NSCAD University -- also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design -- is one of North America’s leading universities of the visual arts. Founded by Anna Leonowens in 1887, NSCAD celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2012. NSCAD offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in fine arts, design, craft, media arts and historical and critical studies.
The university has three campuses in downtown Halifax: the historic Granville campus, located in a series of adjoining historic buildings; the Academy building, built in 1878 and extensively renovated this year; and the Port Campus, located on the Halifax waterfront.
Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing have been taught at the school since the turn of the last century. Students in the jewellery program have always appreciated the small faculty-to-student ratio that allows for personal attention and small classes.
Our facilities are located in five interconnected studios within the historic Granville campus, and are outfitted with 40 large jewellery benches. The department also has a casting area, polishing area, machine room, chemical room, enamelling area, electroplating and electroforming room, lathe room, and, silversmithing studio.
Our students learn critical thinking, problem solving, conceptual development, and design skills—as well as the technical skills to manipulate metal and alternative materials, such as plastics, wood and ceramics. Graduate and senior undergraduate students are encouraged to pursue personal design development and research within the program. Opportunities are available for solo exhibitions through the Anna Leonowens Art Gallery, the Port Loggia and the Seeds Gallery.
The program has an international flavour, with students coming from around the world. Students can also benefit by applying for a wide variety of international exchange programs.
Our Jewellery and Metalsmithing BFA graduates find careers as entrepreneurs, artists, studio jewellers for wholesale or retail, curators, gallery administrators, teachers, fashion designers and more.
Many have also pursued graduate studies and have become writers, critics, curators and professors.
The Staff
NSCAD Faculty: Back row - Lillian Yuen, Pamela Ritchie; Front row – Kye-Yeon Son, Rebecca Hannon and Greg Sims.
Kye-Yeon Son, Professor, earned a BFA in Applied Art in 1979 at Seoul National University, Korea and a MFA in 1984 at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Her work has garnered numerous awards from multiple organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts; the Metal Arts Guild; and most recently, she won the Saidye Bronfman Award, a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, 2011. According to the nomination statement for the award, “Son's work proves that a whisper can garner more attention than a shout. A quiet force in the world of contemporary metalsmithing, Kye-Yeon Son’s work speaks louder than the artist herself."
Son has been exploring the concepts of containment with various vessel forms. She considers vessels are highly versatile instruments for expressing emotions and ideas. The positive and negative spaces of her recent branch vessels symbolize resilience and spiritual potential that parallels the human cycle of growth, death, and renewal. It is Kye-Yeon’s hope that invites viewers to anticipate, to dream, and to speculate through the magic of metal.
Kye-Yeon Son has exhibited her works in numerous solo show and group exhibitions in public and commercial galleries across Canada, the United States , U.K. and Korea.
Greg Sims is Assistant Professor in the Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing department at NSCAD University. Since 2003, he has taught at various levels within the jewellery program and has also been instrumental in developing the CADCAM curriculum. His jewellery work explores meanings associated with common objects, symbols and clichés, particularly those within the subject of jewellery. Greg uses a wide range of materials and processes, combining the most current industrial and digital techniques with more traditional methods of making.
Lillian Yuen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan where she studied Fine Arts at University of Regina (BA 1984). Her creative interests took her to Nova Scotia and shifted her focus to jewellery studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University (BFA 1999). Lillian currently teaches in the Jewellery and Metalsmithing Department at NSCAD University.
Pam Ritchie, Professor, is an artist-jeweler based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her studies include an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and postgraduate research work in Norway supported by a scholarship from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada in conjunction with the Government of Norway. Ritchie’s work has been exhibited in more than 100 solo and group shows spanning three decades, throughout North America, Australia, Japan, Korea, and Europe, and has regularly been featured in catalogues and periodicals. She has received numerous awards and support for her work from the Canada Council for the Arts, Nova Scotia Talent Trust, the Government of Nova Scotia and many others. The Canadian Museum of Civilization; the Kunstindustrimuseum, Norway; and the Nova Scotia Art Bank are among the major institutional collectors of Ritchie’s work.
As an advocate for Canadian jewellery, she has lectured in Canada, England, U.S. and Korea, and has served as the Canadian consultant for several European exhibitions, including Jugend Gestaltet; Ornamenta I; Schmuckszene; and Schmuck. In addition to her art practice, Pamela Ritchie is currently Professor of Jewellery Design at NSCAD University.
Rebecca Hannon graduated from Rhode Island School of Design and then worked as a goldsmith for five years in New York City before attending the Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste in Munich, Germany on a Fulbright scholarship. Five years later she returned to North America and currently teaches full time in both the Foundation program and Jewellery and Metalsmithing Department at NSCAD University. “I work in series and find each new grouping a challenge to create tension between the narrative, and the right medium to evoke meaning. Materials are endless; one must search and then concentrate to find the subtle message found in an object.” Recent exhibitions include Schmuck, SOFA Chicago, Museum of Art & Design, Ornamentum, Pinakothek der Moderne, and the Paul Gauguin Cultural Center.
