Open Call for So Fresh + So Clean 2024. Ethical Metalsmiths Online Student Exhibition

A Letter from 2024 EM Students Jury:
EM Students invite you to apply for this year’s So Fresh + So Clean design challenge. We want to know how you are sourcing materials. Perhaps they are recycled, found, or maybe even trash? Responses to material sourcing are truly endless!

Our decisions are closely related to our planet’s well-being, as well as the individuals who mine, create, refine, package, and ship the material. More than any time before, our global circumstances require more materials to support human infrastructure. Over 130,000 metric tons of cobalt are mined in the Congo annually. Plastic production is supported by fracking approximately 9 billion barrels a day. On average, mining companies move 250 tons of earth for a single carat of diamond! Worldwide demand for these natural resources often harms our world socially, politically, and environmentally. And so, with this in mind, artists must consider the backstories of their chosen materials. Your materials and decisions matter.

The examples above are definitely on an industrial scale but remember that EM Students is a community of artists working together. We want to see how you are responding to a changing world with hope, creativity, and innovation. This is an opportunity for creative empowerment to gaze beyond the workbench. We are eager to showcase the ingenuity and innovation of the EM Students community and inspire future students.

We look forward to hearing about the motivations behind your work, and seeing your thoughtful submissions!
/Debra Dowden-Crockett, Yifei Kong, Shannon Kurzyniec, Chelsea Nanfelt Rowe

A Note to Educators:
We hope that educators will consider adopting this Call for Entry in your courses this semester. To assist you with this consider using this collection of curriculum materials. Want to Help Your students financially?

Consider purchasing a Student Membership Package for your students. This will include 5 Student Memberships.
Student Membership Packages available for $150.00.

> Key dates:
Call for Entry deadline: May 30th.
Notification of acceptance: July 1st.
Exhibition Launch: September 1st.
Emerging Artist Page launch: October 1st.

>> Click here for the Entry Call

> Awards:

• $1,000 Ethical Metalsmiths Emerging Artist Award, The Emerging Artist will also receive an exposé on the EM Students website.
• $500 Guest Juror’s Choice Award.
• $250 EM Student’s Choice Award.
   

> The Jurors:
- Charon Kransen
- Keith A. Lewis
- Chelsea Nanfelt Rowe
- Shannon Kurzyniec
- Yifei Kong
- Debra Dowden-Crockett


> Application Requirements and Guidelines:

- Information required on the Application Form:

1. Student status and school affiliation: Highest Degree title, Year received (or expected), Name of School, Country or Non-Degree seeking, Name of School, Country.
2. Artist Statement: (200 words maximum). Explain the inspiration or concept behind your work.
3. Responsibility Statement: (200 words maximum) Where are you sourcing your materials from? Describe the thoughtful design choices you have made from an environmental impact perspective. What studio habits support the environmental and social challenges we face?
4. Image details: Title of Your Artwork, Year, Materials, Dimensions. Type of object (neckpiece, brooch, vessel, sculpture, etc)

- Image Requirements:

• This is an ONLINE exhibition, so professional-quality images are essential.
• Image size must be: 1200 pixels (width), 72 resolution, .jpeg format
• You may submit a maximum of 5 artworks, with 1 full, and 1 detail image per artwork.
• You may include up to 3 images of in-progress or studio shots that highlight your efforts in creating a responsible practice.
• Images must be labeled in the following way:

           Firstname_Lastname_title.jpg
           Firstname_Lastname_title_detail.jpg
           Firstname_Lastname_studio1.jpg

> Membership eligibility:
Applicants must be current student-level members of Ethical Metalsmiths by the Call for Entry deadline.

You are eligible for EM Student membership if you have enrolled in a Jewelry or Metalsmithing related course at a high school, college, craft school, or workshop during the current year of student membership, OR  if it has been less than 2 years since you graduated from a degree-granting program. 

*For the 2024 exhibition, students must have graduated no earlier than June 2022.

>> Click here to sign up and become an EM Student Member

You can find more information about the members of the VCU Chapter, and the team responsible for the SO FRESH + SO CLEAN exhibition each year on their profile page and about the jurors here.