“We are using this project as a way to conceptually connect to what is happening and see how students can think together while being physically apart.”
For
Kerianne Quick, assistant professor of jewelry and metalsmithing in San Diego State University’s
School of Art and Design, teaching in a professional art studio with hammers, anvils, and torches is no longer an option. Instead, she is finding new ways to recreate the studio environment.
“I’m trying to keep it light and fun, engaging and distracting — art is a really powerful tool for processing hard information and dealing with unfortunate situations, and I'm hoping that this can be a way to find some joy in this strange moment,” said Quick.
At first, Quick paused classes, allowing her students to gather everyday materials that might be useful in making prototypes or unconventional jewelry works and to adjust to all of the changes that were happening with the university’s transition to virtual instruction.
For some of the advanced jewelry students, Quick created a low-budget alternative to help students learn technical skills with minimum equipment. This included at-home items like a mini torch, often used for cooking, that can also be used for soldering.
Quick created videos for creative ways to connect and combine unusual making materials with simple tools that students were likely to already have at home — like needle and thread, a paper hole punch, clothing, recycled cardboard, a hammer and nails. Students used these simple techniques and tools to make jewelry.
Quick’s students are now working on a final project that is a collaboration with the University of Texas at El Paso’s (UTEP) jewelry and metal program to create art together, while physically and socially distant.
“They are working on a series of pieces inspired by and made from materials that they find in the spaces they are confined to. Each student made work inspired by their kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and one additional room of their choice,” said Quick.
“For their final project, our students are making a “responsible radius” — a piece of jewelry that measures or enforces the recommended social distance of six feet, using only the materials they find in their house. (UTEP) Professor Jess Tolbert and I have always wanted to do a cross-institutional collaboration,” said Quick.
Quick said this collaboration would likely not have happened if not for the current pandemic.
“We are using this project as a way to conceptually connect to what is happening and see how students can think together while being physically apart.”