Announcing the 2016 Student Award Winners!

Each year MAG selects a juror from among our membership to award students from degree granting  Metals programs in the Bay Area. The juror is chosen based on career accomplishments,  commitment to community, and a discerning eye towards wearable art.

emiko oye

This years juror, emiko oye, was asked to select a student from each program from amongst the graduates at both California College of the Arts and Academy of Art University. All students have an opportunity to be chosen and do not have to apply to participate. The winners receive a small cash prize, a free one year membership to MAG, and is interviewed.

Criteria for the award include dedication to craftsmanship, unique concept/vision, and a strong  body of work. We feel that the selected students have very promising futures in our field ahead of them.

Thank you to Curtis Arima (Faculty and Interim Department Head at CCA) and Charlene Modena (Department Head at AAU) for allowing us to see such great and inspiring student work from their programs this year! The breadth and quality of work made the decision incredibly difficult!

Past winners can be found on our Scholarships Page

2016 CCA Student Award Winner – Taylor Koedyker

Taylor Koedyker

Full interview and more images here.

In working with pieces of nature I try to promote a deeper appreciation for the ornate design found everywhere in the natural world. Many of my materials I have found and collected in various environments around California, some are manipulated and others emphasize their natural form. The use of precious metals is utilized to signify the importance and consequence of the species that they represent.  I gain my inspiration from life, land, and my love for my surroundings. California is one of the richest and most diverse parts of the world, including some of the most endangered and endemic ecological communities. My work is sprouted by these ideas and focuses on the science, natural history and antiquity of California revealing its inherent significance, and creating preciousness through the process of my practice.

2016 AAU Student Award Winner – Hsinyu Candy Chu

Full interview and more images here.

In my childhood, I was profoundly influenced by my dad, who was a passionate Feng-Shui consultant. He was often going to people’s home and instructing them about where to place different rooms and furniture so that this placement would accord with the magnetic fields and bring such people luck and balance. He emphasized the five elements (wood, fire, earth, gold, water) and would explain that a bathroom (representing water) and a kitchen(representing fire) should not be placed directly next to one another as they are conflicting forces. Having been so exposed to such ideas, I become increasingly interested in the idea of complementarity, of Yin-Yang. I believe that opposites are important as they both help us to see and allow us balance. For instance, we understand and see light precisely because darkness also exists. In life, we are led to seek harmony among a series of opposing forces.