Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
In our field, in sort of the jewelry world, the
art dewery world. It's a female dominant field. But what's
really wonderful is I feel we're all very supportive of
each other. We all make space for each other. And competition,
in my mind always seems more like a healthy competition, like, Wow,
that's so great, I need to make something great as well.
(00:28):
That was shut up, Lithe Burk, a renowned jewelry designer,
explaining the joys of collaborating with other women artists. Shannah
has a timely collaboration going on right now. She has
curated the Plan b Art Project, a traveling exhibit and
sale of jewelry that calls attention to and raises money
(00:51):
for women's reproductive rights. I'm a land Revere and this
is Seneca's Women to Hear. We are bringing you one
hundred of the world's most inspiring and history making women.
You need to hear. Shawna blythe Burke is known for
her fine contemporary jewelry and gold and silver that reflects
(01:16):
the urban landscape. She's joined in today's conversation by another
acclaimed designer and Plan b participant, Rebecca Myers, whose elegant
jewelry echoes the patterns and forms of nature. Listen and
learn why. Shawn of Blytheburg and Rebecca Myers are two
(01:38):
of Seneca's one hundred women to hear. I'm speaking today
to two renowned jewelers, Shawn of Burke and Rebecca Myers,
about Plan b Art Project, and we're going to hear
all about it. Shaanna and Rebecca. It's a delight to
have you with us today. It's a delight being here.
(01:59):
Thank you so much. We'll tell us what is the
Plan b Art Project, What does it do, how does
it work? I know you're raising resources for a cause.
Give us insight to all of that. So um, the
Plan b Art Project began last year in November. I
(02:19):
had been, uh, I think really since the Obama nomination
of Merrick Garland which never came to the Senate FLOORA.
I began really following, um, what was going on in
the Supreme Court and the nominations, you know, under the
Trump presidency and sort of seeing the writing on the
wall for a lot of women's rights and human rights.
(02:42):
I began to sort of look at what was coming
down the docket, you know, in the the Mississippi decision,
so I started talking to other artists and as contemporary jewelers,
we make both jewelry and sort of sculptural objects that
one can wear on, you know, your body, And a
(03:02):
thought came to me of um, little vessels, you know
that sort of we're a nod to and forhora forms
you know from Greece or Rome or little apothecary jars
and what they held and in the past, before road
we wade um often they carried a little a boar,
eficient herbs or poisons, you know, to rid the body
(03:23):
of an unwanted pregnancy. So I thought, oh, wouldn't it
be interesting to make these little symbolic forms, you know,
and to raise money for planned parenthood, but you know,
also a sort of a talking piece, you know. Not
everything had to be in your face, you know, but
it could become a dialogue. So it started with just
twenty artists and UM we went to a small gallery
(03:46):
UM in Massachusetts, and then UM the project grew and
we're up to seventy artists. It went from Massachusetts to
Rhode Island, to Cincinnati, to Chicago, to Delaware and now
it's going to New York Jewelry Week to be in
front of a really big audience. And then thankfully I
(04:06):
have other galleries such as Rebecca's gallery, which are gonna
be taking it on in three So as the show
travels um we bring in other artists and each piece
that sells abortion goes to the artists in the gallery,
and then percent of each piece goes to Planned Parenthood. Rebecca,
how did you interpret the project? What did it mean
(04:26):
to you and why are you engaged? The way we
interpreted the project here in my studio was the right
to abortion is based on the fourteenth Amendment, which is
the right to privacy, and in this project, for me,
the flora represented the fourteenth Amendment, holding all of the
rights based on it, such as the right to abortion,
marriage equality, contraception access, same sex intimacy, and then the
(04:50):
vessel essentially holds the consequences of society based on this ruling.
And so I loved Sean's idea. I loved that, you know,
jewelry can be not just an expression, you know, a
fashionable expression, but it can be an expression, political expression.
