LANCASTER, Pa. - Christina Miller, assistant professor of jewelry and metalsmithing at Millersville University, will give a talk titled "Radical Jewelry Makeover" on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Joseph International Center on College Avenue. Miller's talk is free and open to the public.
In her presentation, Miller will introduce her community mining project as part of the "ethical metalsmithing" movement. While most Americans are familiar with the cost of gold jewelry, is one of the founders of a growing group of metalsmiths that are dedicated to reducing the true cost of mining this precious metal. Above and beyond the monetary transactions involved in purchasing gold for smithing, metal mines in the United States alone are responsible for almost nine times more waste than all of its cities and towns put together. In addition, much of the world's gold is mined on indigenous peoples' lands, where accidents that cause cyanide contamination of the soil and water have an immense impact on the health of local animals and people. Together with Jennifer Horning and Susan Kingsley, Miller is raising awareness about "ethical metalsmithing," and promoting a set of guidelines, to be independently verified in a manner similar to Fair Trade foods and Forest Stewardship Council logging, that can be used to ensure that future gold mining has a minimal impact on ecosystems, both locally and globally. Miller earned a B.F.A. from Millersville and an M.F.A. from East Carolina University after completing her thesis, Ethical Prospects: A Critical Representation of the Co-Dependent Relationship Between Metalsmithing and Metal Mining. She also studied at Le Arti Orafe Jewelry School in Florence, Italy.
Miller is a former artist-in-residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She teaches workshops and exhibits her work internationally. Her work has been published in 1000 Rings, The Art of Enameling, The Fine Art of Enameling, and Contemporary Print in Enamel. She has work in public and private collections. She also has experience in grassroots nonprofit and community organizing gained through an internship with Green Corps (Field School for Environmental Organizing), and through two years of experience at the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation in Boston, where she served initially as a volunteer, and then worked as the open space community organizer. In addition, Miller helped to build Friends of Park groups in a dense, multi-cultural Boston neighborhood, and served as an advocate for open space improvement, creation and preservation at the city and state levels. Her efforts helped the organization secure annual funding in the amount of $90,000 for the open space work. -30- |
