Victor Vodicka Collection

The archive relates to the career of goldsmith and educator Victor Vodicka (1921-1992), who built one of the most successful gold and silversmithing courses in post war Australia. It is predominately a record of his teaching life at the Royal Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT University). The archive includes slides of student work, sketches, typescripts, press clippings, exhibition catalogues, medals, documents concerning the syllabus and proposed courses, student and staff lists, research and reports about contemporaneous art educational ideas, and the craft industries, and records relating to the history of goldsmithing and silversmithing more generally. There are also records relating to various student awards given by local jewellery retailers and manufacturers.  
Vaclav Victor Vodicka (1921-1922) was a Czech goldsmith who migrated to Australia in 1950 after the Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia. He joined the Royal Melbourne Technical College (RMTC) in 1955, and over the succeeding years transformed Gold and Silversmithing into the leading course of its kind in Australia. Vodicka was born in Modray, a suburb of Prague, in the Czech Republic. He graduated in 1941 from Prague Technical College of Applied Arts and Crafts, where he specialised in gold and silver design and manufacture. Then in 1943 he completed a Diploma of Art at the renowned Turnov State School of Jewellery, and by the age of 24, at the time of the communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948, he was the Managing Director of the Robert Scholtz Company, a jewellery company. Vodicka fled communist controlled Czechslovakia via Berlin, Germany in late 1949 and then migrated to Australia as a displaced person arriving in April 1950. After a short stay at Bonegilla migrant camp Vodicka came to Melbourne to work as a silversmith with firms such as Stokes, Phoenix and Albion. In 1955 he was appointed to the position of lecturer in Gold and Silversmithing at RMTC by Victor Greenhalgh, the new head of Art and Applied Art.  
Vodicka built the most successful and influential gold and silversmith course in post-war Australia. While he had trained as a goldsmith and a jeweller and taught both in his early years at the College he was instrumental in the appointment of expert German jeweller Wolf Wennrich to oversee the development of the jewellery stream which soon became the most popular part of the gold and silversmithing programme. Throughout the 1960s Vodicka expanded the courses, introducing more specialised subjects: design in 1963 and history of gold and silversmithing in 1964. At the same time, he undertook additional training himself and obtained a Tertiary Technical Teachers Certificate in 1963. In 1967 he was awarded Fellowship Diploma in Art - Industrial Design - Gold and Silversmithing. Always interested in the pedagogical implications of his work in 1972 Vodicka published a report into craft industries in Australia and in 1973 was admitted as a member of the Australian College of Education. He retired from RMIT in 1983 and in 1987 was awarded an AM for services to the craft of gold and silversmithing. Victor Vodicka died in Melbourne in 1992. 
Collection is organized into 15 boxes: Boxes 1 to 7 holds slides and photographs of student work, and students; Box 3 contains photographs of Wolfram Wennich’s work; Boxes 9 and 10 holds files relating to art education and the development of the course at MTC, Box 11 holds information regarding the broader history of goldsmithing; Box 13 holds records relating to student prizes, and special awards, exhibitions, and course brochures;  Box 15 holds objects made by Victor Vodicka.

本档案集围绕金匠、教育家维克多·沃迪卡（Victor Vodicka，1921-1992）的职业生涯展开，他创立了战后澳大利亚最具影响力的金饰与银饰制作课程之一。该档案核心为其在墨尔本皇家理工学院（Royal Melbourne Technical College，现RMIT大学）的教学生涯记录，馆藏涵盖学生作品幻灯片、手绘草图、打字文稿、报刊剪报、展览目录、奖章、教学大纲与拟开设课程相关文件、师生名录、同期艺术教育理念与手工艺行业研究报告，以及更广泛的金饰与银饰制作行业历史相关资料，同时包含当地珠宝零售商与制造商设立的各类学生奖项相关记录。

瓦茨拉夫·维克多·沃迪卡（Vaclav Victor Vodicka，1921-1992）为捷克籍金匠，1950年捷克斯洛伐克共产党掌权后移民澳大利亚。他于1955年加入墨尔本皇家理工学院（RMTC），在后续数十年间将金饰与银饰制作课程打造为澳大利亚同类课程中的标杆项目。沃迪卡出生于捷克共和国布拉格郊区莫德雷，1941年毕业于布拉格应用艺术与设计技术学院，主修金饰与银饰的设计与制作；1943年于著名的特尔诺夫州立珠宝学校完成艺术文凭课程。1948年捷克斯洛伐克发生共产党政变时，年仅24岁的他已担任罗伯特·肖尔茨（Robert Scholtz）珠宝公司总经理。1949年底，他经德国柏林逃离共产党管控的捷克斯洛伐克，以流离失所者身份移民澳大利亚，并于1950年4月抵达。他先在博内吉拉难民营短暂停留，随后前往墨尔本，在斯托克斯（Stokes）、菲尼克斯（Phoenix）与阿尔比恩（Albion）等公司担任银饰工匠。1955年，时任艺术与应用艺术系主任维克多·格林哈尔（Victor Greenhalgh）任命他为RMTC金饰与银饰制作讲师。

沃迪卡打造了战后澳大利亚最成功且最具影响力的金饰与银饰制作课程。尽管他早年以金匠与珠宝匠身份受训，并在入职初期教授相关课程，但他还促成聘请德国资深珠宝匠沃尔夫·文里奇（Wolf Wennrich）负责珠宝制作方向的课程开发，该方向很快成为金饰与银饰制作项目中最受欢迎的模块。整个20世纪60年代，沃迪卡持续拓展课程体系：1963年增设设计课程，1964年开设金饰与银饰制作史课程。与此同时，他也坚持自我深造，于1963年取得高等技术教师证书，1967年获颁艺术-工业设计-金饰与银饰制作领域研究员文凭。他始终关注教学实践的教育意义，1972年发表了澳大利亚手工艺行业研究报告，1973年当选澳大利亚教育学院会员。1983年，沃迪卡从RMIT退休；1987年，他因对金饰与银饰制作手工艺的突出贡献被授予AM勋衔。维克多·沃迪卡于1992年在墨尔本逝世。

该馆藏共划分为15个档案盒：1至7号盒存放学生作品、学生及教学相关的幻灯片与照片；3号盒存放沃尔夫·文里奇的作品照片；9、10号盒存放艺术教育及RMTC课程发展相关档案；11号盒存放金饰与银饰制作行业更广泛的历史资料；13号盒存放学生奖项、特别表彰、展览活动及课程手册相关记录；15号盒存放维克多·沃迪卡本人创作的手工艺作品。