professional Silver jewellery

The programme of Jewellery and Smithery studies is aimed at training highly qualified high profile professionals of metal processing, who obtain not only professional skills, but also artistic and humanitarian education. Students obtain basic skills in designing, construction, metal technologies and practice. They are trained to master various jewellery techniques, which are applied while producing jewellery articles. Students have to collect 160 credits during the 4 year programme of studies, which is divided into three blocks: speciality, art fundamentals and general university education. It is no doubt that speciality skills are very important for future artists. That is why we have such subjects as composition, designing and computer design, constructive modelling, material technology and unique technologies, history of metal art, studies of natural forms and heritage. How do your graduates realize the skills and practice obtained at the university further in their life? We have about 16 graduates each year. Having received bachelor's degree, our graduates may continue their studies for Master's degree in the programme of design in the Faculty of Architecture and Design in Vilnius Academy of Arts. However, there are students who choose other specialities, and even other high schools. On average, 5 out of 16 graduates continue studying jewellery art. The market experiences a shortage of metal plastic artists, especially the ones with university education. Employers' requirements prove the tendency to exist, since each year directors of specialised companies address the Department of Metal Plastic of Telšiai Faculty of Arts in search of young specialists. The majority of our graduates stay in the speciality. Some of them establish their own companies, thus creating more job positions; others work as designers or specialists (jewellers or smiths) for specialised companies. Specialised arts galleries in Lithuania as well as abroad accept metal art articles and encourage artists to bring more jewellery, small plastic and smithery articles. That is why quite a number of our graduates do not work for companies, but rather prefer manufacturing for galleries, individual orders and perform other creative activities. The majority of graduates who have started their creative career when students, do not forget their creative activities and, having graduated, actively participate in various Lithuanian and foreign exhibitions of metal art. The young generation of our graduates has perfectly settled down in the world of Lithuanian art. Various achievements prove the fact. For example: in the international amber contest – exhibition-2005" (Amber Museum of Kaliningrad), our graduates from the programme of jewellery and smithery obtained 4 diplomas: Jurgita Erminaitė won the main prize of the contest, the third place in the contest went to a pair of artists Šarūnė Vaitkutė and Dainius Narkus, and two special diplomas went to Beat Sietinšienė. This example, which is four prizes, shows that our graduates have very promising career possibilities, and are perfect craftsmen able of coming up with original and innovative expressions through metal art.Some of our graduates stay in the Faculty and combine their creative activities with pedagogical practice. The shortage of teachers or constant changes in the staff is not a problem. All our teachers are highly qualified, and we do expect and welcome new talented colleagues, who are full of new ideas and enthusiasm. It should be noted that along with common learning and creative activities, Vilnius Academy of Arts pays a particular attention to the development and improvement of students and teachers’ qualification skills in the field of creative entrepreneurship. Thus, in order to implement the Strategic Development Plan for 2006-2010, approved in 2005, Vilnius Academy of Arts established a jewellery gallery “ARgenTum” in 2007. The Gallery invites our students, graduates and teachers to exhibit their works and organise personal exhibitions.