As part of its efforts to advance professional skills in jewelry making and design, the MJSA Education Foundation recently awarded a total of $10,000 in scholarship funding to five students. That amount includes a $2,500 scholarship provided by the Rhode Island-based Providence Jewelers Club Foundation, for students attending eligible schools in that state.
The five winners range from an undergraduate at the beginning of her studies to several professional jewelers seeking additional skills to advance their careers. All share a desire to, as one student said, "preserve and enhance the art and craft of jewelry."
Hannah Marlin received a $4,000 scholarship to pursue a graduate jeweler certificate at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in Carlsbad, California. A native of Martha's Vineyard, she owns her own business, Littlest Fish Designs, in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. Marlin currently specializes in wampum jewelry but wants to expand her metalsmithing skills to open a contemporary fine jewelry business featuring her designs. Her scheduled graduation date is April 2020.
Ashley Craver, who is also working toward a graduate jeweler certificate at the GIA campus in Carlsbad, won a $2,000 scholarship. Craver was introduced to jewelry through an apprenticeship at a Jared retail store near her hometown of Littleton, Colorado. She now wants to further her bench skills and channel her creativity into jewelry designs "that bring a special meaning to people's lives." Her scheduled graduation date is December 2019.
Matt Rabito received a $1,000 scholarship toward his graduate studies in metalsmithing at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. A self-described "artist and social activist," Rabito works with a range of materials (from recycled metals to cement) to create experimental jewelry designs, with the goal of "raising important issues about our society and our practices." He expects to complete his studies in May 2021.
Allison Ice, who received a $500 scholarship, is working toward an MFA in metalsmithing at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas (where she earlier earned her BFA). Following her undergraduate studies, she found employment with a custom jeweler in St. Louis, where she mastered such commercial skills as CAD and casting. She now wants to combine these practical applications with her conceptual skills "to preserve and enhance the art and craft of jewelry." Her scheduled graduation date is May 2022.