KU Visual Art partners with Ethical Metalsmiths for Radical Jewelry Makeover

LAWRENCE — The Radical Jewelry Makeover: KU is calling for donations of old, unwanted jewelry for a community jewelry mining project this fall.

Ethical Metalsmiths, an artist-run nonprofit, seeks to galvanize mining reform efforts by staging an “alternative supply chain” and is working with KU Metalsmithing/Jewelry to bring its successful project, Radical Jewelry Makeover, to Lawrence.

Those tangled chains, unmatched earrings and banged-up bracelets sitting at the bottom of jewelry boxes around the Lawrence and Kansas City area are exactly what jewelry artists participating in Radical Jewelry Makeover: KU want to get their creative hands on. 

Since 2007, Radical Jewelry Makeover has been traveling both nationally and internationally, educating jewelers of all levels about the mining and material sourcing issues inherent in jewelry making through a fun, fast-paced, semester-long project. Students from the University of Kansas and professional jewelers from the region will transform donated pieces into fresh and responsible jewelry in collaboration with Missouri State University. 

Radical Jewelry Makeover draws attention to the creativity and skills of local jewelry designers, reveals the stories behind personal collections and encourages reconsideration of habits of consumption. 

Currently, materials used in jewelry production are sourced from some of the poorest countries in the world, sacred lands and disputed territories. Often, this sourcing comes at a great cost to the environment. 

Today, the EPA estimates that hard rock mining is the most toxic industry in the United States. Additionally, Earthworks reports that an estimated 80% of the gold mined each year is used for jewelry and that a single gold ring leaves 20 tons of mine waste. 

In Lawrence, Radical Jewelry Makeover will bring together volunteer “miners,” who dig out and donate their old jewelry, with volunteer jewelers and students working together as refiners and designers to collaborate on an exhibition of remade jewelry. Radical Jewelry Makeover will offer an informed and creative alternative to traditional mining practices and jewelry production. Donors can contribute even the smallest items of jewelry from home for reuse and recycling.

Through Sept. 20, Ethical Metalsmiths and KU Metalsmithing/Jewelry are accepting donations of old, unwanted jewelry from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 300 Chalmers Hall on the Lawrence campus. 

In addition, a one-day drop-off event at the Lawrence Arts Center during the Final Friday will be from 4-8 p.m. Aug. 30. Donors will receive discount coupons to apply toward the purchase of a new piece, and sales will support Ethical Metalsmiths' efforts to educate and connect people with responsibly sourced materials.

Donations can be mailed, postmarked by Sept. 20, to: Sunyoung Cheong, KU Visual Art, 300 Chalmers Hall, 1467 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045.

The project will culminate in two traveling exhibitions of these wearable creations: Jan. 21-31, 2025, at the Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery on the KU Lawrence campus and at the Carolla Arts Exhibition Center near Brick City in Springfield, Missouri, from Jan. 27 to Feb. 21, 2025.

How to donate

To donate jewelry of any quality, quantity or material type, please submit the official project donation form or in print at the donation drop-off locations.

Considering giving gold or silver? If you get your jewelry appraised prior to donating, RJM can honor your donation if given with an official appraisal document at its full value as a tax-deductible donation to Ethical Metalsmiths.

Project timeline

• Donation drop-off at Chalmers Hall: Aug. 26-Sept. 20
• Final Friday drop-off event: 4-8 p.m. Aug. 30,  Lawrence Arts Center
• Donation by mail until Sept. 20 (postmark date)
• Project kickoff at Missouri State: Sept. 20
• Sorting event at Missouri State: Sept. 20-21
• Sorting event at KU: 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 26 at 360 Chalmers Hall
• Jewelry students and professionals will transform the donations from Sept. 27 to Dec 6
• Exhibition at the Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery at Chalmers Hall: Jan. 21- 31, 2025
• Closing reception: 5:30 p.m. Jan. 30, 2025.

About Ethical Metalsmiths

Ethical Metalsmiths is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage social change that values jewelry made with ethically sourced materials. They do this by educating people about irresponsible mining, promoting transparency in jewelry supply chains and highlighting the collective efforts of jewelers actively changing their practices. Ethical Metalsmiths’ vision is a world in which people can create and enjoy jewelry made with materials from responsible sources that protect and sustain the earth, its peoples and cultures.