Ethical Metalsmiths Announces Student Artist Award Winner
Maria Hammond was picked from a pool of students who exhibited their works online.
The organization’s education committee has announced Maria Hammond as its 2023 Emerging Artist Award Winner.
Hammond graduated this year with a Bachelor of Arts degree in product design and craft from Manchester Metropolitan University.
“I'm driven by sustainability and believe that jewelry can make a statement about our relationship with the environment,” she said in her artist’s statement.
“By using materials that go unnoticed, or go to waste, I seek to create pieces that are both beautiful and responsible, that reflect the beauty in aging and the stories that are embedded within the materials themselves.”
Hammond’s winning piece, titled “Fragments With a Future, The Collar,” is an extravagant art jewelry necklace inspired by derelict, forgotten buildings, created by carving, burning, patinating, and oxidizing steel that “[mirrors] the transformative process of time and the representation of memory in buildings and objects.”
Harsh and angular, the piece is part of a collection that transforms architectural and industrial influences into wearable art pieces.
The designer has already put her $1,000 prize money into use.
“It’s already funded a little enameling kiln, some wood turning chisels and materials,” she said.
Hammond was selected from a pool of student designers who exhibited their work in the annual “So Fresh + So Clean” online exhibition.
The Ethical Metalsmiths Student Committee, a group of graduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University, organizes the show. Applicants are student members of EM.
The student committee also chooses the competition winners, alongside an annual guest judge. This year’s guest judge was Dr. Emily Stoehrer, the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
In addition to Hammond, Amy Beeler, a master’s student at Bowling Green State University, was awarded the “Juror’s Choice” award and a $500 grant, and Rashele Alradaideh, a bachelor’s student at Virginia Commonwealth University, was awarded the “Student’s Choice” award and $250 grant.
The Latest
Step inside the nearly 21,000-square-foot suburban Chicago jewelry store with Editor-in-Chief Michelle Graff.
These punk-inspired earrings from the new Canadian brand’s debut collection reveal the alter ego of the classic pearl.
The company brings its nanotechnology to two new fancy cuts for diamonds that feature its signature color and brilliance.
From protecting customer data to safeguarding inventory records, it's crucial to learn how to tackle cybersecurity challenges.
Sponsored by Tasha R
Three Titanic survivors presented him with the personalized Tiffany & Co. timepiece about a year after the tragedy.
A federal court found that the jewelry store chain violated terms of the settlement reached after it was accused of defrauding customers.
This fall, sharpen your skills in jewelry grading, quality control and diamond assessment.
Cynthia Erivo chose Dreams of Hope, an organization dedicated to empowering LGBTQA+ youth, as the charity for this year’s collection.
The new space was designed to evoke a warm, inviting vibe.
Kinney, who spent nearly 30 years at IJO, has been hired to head Abbott Jewelry Systems’ new virtual marketplace.
The auction house was accused of helping clients avoid paying taxes on millions of dollars’ worth of art purchased from 2010 to 2020.
The “Camera Oscura” collection showcases earring designs celebrating female Surrealist artists Claude Cahun and Leonor Fini.
The money will fund the planting of 10,000 trees in critical areas across Oregon, Arizona, Montana, and other regions.
Local reports identified the woman as the wife of the jewelry store owner.
A collection of pieces owned by Ferdinand I, the first king of modern Bulgaria, and his family, blew away estimates in Geneva last week.
The Australian jewelry box brand’s new West Village store will showcase new jewelers each month through its Designer in Residence program.
“Lovechild” was created in partnership with Carolyn Rafaelian’s Metal Alchemist brand.
Hampton discussed how Helzberg is improving the customer experience and why it was inspired by the company formerly known as Dunkin’ Donuts.
The group will host several curated events and an exhibition of designer jewelry made with Peruvian gold traceable to the miners’ names.
The collection honors the 50th anniversary of Dolly Parton’s “Love is Like a Butterfly” song, which shares a birth year with Kendra Scott.
This year’s theme asks designers to take inspiration from classic fairy tales.
Senior Editor Lenore Fedow makes the case for why more jewelers should be appealing to nerds at the annual event.
The latest “Raiz’in” drop showcases a newly designed “Scapular” necklace and donates a portion of the proceeds to Make-A-Wish France.
No. 1 out of 100, the timepiece was created to mark Citizen’s 100th anniversary and will be auctioned off at Sotheby’s next month.
On the latest episode of “My Next Question,” two experts share best practices for store security during the holidays and year-round.
Sotheby’s sold the necklace, which potentially has ties to Marie-Antoinette, for $4.8 million to a woman bidding via phone.