365 Grams by Rebecca Strzelec

Artist list

Rebecca Strzelec

The exhibition will be on view in the BJC’s gallery in Baltimore’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District from February 16 - March 20, 2024, with an opening reception and artist talk on Friday, February 16, from 5 to 8 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

When Strezelec’s grandmother died she left Rebecca her writing desk. Rebecca knew she’d be inheriting the writing desk from a young age, because the day she was born her grandmother had put a piece of masking tape under the desk with her name on it. The same day her grandmother had received a bracelet with a pendant containing the first picture of Rebecca. Later as an adult, Rebecca’s grandmother gifted her four shoeboxes filled with jewelry. A few years after her grandmother's passing Strzelec embarked on a year-long project wearing a different piece every single day to honor her grandmother and give her pieces of jewelry the respect and attention they deserved. Following the completion of the year-long project her grandmother's jewelry became the raw materials for the works in 365 Grams.

The Baltimore Jewelry Center features one of the only art jewelry galleries in the Mid-Atlantic. Our exhibition program exposes the larger public to contemporary and traditional metal arts, and acts as a platform to promote and sell the work of local artists and national artists in the metalsmithing field, said Shane Prada, Director.

We’re excited about this exhibition with Rebecca Strzelec. The show and Rebecca’s work speaks to the shared human experience of assigning value to objects, something we all do.
It’s not always about the value inherent in the object itself, but the value we assign to objects because of the meaning we’ve created and in this case the connection and shared value created by Rebecca and her grandmother.