The MFA program at The University of Georgia in Jewelry+Metals is a comprehensive 60-hour program of study emphasizing conceptual development, technical and material innovation and critical analysis where research and creative practice take center stage. Working in close conjunction with individual instructors, students are guided as they develop an individual visual and material language. Importance is placed on expanding the student’s knowledge of the history of the discipline, contemporary ideas in the field and within the larger art world.
The self-directed plan of study is individualized and requires a high degree of motivation. Students are encouraged to take full advantage of the many opportunities within the field by actively applying for exhibitions, attending conferences and workshops relative to the field. The program of study is further enriched by the active visiting artist program, study abroad programs, field trips to galleries and museums organized by the department and participation in the dynamic student run organization, Phi Beata Heata
The Lamar Dodd School of Art offers a limited number of graduate assistantships in the Jewelry+Metals area. Full-Time assistantship stipends of approximately $10,860.oo are awarded on a competitive basis.
Graduate Facilities: 24-hour access.
Relocated to newly renovated, 3,000 square foot facility in December 2011.
800 square feet semi private workspaces with individual work areas. Each space includes, jewelers bench, industrial maple top worktable and ample storage, Individual soldering areas with Smith torches.
Computer with Rhino, printer, enameling kiln, dumore drill press, large drill press, PUK welder, anvils and vises.
The adjacent undergraduate studio houses: casting room with centrifugal and vacuum caster, vulcanizer, electric burn out kiln and oxygen acetylene torch. Metals studio includes, over 100 stakes and hammers, annealing booth, gas and coal forge, sand blaster, polishing lathe, band saw, grinders and belt sanders. Main fabrication studio includes sixteen jewelry benches, drill presses, hydraulic press, six solder stations with acetylene/air and natural gas/oxygen torches, flex shaft station, rolling mills, Separate enameling studio with Paragon and Vcella enameling kilns, water torch, etching booth and powder coating station. Photography area with camera.
24-hour access
In addition to its on-campus facilities, the School also has a year-round Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy, that has served over 4,000 students from 400 American institutions since its inception in 1969.
Located approximately 70 miles east northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, Athens is at the heart of a three-county metropolitan area of 126,000 people. Athens is a college town in every sense of the word. The main campus of the University of Georgia, located in downtown Athens, covers 605 acres and includes 313 buildings. The campus adjoins the historic commercial section of Athens on its northern boundary. Athens features many restaurants, interesting shops, nightclubs and service businesses. Athens is well known for it's progressive music scene and the home of R.E.M., the B52's and Widespread Panic, and is also the home of the Georgia Museum of Art.
Mary Hallam Pearse: Associate Professor+Graduate Coordinator
Mary Hallam Pearse received her M.F.A. in Metal from SUNY New Paltz and a
B.F.A. in Metals/Jewelry from Kent State University. Her work has been
exhibited both internationally and nationally and in publications such as,Ornament, Metalsmith and Lark 500 books. She has taught at Anderson Ranch, 92nd Street Y in New York City and visiting artist at Penland School of Craft. Curatorial projects include; The Ring Shows: Then & Now and Putting the Band Back Together and Coming into View. She is represented by J. Cotter Gallery in Vail and Beaver Creek Colorado,
Lola Brooks: Former Lamar Dodd Professorial Chair / Part-Time Faculty
Lola Brooks has built a career through museum and gallery exhibitions of her work often using romantic materials to comment on the history and function of jewelry. By incorporating steel and other materials of lesser value refashioned alongside traditional gems and stone cuts into her work, Brooks' reaches into the history of jewelry as well as the hierarchy of the materials themselves. Her work can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, as well as the Racine Museum of Art in Racine, Wisconsin. She has also taught at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine and the 92nd Street Y in New York City and been featured in many publications including American Craft, Vogue, and W magazines.