(05:11):
And I think that you know, this being a project
that is so timely, certainly is a conversation piece. You know,
I'd love to talk to you both also about your
being artists. Rebecca, I know you're a renowned jeweler based
in Baltimore. Can you tell us a little bit about
(05:32):
your work in general and how you got started in
the field. Sure. Um, I attended Tyler School of Art,
UM I graduated from from there. I'm at It's Temple
Universities Art School in Philadelphia, and I UM I found
myself gravitating towards the metalsmithing studio UM. It was definitely
(05:53):
a serendipitous union. UM. I didn't expect to major in
jewelry making, but from there I went on to work
in the industry for a custom jeweler. UM. I was
planning on going to graduate school at Madison and decided
I just wanted to start my own business, and so
(06:15):
I wound up working for a custom jeweler in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin for about five years while I was building my
business at night basically, and since then I have the
collection that we make here UM in the studio in Baltimore.
You know, we use a lot of cad CAM, we
use a lot of three D printing. There's no UM
(06:37):
technique that we don't use here. We do a lot
of fabrication as well. Um, and we've changed the work
a lot. I've changed the work quite a bit over
the course of my career. Currently, I think that our
strongest work is the animal print work and the natural
forms that we're using a lot of nest forms, feather
(07:00):
forms at the monarch and the animal print pieces. I
think our strongest thus far fascinating. We'll have to learn
more about your creations, Seana. I know you likewise have
quite a following. How would you describe your jewelry and
how did you get started? I actually started when I
was thirteen. Wow, yes, many many many moons ago. Um.
(07:24):
I went to an art camp and came back. I
grew up in New York City. Um. You know. I
now nowadays a teenager could probably you know, learn to
fly a plane or you know, jump out of one.
But when I was a kid, there weren't many activities
such as this. Four kids, so I found, um, my
mother found a vocational school which still exists called Studio
(07:45):
Jewelers in Manhattan, and I was their only teenager. It
was mainly people who were learning to work in the
Diamond District and I would go in and they still
tease me about it, dropped my coat by the door,
you know, and be like I want to carve a bug,
so um, you know, and then I just continued. I
worked in UM, taught metalwork in Italy, came back out
(08:08):
a graduate degree, and have been making and teaching ever since.
Senecas one hundred women to hear. We'll be back after
this short break. Well, I'd like to know what it's
(08:31):
like working with other women, what it's been like on
this project, what made that collaboration special, and perhaps each
of you can give us a sense of that. For me,
I felt well, first of all, in our field, in
sort of the jewelry world, the art jewelry world, Um,
it's a it's a female dominant field. But what's really wonderful,
(08:53):
UM is I feel we're all very supportive of each other.
We all make space for each other, and um, competition
in my mind always seems more like a healthy competition, like, Wow,
that's so great. I need to make something great as well.
And that's how I've really seen this project evolve. Artists
have sort of jumped off of each other's ideas, being like, wow,
(09:16):
you've made something so original and different. I need to
do that, and been very supportive. I've had several artists
from different countries contact me to be a part of
the show, which is wonderful that they're also so upset
about what's going on in the United States. And UM,
it's just been a group of of of just a
lot of camaraderie, you know, just really um, we're all
(09:39):
coming together in this moment that's very distressing, and so
a lot of stories have been shared, you know. UM.
One of the artists in the group is UM, a
woman in her seventies who was raped as as a
young teenager, and you know, her sort of thinking was like,
oh my gosh, you know, I I could have been
pregnant and it wasn't legal then. And you know a
(10:00):
lot of other women have shared um pregnancy stories of
where things could have gone really wrong, you know, and
thank goodness, they weren't up against this new normal at
the time that they were um thinking about having children
or having them. I would say that the camaraderie is
really strong in this project. I did visit one of
(10:23):
the locations where the show was taking place in Delaware,
Rhos Beach actually, and in that gallery opening, there were
quite a few people visiting the show and the comments
from the visitors and the folks that were visiting the
gallery were really strong, very supportive, and thank you so
(10:45):
much for doing this. There are a lot of positive
comments and gratitude for the project. Mm hmm. Seanna, you'd
mentioned that there's been a lot that's been going on
in our country and world that's distressing, and I I wonder,
given this project and working together over the last year,
(11:06):
what gives you hope? And then maybe Rebecca you can
tell us. Also for me, I felt like I was
getting to a place where there was so much to
scream about on so many levels that I had to,
in my own little way, take a stance. And when
I sort of yelled out to my community, you know,
let's do something how about this, I was so um
(11:30):
just warmed my heart. How many artists said yes, please
count me in and really followed through. You know again,
I started with twenty and rupped over seventy. And artists
keep asking if they can join, which is wonderful, And
galleries keep reaching out to me and saying, hey, how
can I be a part of this? UM. So I
(11:50):
guess what it does sort of give me is that hope.
