learn how to talk about their work and influences.
"Influence is unavoidable so it is prudent to understand influences rather than be blown around by them."
In the first year, students do four weeks in each of the eight areas of discipline. In the second year, students choose two major subjects, specialising in one during the third and fourth years.
Subjects include ceramics, digital and moving images, jewellery and metalsmithing, painting, photography, print-making, sculpture and textiles. Business skills are also covered.
Graduates become practising artists, commercial and production jewellers, or enter curatorial and other roles.
Otago Polytechnic is one of six New Zealand tertiary institutions offering degree specialisations in jewellery.
GRADUATE
Charlotte Breeze (21)
Contemporary jewellery artist
I have just finished four years' study in Dunedin and am back home in Hokitika, where I am setting up a jewellery workshop. It is attached to my mum's craft and jewellery shop Ocean Paua, and was originally used for shell and stone carving. I work a couple of days a week on my jewellery and the rest of the time I help in the shop, where I also display and sell my work.
In my jewellery, I draw on influences of the West Coast and my childhood. For my final exhibition for the degree, I used a hunting theme - hunter to high fashion - something not usually associated with jewellery. I did things like turn bullet shells into rings and used materials such as deer antler, mother-of-pearl, stainless-steel wire, silver and felt.
I then presented it through a video installation using an old canvas tent and video to create a sense of being the hunter walking through forest with the mist and sound of rain.
I initially did a diploma in textiles and jewellery, then moved into the degree and majored in jewellery. I really enjoy working with hard materials.
Our two lecturers - Andrew Last and Yohanna Zellamar - are well-known artists who gave us excellent feedback from quite different perspectives. The course is very practical. Every year, we produced end-of-year exhibitions - except year one.
Things got crazy in the studio in the lead-up. There was more writing than I had expected. Having to justify our theories and designs made us think about influence, self expression and things outside our personal experiences.
I was brought up in Hokitika surrounded by greenstone and I use it quite a lot in my work.
Polytech opened up my eyes to issues around that and its huge importance to Maori. Some people also had mixed feelings about my use of bullet shells, feeling there were warlike connotations even though I was emphasising the subculture of hunting and fishing, not war.
I was one of four graduates selected to exhibit in Adelaide recently in Graduate Metal XI 2008. Of 150 applicants, only 70 were accepted.
I also won an excellence award for metalsmithing. I took part in the Jewellery Breakfast during Dunedin Fashion Week and, in May, I'm exhibiting in an emerging jewellers show in Christchurch.
I'm keen to try and make a go of it in Hokitika for now.
