Even during X-block, visual arts teacher Elizabeth Brennan sits in her classroom, torches in hand, surrounded by students doing extra work.
The radio plays in the background and the room hums with energy as all sorts of pieces come to life.
Hooked on jewelry making, students come back during their free time to continue their work.
Brennan also teaches drawing and printmaking, but finds the materials used in jewelry making to be particularly unique.
Freshman Allie Gregoire describes how pieces of metal are heated and melted together to create multi-dimensional shapes.
“It’s a little more dynamic sometimes,” said Gregoire. “I still love drawing a lot, but you get to bend metal and make things three-dimensional, two-dimensional. Really, whatever you can think to make in jewelry you pretty much can do, so that’s what I really like about it.”
“I think sometimes there’s a misconception of what’s going to take place in the jewelry class,” said Brennan. “Some people might think it’s beading, and it’s not. We’re going from sheets of metal, and from a sheet of metal comes this.”
She held up her box of student creations, ranging from brightly-colored rings to cowboy boot pendants to charms representing fairy tale characters.
On the contrary, according to Brennan, jewelry making is part of the greater purpose of all art: self-expression.
“I think that, in a way, we’re all doing the same thing,” said Brennan. “I know that in my classes, I approach teaching in the same way regardless of what I’m teaching. You want students to be able to learn the skill and respond to these prompts in a personal and meaningful way.”
She spoke of field trips to Copley Square looking at inspirational architecture, designs based on childhood stories and other prompts that engage students to produce personal and meaningful work.
Junior Kate Cutlip, who is taking the class for the second time, said that there are unique opportunities within jewelry making that let an artist explore in ways that other art forms cannot.
“It’s not like we’re just drawing,” said Cutlip. “We’re always broadening and learning new things. We’re in experimentation.”
Ben Gladstone can be contacted at [email protected].
