Royal College of Art, Jewellery and Metal

School

Published: 23.09.2024

Royal College of Art, Jewellery and Metal.

: Dyson Building
1 Hester Road
SW11 4AN - London
UNITED KINGDOM

: Website Royal College of Art, Jewellery and Metal; Instagram Royal College of Art, Jewellery and Meta; Facebook Royal College of Art, Jewellery and Metal; Youtube Royal College of Art, Jewellery and Metal

Mail:: jamrca.ac.uk; soahrca.ac.uk

Phone:: +44 (0)20 7590 4415

Management:: Jonathan Boyd

RCA Battersea.
A London location in the developing cultural quarter of Battersea.

The MA Jewellery and Metal (JaM) programme seeks to unpick the relationship between people and things, from ‘subject to object’ and ‘object to subject’ we are entrapped and enthralled in a complex entanglement of the material and immaterial worlds.

Through the emergent acts of making, JaM believes we can shed new light on these complex and essential relationships, revealing great depths in our understanding of, and being in, the world.

As artists and designers, we engage with the making process as an essential way of materialising ideas, thoughts, feelings, offering a space for innovative and radical new ways of approaching jewellery, objects, and metal. We are responsive to the rapidly changing social and cultural landscape, drawing on history and technology in nurturing intellectual and creative skills directed at understanding and pushing forward jewellery and objects of human making. The rich and extensive bodies of knowledge associated with jewellery and metal object-making underpin an approach that is outward-looking and open to the wider discourse of “things” connected to contemporary life. Students can expect to work with, and through, a vast array of material possibilities, exploring a multiplicity of possible narratives.

Through tutorials, critique, workshops, and lectures students are encouraged to challenge traditional perceptions and perceived hierarchies, as well as to question and exploit both digital and analogue realities. Seminar and group discussion form an essential part of the JaM programme as we believe that the cross fertilisation of ideas alongside staff and peer feedback is essential to postgraduate learning and interdisciplinary thinking.

In these ways, our programme views ‘objects’ speculatively and through flatter ontological models where “object” is referential to both tangible form and the intangible materialism of the impermanent; it is also the creative sinew connecting the human discourses and material explorations that connect jewellery and metal within material culture. ‘Jewellery’ is vastly more than ‘adornment’, it is a discipline that exemplifies our intimate relationship with the material
world and is indicative of how we use the language of things and signs to communicate. We choose to wear jewellery for its complex meanings and symbolism but also because we are indefinably drawn to materials. ‘Metals’ occupy 80% of the Periodic Table, making up much of the world that
surrounds us. The role of JaM is to expand the possibilities of metal, addressing the need for functional and ritualistic objects within the wider context of material culture.

JaM fuels a discourse that operates between fine art and design - this is our strength. Within the programme art and design are not viewed as binary opposites but as an energised continuum, interconnecting discourses of the applied art, fine arts, fashion, design, theory, and beyond. Students will be supported through 3 units of study. The unit 1 develops research skills and offers new intellectual positions to students, unit 2 focuses on theoretical and technical developments aiding students in situating their practice within the field, whilst the final unit (the Independent Research Project) prepares students for self-directed practice and research working towards an exhibition and publication of practice.

Teachers:
Jonathan Boyd: Acting Head of Programme. Reader in Jewellery.
Rebecca de Quin: Tutor.
Antje Illner: Tutor.
David Roux-Fouillet: Acting Senior Tutor.
Professor Michael Rowe: Senior Tutor.
Max Warren: Tutor.

>> Visit 2021.rca.ac.uk to view graduate work from the class of 2021.

Courses

MA Jewellery and Metal (JaM)

05Sep2025 - 05Sep2026

DEADLINE: 30/Jun/2025

Application
Tags: CriticalThinking , Making
Management person: Jonathan Boyd

Programme title: Jewellery and Metal
Award: Masters
Qualification Framework level: Level 7
School/Department or equivalent: School of Arts and Humanities
Campus location(s): Battersea
Total UK credits: 180
Date valid from/to: 2023-24

Programme aims
• Aim 1: to develop your creative identity, through practice, critical reflection, and the ability to theorise, situate and contextualise your practice with contemporary art and design.
• Aim 2: to develop the opportunities for, and your skills in thinking through making, the exploration and experimentation of wide-ranging narratives through the manipulation of materials and self-reflexivity.
• Aim 3: to enable you to effectively define methods of research and personalised methodologies appropriate to self-directed practice.
• Aim 4: to develop your skills and ability in critically and energetically bridging dialogues between theory and practice; supporting your intellectual and critical ability and engendering an awareness of sustainability and the ecological impact of our disciplines, building towards ethical and regenerative practices.
• Aim 5: to enable the exploration, and use of, existing technologies alongside developing your engagement with contemporary and future technologies.
• Aim 6: to enable you to realise outcomes through planning and the production of challenging, innovative works of high quality and ambition, both technically and conceptually, and through the opportunities presented by analogue and digital means.

Academic Entry Requirements
Candidates must normally have obtained a good relevant undergraduate degree or an equivalent qualification. The College recognises as an equivalent qualification any degree, diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualification awarded by a university or other higher education establishment where the award is made following the successful completion of a programme of at least three years’ study, the programme of study being open, as a general rule, only to persons holding a certificate awarded on the successful completion of a full programme of upper secondary education.

Other qualifications may be approved, providing that the College’s Academic Board for Concessions and Discipline (ABCD) is satisfied that the applicant has the ability to pursue the programme of study successfully. The ABCD is empowered to make judgements about the extent to which qualifications or experience gained elsewhere may be accepted in partial fulfilment of its requirements.

Portfolio
All applicants are required to submit a portfolio as part of the application process. A portfolio is a showcase of an applicant’s work as an artist or designer and can be made up of images, videos or writing examples. The portfolio helps us to better understand the applicant and allows them to show evidence of their ability and motivation to undertake a given programme.

Each programme is looking for different things in a portfolio; each Head of Programme provides specific advice on portfolio requirements in the online application system. We advise prospective students to consider these requirements carefully before submitting their application.

Applicant Qualities
Generally, we are looking for applicants to demonstrate their:

− Creativity, imagination, and innovation;
− Ability to articulate the intentions of the work;
− Intellectual engagement in areas relevant to the work;
− Technical skills appropriate to the work;
− Potential to benefit from the programme and achieve MA standards overall.

English Language
Applicants who are not a national of a majority English-speaking country will need to demonstrate their English language proficiency. The College accepts a range of English language qualifications.
Applicants are exempt from this requirement if they have received a 2.1 degree or above from a university in a majority English-speaking nation within the last two years.

If a student would need a Tier 4 visa to study at the RCA, they will also need to meet the Home Office’s minimum requirements for entry clearance.

Teacher/s: Jonathan Boyd