GSM&J’s attitude has shifted from a purely object-centred focus to a wider scope, questioning and exploring issues centred on the human condition. We are responsive to the rapidly changing social and cultural landscape, and draw 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 object-making and jewellery underpin an approach that is outward-looking, open to the wider discourse on commodity objects, connecting to contemporary life.
As applied artists, being in control of the making process either by using our hands or through digital technologies is very important, it is our way of making sense of the world. As individuals we are fascinated with the rich and diverse materials and resources the world has to offer, and through the individuality of our personal visions we make our contribution to the bigger picture.
GSM&J provides an environment for exploring, in practical and theoretical ways, what it means to be an applied artist today. We see our role as challenging norms and questioning conventions, interrogating the role and purpose of objects and adornment through the development of a personal approach to researching, experimenting, designing and making in the context of an increasingly complex object culture.
The growing importance and interdisciplinary character of our distinctive discipline within material culture gives the applied arts an added vibrancy and relevance. With the formation of the new School of Material, of which GSM&J is part, this facet will now be enhanced further. We believe the physical act of making has an essential role to play in an increasingly virtual world, but we also embrace digital technologies and the virtual and believe that creating a dialogue between these worlds provides the applied arts with one of its most fertile testing grounds at this time.
Our aim is to place critically and culturally aware individuals at the centre of the visual arts arena, creating objects and adornments that play a part in shaping our identities and the aesthetics of today.
The Royal College of Art is the world’s most influential postgraduate university of art and design, specialising in teaching and research and offering the degrees of MA, MPhil and PhD across the disciplines of fine art, applied art, design, communications and humanities. There are over 900 masters and doctoral students and more than a hundred professionals interacting with them – including scholars, leading art and design practitioners, along with specialists, advisors and distinguished visitors.
The RCA prospectus and application form can be found at www.rca.ac.uk
