The exhibit, at the Missouri State University Robert and Margaret Carolla Arts Exhibition Center, 326 N. Boonville in Springfield, focuses on sustainability. It’s part of the Radical Jewelry Makeover, Ethical Metalsmiths’ innovative community mining project, which raises awareness of the connection between mining, metalsmithing, activism, collaboration and art.
The exhibit showcases around 140 pieces of jewelry crafted by 40 MO State art students and regional artists using bits and pieces of old jewelry – both precious metals and costume – donated by community members and local jewelers.
MO State associate art professor Jin A. Seo said a meaningful part of the project for her is the sustainability aspect.
“There is, as an artist, I think there is always a part that you think about is, like, creativity that you want to pursue,” she said, “but then you also need to be responsible about your impact to the environment and the community. So, with this project, we’re definitely not solving the problem itself, but it’s kind of getting to know about the problem and then really educating people. Like, we’re all part of this concern, and there may be creative ways to solve it for artists and students.”
For MO State art student Jules Riddle, being part of the exhibit was a fun opportunity that she didn’t ever think she’d get to be part of. She said it was eye opening to think about the waste that we produce, “even just with jewelry and how many pieces were just broken or maybe just not being well loved anymore and getting to turn that into something new that we can now sell to people, and they can continue to use that and cherish that,” she said. “It’s been really amazing.”
Students and regional artists who contributed to the exhibit had to use both creative and problem solving skills. Because of that, Seo said working through the process was a unique learning experience for her students.
“It was uniquely challenging for a lot of students and some of the artists,” she said, “because the materials of the costume jewelry are not necessarily like, recyclable in a traditional way. So you need to be really creative how to use those parts. You cannot just melt down and remake something new. You have to figure out how to put two parts together in a different way. So I think that was really challenging in a good way so students learn a lot of those new ways of making jewelry.”
Riddle remembers times when she stared at a pile of jewelry, trying to decide what to do with it.
“It was one of those things I kind of needed to just struggle through until I kind of just had my aha moment,” she said, “and it came to me of, like, ‘oh, I can put this thing together and this thing together.' I think it was a good challenge. So it, like, definitely pushed me in ways that our other jewelry practices didn’t.”
She showed three of her pieces that were hanging together – one a necklace, one a brooch and another a pair of earrings.
“They were actually from a charm bracelet, speech and debate award charms from long ago. I don’t think they actually give those out anymore for speech and debate,” she said. “On the backs of a couple of them they have, like, the meaning of them. So I turned those into just some simple stud earrings.”
Seo said, for some, it was difficult to take the step of melting pieces down or cutting them – they felt a responsibility to honor those who donated the jewelry. So, one wall of the exhibit features personal stories, chosen by the student artists, about some of the donated pieces.
One talks about a high school ring with the donor’s “deadname” engraved inside. This person came out as nonbinary shortly after high school and said the ring doesn’t suit them anymore “for a few reasons.”
The pieces on exhibit are for sale.
You can view the exhibit Monday through Friday from 11 to 6 through February 21. It will also be open Friday night, February 7, from 6 to 9 as part of First Friday Art Walk.
