MEXICAN JEWELRY & SILVERSMITHING INSTRUCTIONAL RESIDENCY

Applications are evaluated for selection priority

when they are received versus after the deadline has passed.

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This comprehensive, customized residency program offers competitive professional opportunities for emerging and mid-career, national and international artists and designers age 20 and over.

Since the 16th century, the silver from the Americas has been associated with wealth and global exchange. Munitions, equipment for shipping and other metal ware, as well as Chinese silks, Indian cottons, porcelain, spices, and wax, all were traded for silver extracted from the mines of the New Spain (Mexico) and Peru. From the Manila Galleon to the vessels of the Atlantic trade route, all were loaded will silver in their returning voyages, so much so that silver became the monetary standard in most of Asia. The mining industry contributed to the expansion of commerce but also the slave trade and the exploitation of people.

Mexican silver has a complex and fascinating history that spans several centuries and is still a unique symbol of taste. From the centuries of baroque intricated designs from Oaxaca to the glamour of the 1920’s and 1930’s art deco silver from Taxco, silver’s versatility, beauty, and malleability has adapted to a multiplicity of techniques from textiles to jewelry and everything in between. Filigree, as such, is a technique used in jewelry with an intricated metalwork that resembles lace, and that migrated from the Islamic world into Europe and then the Americas. Introduced into Mexico in the 1600 to local silversmiths, it developed its own style through the centuries and established the Oaxacan jewelry and silversmithing tradition.


The Mexican Jewelry & Silversmithing Instructional Residency is a mentored production residency that includes 3 weeks of instruction (21 hours total; 7 hours per week) by a prominent master silversmith. Artists will learn the technique of utilizing wire as frame and create their design by curling, twisting and plating silver wire to create intricate metal threads. As part of the process, artists will learn how to melt a silver troy ounce, included as part of the materials for the residency, to create their own silver wire. Instruction is in Spanish, though resident artists need not speak Spanish in order to successfully complete the course. Individual mentoring is provided by our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique; participants of this program also work independently in our spaces.

RESIDENCY PROGRAM TUITION INFO & APPLICATION DEADLINES

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TO APPLY
Click here to apply for this instructional residency program.