My team from a past gold prospecting trip, circa 2009
Dear Readers,
It is not often that I break form to engage you directly asking for assistance, but social media being what it is, and a network being only as strong as those who comprise it, I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. I have an interesting and exciting project that I am putting together and I need your help.
This June (or possibly July) I plan to lead a team of six people on a week-long gold prospecting trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota in order to extract the material necessary to create two wedding bands. The group will consist of myself (trip organizer, gold prospecting enthusiast, metalsmith, and writer), a photographer, a videographer, a jeweler (Todd Pownell of TAP Studios and Gallery M) and his wedding ring clients.
Rings by Todd Pownell, who will be the jeweler for this project.
The purpose of the trip will be to share the experience of jewelry makers and consumers as they re-connect with the top of the precious metal supply chain. The project will document artistically and ethically produced wedding bands from start to finish while demonstrating artisanal scale mining. The primary goal of the project is to raise awareness about metal mining and material sourcing. The project will frame these activities in relation to a holistic and sustainable jewelry making practice, one in which there is supply chain transparency. The project will be published through several prominent media outlets – which I cannot reveal just yet as I am still in negotiations – but I am very excited by the entities signed on so far.
In order to make this project a reality I need to find a couple who would like to mine the gold for their wedding bands. There are a few conditions:
1. They must participate in prospecting for the gold, which means they will accompany us on the trip to South Dakota. We are leaving by car from the Mid-west so they must either be located there or willing to travel to there for the trip.
2. They must agree to have Todd Pownell make their rings (but honestly his work is really tight, so I think of this as more of a bonus than a condition).
3. They must be willing to be documented for the project. This includes written, audio, video, and photographic documentation.
If you or anyone you know would be interested in participating please have them contact me ASAP. I can also field any questions as well.
gabriel.craig@gmail.com
If you can't participate and you don't know anyone who could, but you think the project sounds interesting and you want to let people know that we are currently looking for participants, please share via twitter, facebook, etc.
Thanks in advance. I look forward to producing interesting content for you in the future.
Best,
-Gabriel