UM that yeah, you know, things do look dark in
many ways, but um, when we do come together and
you know, form different um you know, symbolic ways to
peacefully protests, that it can at least create a dialogue.
And I feel like that's uh the ultimate goal of
(12:11):
a project such as this, to raise some money and
create a dialogue. And obviously you have your creations, you
and your fellow jewelers as a major attraction as well.
Oh absolutely, And there's so much conversation around these objects because, um,
some of them are just beautiful and you just look
at them and you're like, what is this? And so
(12:33):
that becomes the dialogue. And then other pieces, um are
much more conceptual you know, or or very in your
face statements, and so that becomes the conversation. Um. But
they're all wearable, you know, and that's just really cool,
and a lot of the pieces have been purchased. I've
had people reach out about other pieces. So I like
(12:53):
the fact that, um, as people will walk around wearing
these art objects that you know, further conversations will be had.
Is there a site on the website where they can
be seen or at least some of them? Oh? Yes, Um,
so there is a a website called the plan b
Art Project, and there's also an Instagram page plan b
(13:19):
Art Project, and I have all of the work up
on those two sites. And how I've been doing it
is that UM the show will be traveling through and
each time UM the Show is at a new gallery,
I create hyperlinks with the artwork to the gallery where
the work can be purchased, and UM, you know, once
(13:41):
the gallery tour is over, any work that's remaining will
be up on a website for sale. I know these
works will be on display during New York Jewelry Week,
which is certainly a major jewelry show that runs through
November twentieth. I think yes, if people can come to
New York or to the other cities where the Plan
(14:04):
b r Project is touring, you just mentioned some ways
in which they can participate to an expand on that. Sure, UM, well,
if you go to UM www dot plan b art
project dot com, we have all of the artwork posted
and if one does not want to buy a piece
(14:25):
of artwork, the prices range from fifty dollars all the
way up to thousands of dollars. One could always make
a donation to their local or national Plan parenthood. Well said,
and I am at that place where we have to
bring this conversation to a close. But I can't tell
you how interesting it's been to meet each of you
(14:48):
in this discussion, Shanna Burke and Rebecca Myers, who are
linking their extraordinary artistic talent as jewelers with a cause,
and in this case, the beneficiary of the cause will
be planned parenthood. Thank you so much to both of you.
Thank you for having us. It's so inspiring when women
(15:11):
artists work together, especially for a cause. There are three
things I took from that conversation. First, each of us
can make a difference in our own unique way for
the causes we care about. Shawna blythe work and Rebecca
Myers and the other women connected with the Plan b
(15:32):
Art project are speaking up in the language they know best,
jewelry design. Second, when we do speak up, we should
make sure we are fostering conversation and communication. As Shauna says,
that's the ultimate goal of the Plan b Art Project,
(15:53):
to create dialogue. Finally, it's wonderful to see what happened
when women collaborate. Women in the jewelry world tend to
be supportive of each other, says Shawna, and each woman's
successful design spurs her colleagues on to greater creativity. If
(16:15):
you're interested in learning more about this campaign, go to
plan b art project dot com and tune in next
time to hear about our next featured woman and discover
why she's one of Seneca's one Women to Hear. Seneca's
one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between the
(16:37):
Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support
from founding partner Pung. Have a Great Day,