By Jon Fuccillo/The Torch
jonfuccillo@lcctorch.com
Doug Wiltshire made jewelry for 20 years before jewelry store.
Now Wiltshire wants to give back to the art community that has given him so much. He intends on receiving a four-year art degree from the UO and becoming an instructor in metal arts and sculpture, someday.
Inspired by his father, 49-year-old Wiltshire, has followed his determination to succeed in the art industry since he was 8.
Project made by LCC student Doug WIltshire. Photo by Josh Rose / The Torch
“I learned from my father, who is a dentist, and did most of his own lab work,” Wiltshire says. “So I grew up around the glow of (an) alcohol torch and the smell of melting wax.”
Wiltshire, moved to Eugene with his family almost seven years ago, for a job as a store got rough and he was let go.
“Good things come from bad things in life,” he says. “Anybody who has ever made it in life, has lost it all. You can’t be afraid.”
He says that attending LCC was a great opportunity for him to explore the boundaries of work outside of jewelry. Wiltshire says education has been a priority within his family. Both his parents and two sisters have degrees. He said he never felt the pressure to go to school, but decided to give it a whirl.
“You only live once,” he says. “I know it’s kind of late going (to school). I was always told ‘you’re too smart not to get a degree.’”
This term alone, Wiltshire is taking 18 credits, and enjoying every moment of it. He’s taking and plans on taking metal sculpture winter-term.
One of his biggest inspirations was the sculpture casting class that he took last spring with 12-year LCC art instructor, Lee Imonen.
“The sculpture casting class taught me how to gravity pour (instead of using force) aluminum and bronze, and opened up a new world for me,” Wiltshire says. “I knew after starting class and working on projects under Lee’s infectious creative zeal, that I was destined to become an instructor.”
Wiltshire has done casting for the last 40 years.
He has already trained a number of apprentices professionally on how to become jewelers by trade, and he loves giving students a sense of accomplishment.
“I now know that I would like to do it in an accredited environment, and still work on my own projects in my down time,” he says.
He added, “I’m able to take years of on-the-job training and learning new techniques. I’m getting a lot from it even if it’s not from my trade. It’s still stuff that I can use.”
Wiltshire has started at the UO EMU (Erb Memorial Union) craft center as a jewelry casting, stone-setting and ring making instructor, and is “living the dream here at Lane.”
Jennifer Hoover, 62, who met Wiltshire during private class lessons last year, says he’s one of the best in the business.
“He’s one of my favorite instructors,” she says. “I liked his energy, that’s what drew me in. He listens and he sees, and sees beyond what he sees. It’s really important to read body language.”
Hoover adds, “Just because you’re really good at something, doesn’t mean you can teach.”
LCC has given Wiltshire a new sense of direction.
“I could be working a job making $70,000 a year,” he says. “But that’s not going to feed my soul.”
After LCC, Wiltshire plans to attend the UO; the same school he plans to instruct at if the opportunity presents itself.
“I wouldn’t mind teaching metal arts at the UO,” he says. “It would be neat to get a job at a really good university.”
Imonen belives Wiltshire is a teacher in the making.
“He is a born teacher,” Imonen says. “He’s deliberative of his information and that makes a huge difference. He gets the know-how. He’s really psyched about it.
“I think that one way or another if you’re good a way to do it. He’s the kind of guy who (has) the drive. He seems pretty willing to do what it takes and that’s how it goes.”
