Erin Fleming, a senior student in ะึรรยายืโs jewellery and metalsmithing program, has won first prize in a competition to redesign the universityโs alumni ring.
She will receive a $1000 prize, plus consideration for a design purchase and production agreement. Two runner-up prizes of $250 were awarded to current students Cynthia Fraschetti and Naomi Zamir.
โReceiving first place in the Alumni Ring Redesign competition has been an exhilarating start to my final year here at ะึรรยายื. I’m extremely grateful of the support I’ve received thus far from my peers and instructor, Greg Sims, in bringing my idea to life. I am thrilled by the opportunity to have my school and my instructors behind me during the next stages of navigating a new, more professional realm of manufacturing.โ says Fleming.
Fleming is an interdisciplinary creator with a life-long relationship to drawing and craft. Her work employs processes and techniques in metal fabrication, jewellery and 3-D printing. She began her artistic education attending the Creative Arts program out of QECVI in Kingston, Ontario from 2014-2016 and is now completing her BFA in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing at ะึรรยายื University.
โA one-of-a-kind ring which contains a trace of the mark they made at ะึรรยายืโ
Flemingโs winning ring design challenges ะึรรยายื graduates to โMake Your Markโ by creating an original โmarkโ that is then translated onto the surface of their ring through 3D modeling software.
It acts as a unique record and a reminder by drawing on what theyโve learned and developed throughout their time at ะึรรยายื.
โA core element of ะึรรยายืสผs shared philosophy is the act of mark-making. Whether through study or practice, mark making is a binding force of life at ะึรรยายื,โ explains Fleming.
โIt seems nearly impossible to sum up the entirety of a student’s time at ะึรรยายื with a single ring, but through this process people will come away with a one-of-a-kind ring which contains a trace of the mark they made at ะึรรยายื. Each alumni will be able to look at their ring and know that their mark is completely individual.โ
The jury for the award were Olivia Fay, SUะึรรยายื president; Heather Rathbun (BFA 2008), jewellery designer; Sunil Sarwal (BDes 2002), designer and ะึรรยายื Alumni Association President; Rebecca Hannon, ะึรรยายื jewellery faculty; and Peggy Shannon, ะึรรยายื President.
โErinโs concept is a ring built to unify ะึรรยายืโs diverse community, as well as honour the individuality of each student and alumni with a component of personal contribution. The invitation to make my own mark adds deeper meaning to an object intended to represent cherished memories at ะึรรยายื,โ says Heather Rathbun.
โA real-world design competition introduces aspiring artists and designers to a range of professional skillsโ
The competition to replace current ring, designed by Karen Konzuk (โ97), opened last Fall to current ะึรรยายื Jewellery & Metalsmithing students and recent graduates of the program. Applicants were asked to design an original piece of jewellery that would act as a graduation keepsake and convey the virtues and qualities of ะึรรยายื alumni.
The competition received a broad range of well-presented submissions, explains Greg Sims, Assistant Professor in the Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing program.
Proposals considered how their objects told a story, how material and process could be used to evoke meaning, addressed practicalities around manufacturing, and described functionalities related to how it is worn and how it wears over time.
โThis real-world design competition introduces aspiring artists and designers to a range of professional skills: working creatively within set parameters, presenting & communicating ideas effectively, putting themselves and their work out there, while receiving and responding to critical feedback,โ Sims explains.
‘This project has great potential to generate future work-study opportunitiesโ
Flemingโs winning concept is just the beginning of a bigger process to produce ะึรรยายืโs next ring. The project now moves to a second phase, in partnership with ะึรรยายื University, to develop and validate the proposal.
Over the 2023 Summer semester, ะึรรยายื faculty and staff will support Fleming in her coursework and gear it toward developing the alumni ring, from concept into reality. With faculty supervision, Sims says, she will be able to explore and validate the design with an eye to its manufacture & presentation as a finished product.
โThere are countless learning opportunities in developing a single piece as a product and in manufacturing, especially when trying to retain individual and customized features. This project has great potential to generate future work-study opportunities for Erin, as well as for other students in our Jewellery program,โ Sims says.