Jewelers of all levels participated in Richmond’s SECOND installment of Radical Jewelry Makeover! This time 87 artists, including regional professionals and students from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), created work from a collection of over 100lbs of donated jewelry.

A Kick-Off event was held in February at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond (VisArts) including a lecture by RJM Co-Founder and Director Susie Ganch. Additional events were organized on the VCU campus designed to educate and inspire the RJM makers including a Visiting Artist lecture and demonstrations with Melissa Cameron, a screening of the film American Outrage, and a lecture by RJM and Ethical Metalsmiths Co-Founder Christina Miller. 

The participants had 6 weeks to work on pieces that were then juried into the final exhibition on April 4th at VisArts. VCU students worked as docents at the exhibition and helped in the sale of the madeover Jewelry.  The madeover jewelry created for RJM: Richmond was shown alongside work made for the RJM Artist Project, where Artists who have participated in a past RJM Installment dive more deeply into the motivations and questions posed by RJM. 

The full Radical Jewelry Makeover exhibition coincided with the exhibition TIED, a solo show of Susie Ganch whose sculptural artwork embraces similar themes as RJM. 

The RJM: Richmond project concluded with a closing reception in June.

 

Participating Institutions

Virginia Commonwealth University

“One of the reasons I do this project is because I believe that everyone in their field of interest can contribute to positive change in the world. I see RJM as part of a larger movement and am proud to say that the simple act of making can be a powerful tool that helps us in our desire to create a better world.

Universities, art centers and other institutions are inviting us at an increasing rate to come in and work with their students. It’s an amazing way to catalyze a community.”

-Susie Ganch, RJM co-founder and Associate Professor
Department of Craft and Material Studies at
Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts

RJM IX: Richmond, 2014 Madeover Jewelry Collection

Note: This is not a comprehensive collection. Some artwork was not documented and some artists are unknown.