Daily Inspiration: Meet Joe Silvera

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Silvera. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Silvera Jewelry School began in Berkeley, CA in 2010 and was started by Anat and Joe Silvera, both professional jewelers and artists. They began as traveling teachers in 2002, started teaching workshops in their own space in 2005 and then moved to the Bay Area in 2010. From the start, Anat and Joe dreamed of having their own space to teach, to create a clean, well-organized, and welcoming school for their students. Over a decade later, the school has grown into a well-known hub for the jewelry community, with veteran instructors, a classroom full of benches and jewelry tools, and a schedule bursting with workshops, including classes taught by visiting master jewelers from around the world.

In 2021, Silvera Jewelry School became a partnership, with the addition of Jenn Parnell Kirkpatrick as one of the new owners. Jenn brings more than 18 years of experience as a university instructor and her love of teaching jewelry to her classes and administration.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We’ve been fortunate to have had a steady growth in business since our first location. We started with 400 square feet, which was just enough to squeeze in 6 student benches plus 1 for the teacher. We moved to our larger location that we’re in now, which is much bigger and stocked with lots of great tools and more space for students.

During COVID, when everything was shut down in March 2020, we pivoted quickly to online classes, with our first workshops starting in April. It was all hands on deck as the three partners and our staff instructors worked really hard to adapt our content to Zoom, to learn how to use it for effective teaching, and to come up with solutions for teaching jewelry remotely. It was a lot of work, but I can say proudly that our online courses are as good as our in person workshops.

Online classes became our silver lining in the dark cloud of the pandemic. Without online classes and our amazing community of students, we wouldn’t have survived. Now, as COVID continues, we’ve adapted by offering both online and in person workshops, and even hybrid classes that include both at the same time, which are a lot of fun.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
All three of the owners of our school have been working professional artists and have trained as teachers.

Joe Silvera was trained at a university in jewelry, metalsmithing and blacksmithing and graduated in 1993. He apprenticed for many years in Los Angeles. Joe sold his jewelry at craft shows and galleries across the country. At university, he worked side by side with graduate students as they trained to be teachers and often helped new students. He’s been teaching since 2002, first at local schools and nationwide at jewelry shows and then at Silvera Jewelry School, which he founded with his wife and business partner, Anat.

Anat Silvera started making jewelry and soldering at 11 years old. She has studied with master jewelers in the Bay Area. Anat has sold her jewelry at shows and galleries and wholesale to stores nationwide. She was the featured artist at the Oakland Museum of California. Anat started teaching jewelry in the 90s and has taught nationwide. She and Joe Silvera founded Silvera Jewelry School in 2005 and moved the school to Berkeley in 2011.

Jenn Parnell Kirkpatrick graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1999 with her BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing. In 2010 she received her MFA in Studio Art (Metals and Jewelry concentration) from Towson University. She founded Jenn Parnell Designs in 2000. Her work has been shown in national and international galleries, art shows and exhibitions throughout the US and published in several books. Jenn has been teaching all levels of jewelry classes since 2004 at the Baltimore Jewelry Center, MICA, and the Corcoran College of Art. Jen joined the team at Silvera Jewelry School in 2019.

What were you like growing up?
(Joe Silvera) I started drawing and painting when I was around seven years old. If I didn’t have my head in a sketchbook, then I had it in a book. My other interests included science fiction and fantasy. What did these have in common? Imagination. Drawing, reading and fantasy transported me to new worlds. Maybe because I was an only child and a latchkey kid encouraged my ability to immerse myself so easily in fiction. When I began my jewelry training in university, my imagination was on fire with design and learning techniques that had been around for 7000 years.

Pricing:

• Our classes range from start at under $100

Contact Info:

• Website: SilveraJewelrySchool.com
• Instagram: @silverajewelryschool
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silverajewelryschool/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/silverajewelryschool

Image Credits
All photos taken by Silvera Jewelry School partners/owners