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Attleboro, MA—The MJSA Education Foundation recently awarded over $10,000 in scholarships to four students pursuing professional careers in jewelry making and design. Each has a strongly developed social consciousness, with a desire to give back, as well as a passion for their craft and a drive to push their designs into new directions.

The total amount includes a $2,500 grant provided by the Providence Jewelers Club for students enrolled in an eligible Rhode Island program.

The four recipients of the 2021 scholarships are:

• Christiane Gozashti ($3,536 scholarship), pursuing three diplomas from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Ultimately, she’d like to launch her own lines of ethically sourced jewelry, as well as teach and provide scholarships “for future jewelry dreamers,” and intends to donate 10% percent of her future profits to a global organization dedicated to refugees, such as UNICEF or Women for Afghanistan. Her parents had to flee Iran in the late 1970s during that country’s revolution, and she’s seen first-hand "the trauma of trying to enter a different culture, not knowing English, and needing to start over."
• Eleanna Feldman ($3,536 scholarship, including support from the Providence Jewelers Club), who will begin her studies toward a BFA in metalsmithing/jewelry at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. After being introduced to jewelry making during a teenage summer camp, she created an attic studio in her Montclair, New Jersey, home, from which she developed designs that she sold online. After her anticipated graduation in 2025, she would like to find work as a bench jeweler or designer before starting her own studio and wants to ensure her work supports meaningful causes. “An important component of being a successful artist and businesswoman is being able to give back to my community,” she says.
• Allison Ice ($1,500 scholarship), is in the final year of the MFA program in visual arts/metalsmithing at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. An MJSA scholarship winner in 2019 and 2020 as well, she has spent the past few years searching for what she calls the “sweet spot” between art jewelry and more commercial designs. One of her recent themes is mental health and her “Take Care of Your Brain” designs feature, in place of gems, brain-shaped castings and plastic patterns. She eventually would like to settle around Lawrence and pursue teaching, custom work, and the creation of her own signature designs.
• Anna Van Ness ($1,500 scholarship), who also won the Providence Jewelers Club grant in 2019 and 2020, is pursuing a BFA in jewelry and metalsmithing at the Rhode Island School of Design. Van Ness often incorporates natural materials and found objects into her work, and she places a special importance on sustainability. After graduation in 2022, she wants "to make a line of work that is accessible and also environmentally minded, while continuing to make contemporary art jewelry as well." She also intends to pursue a graduate degree.

The MJSA Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) subsidiary of MJSA, the trade association dedicated to professional excellence in jewelry making and design. It supports training and outreach programs that help to ensure the jewelry industry maintains a qualified, competitive workforce, and since 1997 has awarded over $240,000 in scholarship funds.