Indiana University is a research one university located in the heart of the small college town of Bloomington, Indiana. Nestled in the forested hill country of southern Indiana, Bloomington is a vibrant and civic-minded community and the university has a diverse faculty and student body. The university has a distinguished art museum, designed by I M Pei and The Grunwald Gallery, a contemporary art gallery that hosts national, international and student exhibitions. Located an hour south of Indianapolis and four hours south of Chicago, Indiana University offers our students easy access to world-class museums as well as the SOFA Chicago and Art Chicago expositions.
Initiated in 1947 by Distinguished Professor Alma Eikerman, the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design program at Indiana University has had a long and distinguished history in the field. When Alma retired in 1978, the program continued under the innovative leadership of Leslie Leupp. In 1983, Professor Randy Long was hired as head of the department and since that time the metals program has flourished under her direction. In 2004, an opportunity presented itself with the introduction of a new faculty member, Dr Nicole Jacquard, who has since integrated her expertise of new technologies into the program.
Since the early years of Alma’s teaching to the present, graduates of Indiana University have established successful careers as distinguished professionals and university educators nationally and internationally. Some distinguished alumni include: Sue Amendolora, Kathy Buezkiewicz, Jack da Silva, Marilyn da Silva, Susan Ewing, Robly Glover, Arthur Hash, Andrew Kuebeck, Linda La Roche, Simone Luttin, Richard Mafong, Tom Muir, Komelia Okim, Anya Pinchuck, Natalia Pinchuck, Marjorie Schick, Helen Shirk, Kye Yeon Son, Lin Stanionis, Tracy Steepy, Brook Marks-Swanson, Billie Jean Thiede and Gina Westgard.
Indiana University offers both BFA and MFA degrees in metalsmithing and jewelry design. The BFA degree is an additional 31 credits of studio concentration beyond the BA degree requirements and the MFA degree is a three-year program of study in studio art and art history. Graduate candidates enroll each semester in a seminar course in metals which consists of research, critiques, readings, discussions, special assignments, technical demonstrations, slide lectures and writing of artist’s statements. The seminar is designed to meet the needs of the currently enrolled students in the graduate and BFA programs with individual critiques for all graduate students scheduled three times a semester. Throughout their tenure at Indiana University, students are expected to develop knowledge of historical and theoretical ideas to enrich and inform their artwork. With one-on-one professional guidance, students are encouraged to experiment and develop their work and establish a balance between formal design, craftsmanship, creative concepts and innovation.
The MFA program at Indiana University focuses on the development of a student’s technical skills in traditional and experimental metalworking techniques and on their development of a personal and creative direction in their work. This is a professional degree in which students are free to experiment and explore in order to express their ideas and creativity, preparing them to teach at the university level and to practice as professional artists, metalsmiths, jewelers or sculptors. There is a recommended associate Instructor course that prepares students to teach at the university level.
Classes are offered throughout the year in Rhinoceros, allowing students to create work using the various CAM and RP&M processes available on campus. In addition there is also a very active schedule of international visiting artists and lectures throughout the year.
The facilities at Indiana University are excellent for the production of large and small-scale hollowware and art jewelry. The metals department consists of two recently renovated undergraduate classrooms, a newly renovated graduate studio, with individual Otto Frei workbenches and flexible shaft machines, a separate graduate tool room, a soundproofed smithing room with a wide selection of old and new stakes and hammers and a chemical room with copper electroforming. The graduate studio is also equipped with a dual platform Mac computer with up-to-date software including Rhino for 3-D modeling, a large format Epson color printer and a laser printer for making toner decals to use with enameling. Photographic equipment and lighting is also available for students to use in order to document their work.
The program offers many other resources for internal and external funding opportunities, graduate assistantships, teaching assistantships and fellowships, as well as several Studies Abroad programs to Florence, Venice, Paris and Japan.
The Staff
Randy Long is the head of the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design Program. She received a BA degree in 1974 and an MA degree in 1977 from San Diego State University. In 1983, Randy received an MFA degree from California State University at Long Beach. Her research interests are in the areas of ancient gold work, enameling, marble carving, porcelain, mixed media and silver art jewelry. Professor Long’s work is in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Art and Design, Indiana University Art Museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, The Yale University Art Gallery, The Riga Porcelain Museum, Latvia and Museion Kecskemét, International Ceramic Studio, Kecskemét, Hungary.
Nicole Jacquard, Assistant Professor, received her BA from Indiana University in 1991 and her first MFA in 1994 from The University of Michigan. While on a Fulbright Fellowship in Australia she received her second MFA in 1995 from The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. In 2001 she returned to RMIT University and completed her PhD in Fine Arts. Nicole has presented over 20 lectures on her work and has had papers accepted to present at conferences in the United Kingdom, Australia, China and the United States. Her work is published in over 30 books, catalogs and websites and her two solo catalogs, Personal Objects: Personal Spaces (2007) and her self titled catalog, Nicole Jacquard (2005) are both available through Charon Kransen Arts.
