So Fresh + So Clean 2023
Our annual online international student exhibition
All applicants are Student Level Members of Ethical Metalsmiths.
FRESH
Work that is happening now, challenging how we define the field of Jewelry and Metalsmithing.
CLEAN
Objectively looking at how our practices intersect with environmental concerns and human health.
A Message from the Student Committee
We are thrilled to present the 9th Annual So Fresh + So Clean Exhibition with you! In the EM Student Community we celebrate student work while challenging and educating student members to consider the future of the jewelry and metalsmithing field. Each year, the SF+SC Jury examines what it means to be an artist in the 21st century by curating the most innovative work happening now. This edition of SF+SC has been particularly exciting to organize and facilitate as it has been two years since the last exhibition. We have been eager to see what is going on in the field at this moment in history!
This year, artists were challenged to consider the life cycle of their work. They were asked to consider how long they want their work to last. Is it ephemeral? Will it break down eventually? Was it made from uniquely sourced materials? Can it re enter the supply chain? Addressing the future of our work and its “life cycle” is as much a part of the design process as the wearability of the jewelry object itself or the origin story of the materials we chose to make it with.
We were delighted to view this years submissions and distinctive outlooks from around the world. Artists shared complex narratives behind their inspirations and sources. Material choices were definitely examined in each response, from the use of overlooked materials like industrial steel and fiber, to the use of precious materials like 14k gold or sterling silver that may re enter the supply chain in the future.
We extend our deep gratitude to this year’s jurors, Jina Seo and Emily Stoehrer. They offered their expertise throughout the jurisdiction process. Emily Stoehrer presented the EM Student community insightful lecture to inspire and educate students as they used this call for entry opportunity for creative empowerment.
As artists, waste is often a part of our practice, whether we like it or not. We believe that a perfectly responsible studio is always the goal, but remember that it takes time. We encourage you to take small steps and continue the conversation around responsible practices. It is our hope that this year’s challenge will continue to be considered in your ever-evolving commitment with sustainable metalsmithing practices.
To this year’s artists - BRAVO! Your responses to the SF+SC 2023 challenge are thoughtful and innovative. The future of the jewelry and metalsmithing field is bright!
Yifei Kong, Shannon Kurzyniec, Chelsea Rowe
Student Committee, VCU Chapter
AWARD WINNERS
The exhibition is managed by the SF+SC Student Committee, a collection of graduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University. Each year an esteemed guest(s) is invited by the committee to join the jury process.
Three award winners were chosen from the collection of applicants.
2023 Emerging Artist
Prize: $1000
Award chosen by full jury
Maria Hammond
Bachelor of Arts in Product Design and Craft, 2023 (expected)
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Artist Statement:
My collection is inspired by a derelict industrial building and its decayed materials, which I believe have a unique beauty and character that reflect local history and experiences of life. As it is reclaimed by nature, I am reminded of the cycle of life and death, and am filled with a sense of hope and possibility. Mirroring the transformative process of time and the representation of memory in buildings and objects, my practise includes burning, patinating, oxidising, and carving. I'm driven by sustainability and believe that jewellery can make a statement about our relationship with the environment. By using materials that go unnoticed, or go to waste, I seek to create pieces that are both beautiful and responsible, that reflect the beauty in aging and the stories that are embedded within the materials themselves. My work carries a sense of narrative, connecting wearers with their own personal histories and the wider stories of their environment, through the materials that surround them.
Responsibility Statement:
I hope that my work will tour various exhibitions, sharing my celebration of often overlooked, worn, industrial materials. Hopefully it will outlive me as a reminder of my work as an artist. However, if the building in which it resides should also one day fall into ruin and decay then the wood would decay, maybe allowing new plants to grow through and the metals would continue to corrode until just oxides remain.
Steel is one of the most sustainable metals as it is the most widely recycled. I keep the offcuts to either make new pieces from the shapes that emerge and those I don’t I collect to recycle. The timber in my pieces is ash, a more sustainable wood as it is fast growing and self-seeding and currently in plentiful supply due to the ash dieback across Europe. Before turning, I cut the pieces down to size and use these offcuts for rings and smaller pieces. The collected saw dust I use in the garden as mulch.
2023 Juror’s Choice
Prize: $500
Award chosen by the guest jurors
Amy Beeler
Masters of Fine Arts, 2024 (expected)
Bowling Green State University, United States
Artist Statement:
As a child, it was a standard part of my life to spend time with my sister, Mother, and Great Aunts hanging clothes out on the clothesline to dry and returning hours later to retrieve and fold all the laundry. Looking back on that time brings back fond memories of spending time with the women in our family. In my MFA work, I use cotton rope, also called clothesline, to construct body adornment. Each piece has its unique personality within this body of work due to the research method I undertook to explore this material and learn how to form it fully. In my process, I often treat the rope as more of an extension of metalworking, building forms in a manner related to hollow forming pieces. The process helped me create a different language to traditional rope jewelry, such as sailor knot jewelry. The methods I am exploring use a sewing machine to speed up the making practice and the manipulation of traditional basket forming to transform into a jewelry form.
Responsibility Statement:
My cotton rope jewelry is not just a piece of wearable art but also a symbol of my new commitment to having more sustainable and ethical jewelry practices. As an eco-conscious maker, I have switched my body of work to cotton. I hope that the life of my work will be one of longevity, with each piece being cherished and cared for years to come. As part of returning to graduate school, I wanted to explore a material choice that reflected my environmentally friendly nature. I am happily choosing to make jewelry from a plant. I have found a local source that supplies American-made cotton rope, so I can keep shipping to a minimum. Regarding studio habits, I have adopted practices that prioritize sourcing local, sustainable, and ethical materials. My process has minimal waste, many pieces are one continuous length of rope. When I have dyed a piece, I make the dyes from natural items, such as black walnut. I am committed to sustainability and ethical making, as is evident in every aspect of my work.
