Earlier this year, more than 100 local jewelry artists received bags filled with discarded plastic bangles, mismatched earrings and tangled chains. "It's a great opportunity for experimentation," Virginia Commonwealth University assistant professor Susie Ganch says of the "Radical Jewelry Makeover," a project aimed at transforming unwanted, broken, outdated and mismatched jewelry into wearable works of art. Jewelry students from VCU and the Visual Arts Center, along with professional jewelers in the region, have been tinkering with the donated pieces since January. On April 4, the Visual Arts Center invited the public to view and purchase the upcycled creations. "We take something that is unwanted and try to turn it around to make it something wanted," Ganch says. 353-0094 or radicaljewelrymakeover.org .
