MU Future development and plans

Metalsmiths Unite has reached a milestone today- 4 years of being one of the most interactive and dynamic metalsmithing organizations on the web! Happy 4th Anniversary Metalsmiths Unite!

As the founder of Metalsmiths Unite I have endeavored to create a friendly community forum that serves all levels of metalsmithing, from people who are just beginning to get their hands on metals to master craftspeople who have reached the highest points of the craft.

I want to make Metalsmiths Unite an essential tool for the working metalsmith. One of the ways that I see this happening is through the many lively discussions on theory and technique that already happen on MU's wall every day. another goal is to have MU be the destination to find opportunities that are available for working artists- from calls to enter shows and books, to job opportunities, tools and equipment for sale, and great coverage of workshops, classes and conferences that are available to our craft. I also have a real possibility of a Metalsmiths Unite show here in Tucson during the February Gem Show. (exciting!)

There are many ways that MU can serve the community- and I'm very interested in developing the site and this blog for the future of our community. However, I cannot continue to take on these tasks and expand MU's functions without having some monetary support from the membership. Therefore, as of today I am requesting that members participate in this development by  a suggested donation of between $10-20 a year.  

There is now a "Donate" button on the top of the sidebar of our blog; this is where members can pay their annual donation.This is a new thing for me, so bear with me as I set it up. I will do my best to be transparent about the funds raised.  The more donations I receive, the more time I will be able to commit to the development of our community.
And, in the continuing commitment to serve our entire community, one dollar of each donation fifteen dollars and higher will be set aside for donation to Made By Survivors, an organization working to empower and educate victims of trafficking and exploitation. (More about Made By Survivors can be found at http://madebysurvivors.com )

By having a small amount of money to work with I can justify my many hours of work in the development of Metalsmiths Unite and I can hopefully raise enough donations so that I can continue to develop MU to be one of our most used and beloved tools...
by metalsmiths for metalsmiths.
thank you-
Maureen BZ

Working with: Made By Survivors

A special thanks to Dianna Badalament, the International Jewelry Program Director of Made By Survivors for writing about her experience working with The Made By Survivors Organization, in India. 

In February 2009, my life changed forever.  After opening my small jewelry business,  I received an email from a old friend saying a not-for-profit organization whose work she followed on Facebook, was looking for a metalsmith to teach a metalsmithing class to survivors of human trafficking in Kolkata, India.  I contacted the organization, Made By Survivors (MBS), to learn more about the opportunity and in a month shipped out to Kolkata, India, for two weeks in April to teach survivors at a shelter named Child Care Home operated by our partner Women's Interlink Foundation.

Although April 2009 was the hottest April on record (and not a dry heat), the survivors and the MBS Team in India persevered through blackouts, labor strikes, stifling pollution, the survivors' own psychological (and sometimes physical) trauma, to teach the survivors basic metalsmithing skills. My originally scheduled two weeks, quickly turned into a month long stay. The survivor girls were so incredibly inspirational and dedicated, I felt I couldn't leave until I was done instructing through a certain level of metalsmithing.

Upon my return to the USA, I constantly stayed involved with MBS consulting on everything jewelry and managing jewelry tool drives. Then, I decided to return to India to get a new jewelry studio open and ready for production at a new partner shelter home at Rescue Foundation (RF) near Mumbai. This trip included check-ins with the Kolkata program which was wonderful because you could see the progress, the love, the happiness and the positive evolution of attitude in just a couple of months. 

While at RF I lived at the shelter home and really had an opportunity to spend quality time with the survivors, learn some Hindi, Bengali and Gujrati, explore Mumbai's jewelry district (which recently was the location of a horrible terrorist attack) and purchase tools for the program, as well as get to know the Rescue Foundation staff and learn about the amazing work they do rescuing and providing shelter for young women freed from brothels all over India.

By the end of the trip, over 50 survivors were trained in classical metalsmithing techniques. When I wasn't teaching metalsmithing, I taught beading to another five survivors suffering from HIV/AIDS in the hospital Rescue Foundation location on-site. About ten percent of the girls rescued by Rescue Foundation suffer from HIV/AIDS. In the evenings, I couldn't resist coaching volleyball on the rocky court out during the athletics program. I played in high school and a little in college and never really thought it would come in handy but it truly did. It taught teamwork, healthy competition (something the girls really never experienced) amongst other things.