2023 Student’s Choice
Prize: $250
Award chosen by the SF+SC Student Committee
Rashele Alradaideh
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2023 (expected)
Virginia Commonwealth University, United States
Artist Statement:
The abandonment of a mine in Washington flooded nearby water sources with high concentrations of metal deposits like zinc and copper, decimating once abundant populations of insects like caddisflies, beetles, mayflies. Their habitat was soon overtaken by stoneflies, watermites, and blackflies, which were able to survive in such hostile conditions. What Remains of Alder Creek is a magnified view at what the ecosystem in Alder Creek once was and what it has now become, meant to draw attention to harmful mining practices and their impacts on local ecosystems. The first piece was melted down to then create the second and emphasize the renewability of metals as a material and represent the permanence of the depletion of those insect populations.
Responsibility Statement:
What Remains of Alder Creek was created for the purpose of being inevitably recycled into new works. With that in mind, the original piece was made using recycled materials and small amounts of solder to facilitate its reuse for the second half and beyond. For this same reason, the entire piece is comprised of sterling silver to minimize potential impurities and keep the material in circulation, lifting some of the pressure on industries to mine more precious metals. While it isn’t made to physically last it is hoped that it will make a lasting impact and influence other metalsmiths to be more environmentally conscious about their work.
We celebrate the significant impact students have, amplifying their voices in an effort to shift the contemporary conversation.
We challenge you to investigate your studio, processes, methods, and personal goals. Tell us about it, ask questions, and then show us the work you are making!
Introducing the
So Fresh + So Clean 2023 Student Exhibition!
VIEWING TIPS
The best viewing experience will be on a computer. To enlarge, click on a thumbnail image, and hover over the image to view additional text.
Thank you to our So Fresh + So Clean Sponsors!
So Fresh + So Clean 2023 JURORS
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Jina Seo (b. South Korea) is Assistant Professor in Metal + Jewelry at Missouri State University. Her practice explores the relationships between body, clothing, sexuality, fetish, and space. She received her MFA in Metal at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and her BFA in Metalwork and Jewelry Design at Kookmin University, Seoul.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Munich Jewellery Week 2017; Brooklyn Metal Works, Brooklyn, NY; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL; Sung-Gock Gallery, Seoul, Korea; and (AV17) Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania. She recently participated in an exhibition “Colorful Minds: Contemporary Enamel and Jewelry” in South Korea in 2022.
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As the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Emily is an international presence in the jewelry field. At the MFA she oversees a collection that spans 6,000 years and includes more than 22,000 objects—highlights include ancient jewelry, a growing collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century high-style jewelry, and the Daphne Farago Collection of contemporary jewelry. At the MFA, Emily curated Past is Present: Revival Jewelry, co-curated Boston Made: Arts & Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork and Hollywood Glamour: Fashion & Jewelry from the Silver Screen.
Emily is a frequent lecturer and has been invited to present at museums, conferences, and organizations around the globe. The diversity of Emily’s interests in the field are evidenced in her publications and lecture topics, which range from nineteenth century jewelry to works by contemporary makers and designers.
In addition to her work as a curator, Emily has spent more than a decade as an adjunct professor at Boston-area colleges and for four years managed three robust undergraduate programs in fashion design and merchandising. Most recently, Emily developed a History of Jewelry course for the Art History Department at Massachusetts College of Arts & Design (MassArt).
A leader in the field, Emily served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Society of North American Goldsmiths from 2017 until 2020, and is currently the spokesperson of the jewelry vetting committee of all three of The European Fine Art Fairs (TEFAF).
Emily’s academic work has focused on the history of material culture and the philosophy of identity. She is particularly interested in the evolution of taste and her dissertation focused on the influence of the Hollywood red carpet. Emily holds a PhD in Humanities from Salve Regina University, Master of Arts in Fashion & Textile Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
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Chelsea Rowe (she/her) is an artist and jeweler originally from the Midwest. Currently based in Richmond, Virginia, she is a first year Craft/Material Studies Graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Rowe completed her BFA in 2018 at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. She is a member of Ethical Metalsmiths. Participation includes Radical Jewelry Makeover: Artist Project and EM Student VCU Chapter Co-Chair.
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Yifei Kong is originally from Beijing, China. She is a metalsmith and enamelist. She received her BFA in Metal from SUNY New Paltz, NY. Currently a first year in the Craft/Material Studies MFA program in Virginia Commonwealth University.
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Shannon Kurzyniec (b.1984) is a candidate in the MFA program in the Department of Craft/Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond,VA. She received her BFA from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, concentrating in Metalsmithing. Utilizing body adornment, installation, and video, Kurzyniec explores new ways in which to express her opinions about the personal and social impacts of prescription medication on the human condition.
So Fresh + So Clean is powered by our Student Committee
The Student Committee mission is to examine what it means to be an artist in the 21st century by curating the most innovative jewelry and metalsmithing that challenges the political and environmental implications of our field.
We understand a 100% sustainable practice is an unachievable goal.
But, how close can we get? The first step is becoming aware of the ways your work impacts environmental and human health, hopefully affecting the creative decision making of artists. Becoming a member of the Community for Ethical Jewelry is one small step that places you within this essential dialogue, and your membership fee helps our non-profit organization to continue to make a difference!
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