Radical Jewelry Makeover and Bash the Trash

Transforming trash: How you can participate in May in Hop's

Radical Jewelry Makeover and Bash the Trash

Photo: (from top) Necklace made in aRadical Jewelry Makeover project. Bash the Trash community parade. Courtesy of the artists.

HANOVER, NH—Join Upper Valley friends and neighbors for free programs in April and May that make beautiful music and art from stuff that's usually tossed aside!

The two projects, Radical Jewelry Makeoverand Bash the Trash, are part of the Hop's Community Venture Initiative, which devises new opportunities for Upper Valley residents of all ages to create, access and explore the arts.For more information on any of these programs, contact Hop Outreach at 603.646.2010, or go to hop.dartmouth.edu/online/communityventure.

Now that Radical Jewelry Makeover has collected mounds of donated jewelry-box clutter, it's time to repurpose these materials into new wearable creations in free public workshops on Saturday and Sunday, April 12 and 13, in the Hop's Claflin Jewelry Studio. Workshop times are 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm each day.All levels of expertise and anyone from age 8 and up are welcome; those under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. Teachers will be on hand to help workshop participants make particular projects. Registration will begin March 5 at hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422.

On Tuesday through Friday, May 6-9, take part in a free Bash the Trashworkshopto make musical instruments from recycled materials. All levels of experience are welcome, and ages 8 and up may participate (those age 14 and under should be accompanied by an adult). There is no pre-registration, but space is limited and is offered on a first come, first served basis. Supplies are provided, or bring found objects. The workshops are 6-8 pm in Studio 60A, Lower Jewett Corridor, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover.

Then, on Saturday and Sunday, May 10 and 11, participants perform on those instruments in any of four free Trash Mob Mini-Concerts around the Upper Valley. They take place on Saturday, May 10, at 10 and 10:30 AM, at the Thetford, VT, Transfer Station on Route 113, Thetford Center; and 1 and 1:30 pm at the Hartford, VT, Transfer Station on Route 5; and on Sunday, May 11, at 10:30 and 11 AM, at the Lyme, NH, Fire Station; and 1 and 1:30 pm, on the Lebanon, NH, Green in that city's downtown.

In Radical Jewelry Makeover, come to a Monday, May 12, Opening Partyfor an exhibit of the new creations made—by workshop participants as well as skilled Upper Valley jewelers—from the donated materials. Held in the Hop's Alumni Hall, the party opens at 5:30 pm and features exhibition viewing and a chance to purchase the jewelry pieces; refreshments and a cash bar; and a 6 pm talk and panel discussion with Upper Valley metalsmiths and jewelers as well as representatives from Ethical Metalsmiths, which runs the Radical Jewelry Makeover program. Ethical Metalsmiths is a nonprofit promoting sustainable mining practices.

The RJM exhibition will be on view May 13 through June 15 in the Harrington Display Case, The Moore Theater lobby, and is free to view.

The Hop's Bash the Trash project is part of a New York-based program that runs similar residencies and training programs around the country, in schools, community settings and private gatherings. Building, performing and educating with musical instruments made from recycled and reused materials since 1992, Bash the Trash deploys performers and teaching artists who are top-notch professional musicians as well as educators trained in integrating science and the performing arts. Bash the Trash has been praised as "serious musicians who find a melody in their trash” (The New York Times), "the most inspiring performance I've seen in a while" (The New York Daily News) and “a display of musical virtuosity, refined clowning and creative thinking” (The Daily Eastchester, NY).

While in the Upper Valley, BTT will also lead workshops in middle and high schools, including Hartford Memorial Middle and Hartford High School and Thetford Academy.

BTT founder John Bertles is an educator, composer and instrument-builder. He has worked in arts education since 1988 as a teaching artist, administrator, professional developer and consultant, and is a leader in the field of environmental arts education. In addition to BTT, which Bertles runs with his wife, Carina Piaggio, he is also a professional development workshop leader with the Kennedy Center National Touring Workshops for Teachers, and has presented seminars for teachers and teaching artists at conferences and arts centers around the country. As a composer he works with combinations of traditional and world instruments along with his own invented musical instruments built from recycled and reused materials. His most recent compositions include a canon of childrens’songs for the Bash the Trash spin-off group The Junksters; “The Choke Artist” for found-object instrument sextet; “Incline and Trashicaglia” for orchestra, homemade instruments and audience members (premiered by the Canton Symphony Orchestra); and a version of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” for small orchestra of traditional and found-object instruments.

The Hop’s Radical Jewelry Makeover is one of many that Ethical Metalsmiths has held in communities in the US and beyond since 2007, educating jewelers of all levels about mining and material sourcing issues involved in jewelry making through a fun, fast paced way. RJM draws attention to the creativity and skills of the local community and its jewelry designers, reveals the stories behind our personal collections and encourages re-consideration of our habits of consumption.

The two projects mark the debut of the Hop’s new Community Venture Initiative (CVI), which aims to increase the Upper Valley community’s engagement and access to Hop programming. CVI builds on the Hop’s commitment, over its 50-year history, to community-oriented programs involving a strong network of local organizational partners, as well as ideas generated by the Hop’s Class Divide Project, a three-year initiative that examined socio-economic class via the arts.

Soon after the Class Divide Project, a pilot program expanding current programs (supported by a grant from the Jane B. Cook 1992 Charitable Trust) showed promising possibilities for potential areas for growth. This prompted the development of a Community Venture Initiative to, over three years, test new ideas for expanding community access to Hop programming and implement the most promising ones on a long-term basis. The project is funded by a challenge grant from Jane’s Trust, with major matching gifts from Jane and Peter McLaughlin, The Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation, the Neda Nobari Foundation, Nini and Rob Meyer, Jenny and Stan Williams and Norwich Partners.

RELEVANT LINKS

Hop programs

Artists' organizations

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Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.

CONTACT:

Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer

Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College

603.646.3991