April Third Friday marked the second meeting in a series of metalsmith workshops by jewelry line Reesing Design, held at the front yard of community garden Growhouse.
“We want to create more opportunities to engage and inspire,” said Kenny Barrett, co-founder of Growhouse, located on Sixth and Garfield streets.
The goal of the metalsmith workshops is to show the community the importance of handmade work from local artists, according to Christine Reesing, who sells her jewelry under the Reesing Design name. These workshops offer a behind-the-scenes look at how the jewelry for sale in the GROWop Handmade + Found — the vintage store on the Growhouse lot — is made.
In 2008, the lot where Growhouse stands was completely vacant. Barrett, along with his friends, decided to start a community garden. Growhouse grew little by little until it turned into what it is today.
Next, GROWop, a cooperative retail space that is open to any creative person who wants to involve their specialties, came into existence. There are currently around 30 people involved in GROWop, including Christine Reesing, who is one of the jewelers.
Reesing, an ASU alumna with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and metal, is an art instructor for the Boys & Girls Club of America. She wanted to branch out because working with metals can be dangerous around children.
Her interest in jewelry making came at a very young age when she lived across the street from a bead store, she said. Reesing mostly work with metals and describes her creations as “abstract and conceptual.”
She said she is fascinated by anatomy and finds a way to use scientifically accurate cell structures to make something beautiful and intriguing to look at. Reesing is inspired by jeweler Kim Nikolaev, whom she completed a summer apprenticeship with.
Reesing, who has worked with the boutique for about three years, teamed up with Barrett to form this event. Having talked about this idea for a year before actually committing to it, Reesing decided to just go for it.
“I want to offer different skills at each workshop that are interchangeable. So you won’t be behind if you didn’t come the first one,” Reesing said.
The first workshop in the metalsmith series, held on the third Friday of March inside GROWop, was a success according to Reesing. It was her first time teaching an adult class. The workshop focused on hammering, which is a technique used for creating textures in metal.
About six participants — twice as many as the first workshop — showed up for the second workshop, so the project was moved to the outside Growhouse area. Reesing focused the second workshop around teaching how to pierce metal by cutting out shapes and designs to create jewelry and art. After three hours everyone walked away with a piece of jewelry.
“I want every workshop to be a little bit different so that the people taking more than one can learn something new from each workshop,” she said.
Tina Bolt received an email from a friend about the event and took interest in it. As a data coordinator, she spends around eight hours on a computer and was happy to get away from that and create a bracelet with her hands.
“Once everyone got comfortable talking and getting into the zone it was great seeing the progress of being timid to jumping into the project,” Bolt said.
After touching base with the hammering taught in the first workshop, Reesing gave a presentation on how to assemble a jeweler’s saw and the proper way to pierce metal while breaking the minimal amount of the saw blades.
The six participants used blanks, which are a piece of metal that is already cut out ready to be formed into wearable jewelry. After instructions, the participants dove into the materials and began experimenting on their own with hammering patterns or stenciling designs. People passed around samples to get ideas of what to pierce.
Tim Ness saw the event on the GROWop Facebook page. His favorite aspect of the workshop was the interactivity.
“It was nice to do something other than being a spectator. It’s something new to try and you get to take something home,” Ness said.
The next workshop in this series is scheduled for May 16. The workshop is expected to focus on riveting, or stringing metals together using wire.
Contact the reporter at Allyson.Gerrard@asu.edu
