Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER - Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź

Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź

An annual presentation of the leading European art schools, showing works of their professors, graduates and students. This year are presented: The Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź (Poland), The Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk (Poland) and The Glasgow School of Art (Scotland).

THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS IN ŁÓDŹ

Department of Jewellery

The Department of Jewellery at the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź has been in existence since 2002. It is the only department with this specialization in Poland. It was formed from the Jewellery Design Studio founded by Professor Lena Kowalewicz-Wegner in 1959. It offers two-cycle courses. The studies can be pursued as full-time, part-time and extramural studies. The department educates jewellery and goldsmith designers. The students design and make unique and industrial jewellery, tableware, metal accessories, medals, statuettes, etc. The work with students is mainly oriented towards stimulating individual predispositions, imagination, creativity and manual skills, developing artistic sensitivity and personality. The Department of Jewellery is one of the five departments of the Faculty of Textile and Fashion. The students have a wide choice of design studios and can develop their interests. Concurrent training in design, workshop and general arts studios provides students with optimum specialist preparation, both as industrial designers and independent artists. The works are carried out with the use of both classic materials and techniques and unusual materials or computer technologies. The methods and syllabi are modified and adjusted to the changeable needs of the market. The numerous awards gained by the students and graduates in national and foreign competitions are the best evidence of the high level of education.

P. Bober

Every action should result from our internal need and be our authentic and independent expression. There is no place for routine here. Designing things means creating tomorrow's reality, different ways of thinking, the interpenetration of applied arts and artistic activities, going beyond the boundaries of a given discipline. Personal involvement and development allow one to create objects marked with the individuality of their creator. Making an object, we leave our mark on it. Art is based on cultural hybrids and mixed media. We can choose new technologies, traditional techniques and processes, combine them, experiment with different materials and technologies. What is important is that the resulting object has to be a form of a message, an attempt to talk with the viewer. New techniques mean exploring new paths, searching for new media of expression. Jewellery is a sign, an element of personal façade; it must be geared towards man, fit the body and the character of the recipient as well as the function it has to perform. Assigning a non-standard form to objects requires the designer's imagination and knowledge of materials and technology. The need to create, a new way of consumption and identification change the distance between the creator and his object; require a new approach to convention and existing stereotypes. There is a time to create art and a time to perceive it. Both experiences enrich our lives and motivate us to search for new forms of expression.

Andrzej Boss