Beginning on October 26th, the Ethical Metalsmiths Organization will kick off its 2nd annual Radical Jewelry Makeover, this year in Lancaster PA in association with Millersville University. Last year the totally RAD makeover took over Richmond VA at Virginia Commonwealth University, and as a part of the graduate art community there I was happy to take part.
What is this RADness you ask? The Radical Jewelry Makeover is a workshop designed by Christina Miller and Susan Kingsley (both metalsmiths extraordinaire) who started the organization in 2004 to help make the public aware of the origins and environmental cost of the gold they so happily wear. The organization has made great strides in helping the metalsmith community cope with the environmental toll our trade takes on the world. Through education and promoting good mining practices, the organization helped SNAG (familiar to all us metalsmiths in the world) -Society of North American Goldsmiths – adopt its No Dirty Gold policy.
The Makeover, a brainchild of the organization founders, is a workshop designed to educate university metalsmithing programs (community programs as well) about the work of the Ethical Metalsmiths while also allowing the students to work creatively and give a project back to the community. During the one week extravaganza, jewelry is donated by community members for the project. The donations can be everything from wedding bands to grandma’s atrocious costume jewelry from ‘32 to something you picked up for 5 cents at the Salvation Army. All the donations are sorted and the result is a compilation of hundreds of items from which the students can use to re-create new RADICAL jewelry. No rules except the stones, metal, findings etc all should come from old jewelry. In the end, the students put together a gallery exhibition of all the work, also putting it up for sale to the general public. Also, everyone that donates is able to return to the exhibition at the end of the week to re-claim a new piece of jewelry to take in place of the submissions they left behind.This year, I am happy to help out with the Millersville edition, taking some time off work (well, a weekend) to see my VCU professor and friend Susie Ganch and pitch in to the radness. If you are interested in donating, please follow the link to the Ethical Metalsmiths to download a form…Time is almost up!! AND you’ll get good karma and jewelry for it.
