Students from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee’s Union Art Gallery invited RJM to work with their university metal program. Together we reached out across the state to partner with UW- Madison, UW-Stout, and professional jewelers. 151 Artists collaborated on the project and well over 220 donors sent in their unwanted jewelry to be used as raw material. 

A Kick-Off event was held at UW- Milwaukee in February. Speakers included: Racine Art Museum curator; Lena Vigna, UW-Milwaukee education professor; Christine Woywod, local actor and performer; Josh Scheibe, and RJM Co-Director Kathleen Kennedy. The participants had 6 weeks to work on pieces that were then juried into an exhibition by RJM Co-Director Susie Ganch. Ganch also conducted studio visits as students were finishing pieces and gave a public lecture.   The Union Art Gallery hosted the exhibition on the UW- Milwaukee campus. A student team lead by Chelsea Nanfelt and Selena Erdman installed the exhibition.

RJM Wisconsin followed in RJM Baltimore’s footsteps in putting a focus on the stories that accompany many of the donated pieces of jewelry.  They hired actor Josh Scheibe to work the stories from the RJM Baltimore donations into a moving performance at the Kick-off Symposium.  Josh returned at the end of the project, performing the stories from Wisconsin donations at the exhibition opening.  Josh’s performances show us just how deep our emotional connection can be to jewelry.

 

Participating Institutions

University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee (Host)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin-Stout

“RJM allows the artist to collaborate with different materials, practices, and people that they would not have the opportunity to otherwise.  Through these experiences, RJM teaches jewelers why their studio practices matter and how the pursuit of an ethical art practice is both possible and important.”

Chelsea Nanfelt – Rowe (student participant and organizer)

RJM XIV: Wisconsin, 2019, Madeover Jewelry Collection

Note: This is not a comprehensive collection.