Ultimately, the most amazing part of the whole experience is to watch a teenage girl in survival mode, firing on all primal notions for shelter, for food, completely transform into a hopeful girl playing in the garden and picking flowers.  It is inspirational to see how learning to metalsmith plays a part in their therapy, in addition to, being their employment, the key to their future.  Lastly, it feels great being a part of a compassionate organization that helps offset the heinous wrong that is "human trafficking", and the name for it doesn't come close to saying enough about this tragic human rights violation.

MBS' philosophy is to overcome slavery and empower slavery survivors through education, opportunity, employment and compassion.  Their programs are located in such places like Cambodia, India and Nepal and are very successful. All proceeds from the products made by the survivors go right back to supporting the survivors. MBS also sponsors children for school, helps improve conditions for the survivors at the homes and organizes bi-annual trips for volunteers to spend two weeks in Kolkata paying visits to WIF's homes and hosting activities for the survivors.

Presently, we just began our Third Jewelry Tool Drive. If you'd like to like to donate jewelry tools to the drive there is more information located here.  We hope to supply the tools for our third studio, opening within the next six months to train survivors at a shelter home in northern West Bengal. 

At this point, I can't wait to go back and see the survivors from the CCH and RF Studios (amongst other great girls at the shelter, not in our program AND the great staff in India working for Made By Survivors whom I adore). I also look forward to meeting and training the new survivors and getting more young women in to the therapeutic fold. Lastly, I find it comforting that every survivor trained chips away at the global blight of slavery. 

Rust Belt Conference and Market

Note:Today we have a blog post written by Metalsmiths Unite member/blog contributor Ralph Paruszkiewicz:thanks Ralph!

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In the beginning of April this year I was a volunteer at the Rust Belt to Artist Belt 3 conference which was held in Detroit. The first and second conferences were held in Cincinati,Ohio.

The conference is held each year to bring together art educators, artists, designers and anyone in post industrial cities that want to help build a new economy. One that isn't totally dependent on the mass production of something made of steel.

All these people come together to talk, learn and create ideas on how to make their dream come true.
Although artistic expression will be a big part of (what I call) a creative economy, an entrepreneur doesn’t only need to be able to paint, draw, sculpt or make jewelry, to be able to add to the economy. The entrepreneur Only needs to be creative in his/her ideas on what type of business to build . The economy will grow from artistic expression and businesses that want to build from that expression.

Right after The RUSTBELT TO ARTIST BELT conference a new business called The Rust Belt Market www.rustbeltmarket.com
Opened in Ferndale, Michigan,One mile north of Detroit. It is in a large building and houses an indoor art fair every weekend.
This is a perfect example of being part of a creative economy. Not only are the owners artists themselves
They are giving many other artists the opportunity to become active in building the artist belt.

To read a summary of what was discussed at this years Conference, and to learn more about the creative economy in Detroit go to: http://www.detroitcreativecorridorcenter.com/

Welcome to your new arts venue - The Rust Belt Market, Ferndale MI.

www.rustbeltmarket.com

MU 2.0

Facebook decided to re-format it's group pages and in all the shuffle (trying to figure out how we could protect our group from being permanently archived) I went ahead and opened a new group, which is called Metalsmiths Unite 2.0.

Here are a few links that you may find helpful:

There is a long explanation of how this all happened at my "Cosmo's Moon" blog HERE
and a tutorial on how to avoid getting your email inbox flooded with group notifications HERE

The original group still exists, but I have closed the wall for posting by anyone other than the administration of the page- I did this to encourage people to use the new group page (at MU 2.0 HERE) However, I will continue to keep the original Metalsmiths Unite (HERE) available as a reference page- there are a bunch of incredible images of outstanding metalwork and helpful posts in the discussions area (which is now called "documents") You can still go there- but you cannot do much more than browse.
If you want to post and comment and interact the place to go is MU 2.0! It remains the place to go for interaction between a vast array of today's working metalsmiths/blacksmiths/knifemakers/jewelers etc.
Free respectful participation is encouraged - snobbery is not welcome :-) (there are many other groups for that online!)

I hope to see you join the community! 
May the flux be with you-
Maureen BZ, Metalsmiths Unite founder

ps- if you are confused about which group is which- the active one is the one that has the original avatar of the beaten up bench pin on a blue background - if you see that familiar image, you are where it's at!