Setting the standard for Canadian crafts education.
The Crafts & Design Program at Sheridan has been setting the standard for crafts education in Canada since being founded in 1967. A close connection with the arts community, award-winning faculty, fully-equipped studios and a renowned curriculum all work to help students develop a critical sense of design and outstanding technical skills while at Sheridan.
The three-year Crafts & Design Program offers intensive, hands-on training in four studio areas: ceramics, furniture, glass and textiles. These are complemented with additional studios of design, drawing and photography.
The studio experience at Sheridan is supported by academic studies in craft history, communications, supervised independent research, visits from established artists and exhibition opportunities for students.
In the third year of the program students address the important goal of self-employment as a craftsperson. Through lectures and coursework Sheridan students examine market dynamics in the crafts & design arena along with undertaking case studies of running a professional craft or consulting design practice. At graduation, Sheridan students are among the most talented and best prepared emerging artists and designers in Canada.
Graduating students have won scholarships from Pilchuk, the Corning Studio and the Glass Art Society, residencies at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre, and a wide variety of internal scholarships such as the new Angela Martin Award for excellence in environmental action.
Graduate exhibitions are held at the Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Fluid Living, and the Realtime Gallery in Toronto's distillery district, and at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, as well as at the annual Open House in Oakville.
In 2006, a mid-year student exhibition at the Toronto Interior Design Show won the gold medal for best booth design, and other student work was displayed in New York City at the alternative design exhibition complementing the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Also during the school year, theme-based student exhibits appeared at the Clay and Glass Museum in Waterloo, and at the Textiles Museum in Toronto.
