2. Charmed, I'm sure

Introducing: Charm City

Baltimore is one of the few principal characters in the story of my residency. It’s a complex character and it’s compelling me to learn about it, meet its people, and understand myself within the context of Baltimore’s story. 

What I am here to do is learn about the city and serve it. A city I’m in a romance with and that I now want to make jewelry for.  A city that has charmed me. And a city that has slowly revealed to me, in its own time, its pain and history of violence. 

I had a whole entry started about my first week in residency, about magical objects, and what it means to be a transplant in so-called “Charm City” Baltimore, and I’ll get to that, but this weekend the city hosted the New/Next Film Festival and I just got home from seeing “The Body Politic” a poignant, and ultimately uplifting, documentary about our current Mayor, Brandon Scott and his relentless efforts to create peace in Baltimore, the city with the 5th highest homicide rate in the US- so I’ll start here. 

I’m certainly starting on a different note than I had planned, and this entry is longer and was harder to write than planned, but here we are so thanks for joining me. 

Mayor Brandon Scott on “The Body Politic,” directed by Baltimorean Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough, movie poster at The Charles Theater, the oldest movie theater in Baltimore.

While there is a real movement towards peace, (with a 32% reduction in homicides year to date) there is, and has been, violence. I saw the documentary the day after a candlelight vigil was held for 16 year old Bryson Hudson, a recent life tragically lost to gun violence.  And also, Baltimore is affectionately known as “Charm City” and my residency at the BJC is a product of being charmed by Baltimore myself. 

The dissonance is palpable. 

In my first week at the BJC I had the opportunity to bring my inquiry about what it means to live in “Charm City'' to four kind and talented teenagers employed through the YouthWorks program at the Mayor’s Office. YouthWorks provides 5-week summer job opportunities to youth across Baltimore and The Baltimore Jewelry Center hired 4 teens, Jaylynn, Lynea, Myelle, and Sawyer, to learn jewelry making and create works to be sold at the end of their experience at a local farmers market. (Check them out on Instagram @BJCYouth!)

My residency began at the very tail end of their experience, and their instructor Molly invited me to lead a workshop introducing them to my practice and in turn, I invited them to join me. 

We started the workshop by creating a mind map of plastic. What comes to mind when they think of plastic? And how do they feel about plastic? What was mentioned most was plastic’s harmfulness, permanence, usefulness and recyclability- qualities that left everyone with mixed feelings about the material. “It’s confusing, I know it’s bad for the environment and I get sad when I see a seal with plastic around its neck, but when I need to carry something, a plastic bag is so useful and helpful” said one teen. 

We learned about the origins of plastic as oil from fossils deep in the earth and after taking them through my own creation process, step by step, we shifted to a collaborative exercise.

Using books I found in the BJC library I shared with them some examples of the oldest forms of adornment rooted in faith, intention and magic: amulets, talismans, and charms. 

The BJC Library and its books on ancient and contemporary jewelry

While these words are sometimes used interchangeably and overlap in their meanings, I appreciate distinction and generally understand these objects as being created with different intentions: an amulet protects against, a talisman is charged with a particular energy or intention for the wearer and a (lucky) charm attracts luck and good fortune. 

Books displaying Persian (left) and Afghani (right and left) Amulets with texts about Tibetan Buddhist and Islamic Amulets (left).

Charm has several definitions, a quality, an object, or spell- something magical in nature that is able to delight and bring pleasure. Before charms were jewelry objects, they were songs: the latin root of charm is “carmen” which means song, something I discovered while researching the sacred and magical history of song, a deep dive that supported my own song practice and that gave birth to my interactive “Songs as Spells” workshop which debuted shortly after I moved to Charm City myself.

So on to Charm City. I shared with the young jewelers that when I “accidentally” moved to Baltimore in October of 2021 the city seemed to open itself up to me. My entire exploration of plastic waste as gemstone jewelry was made possible here. The month I moved, I made my first gem. And as my experiments grew so did my needs, where could I find a space to continue making? *poof* An affordable studio in an iconic arts building popped up. And where could I learn to set these gems in metal? Two blocks from my new art studio was the Baltimore Jewelry Center where I submerged myself into my metalsmithing education and was welcomed into a caring community with open arms.  

My experience was indeed a charmed one but where did this “Charm City” nickname come from? The teens were all familiar with it and agreed that Baltimore was full of vibrant culture and hidden wonders that take a particular curiosity and will to discover, but no one knew how this name came to be.. 

In a 2018 article in Baltimore Magazine titled “Are we still Charm City?” it’s revealed that the name “Charm City” was the product of a 1974 marketing campaign initiated by then Mayor, William Donald Schaefer to combat more derogatory nicknames like “a loser’s town” as industry withered and folks were leaving in droves for the suburbs. So the campaign focused on the town's “history and unspoiled charm” and Baltimore became Charm City, USA.   But, remember that dissonance?

“Even then, in the 1970s, people of color were not oblivious to the nickname’s apparent flaws: ‘I remember when it happened, we all looked at each other like, ‘Charm City?!’’ says local artist Joyce J. Scott. ‘It was a glossing over.’”

No kidding, this name was given just 4 years before Nina Simone’s version of Randy Newman’s song ‘Baltimore’ was released. The chorus of that song is “Oh, Baltimore, Ain't it hard just to live?”

Joyce J. Scott, photo courtesy of John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

I felt relieved and grateful to hear Joyce J. Scott’s voice in this article. Scott is an incredible transdisciplinary Baltimorean and a complete inspiration to me.  She has made a point of staying in her hometown of Baltimore and creating art for its people. Not only that, she’s a jeweler and her exhibition catalogue sits in the gallery of the Baltimore Jewelry Center. I encouraged our YouthWorks participants to look into her. We started talking about this other side of Baltimore and the teens’ experience of it as a violent place and how my experience as a white and privileged transplant differs from theirs.

Joyce J. Scott’s Book “Messages” on display at the BJC

“‘Of course, this is a charmed city,’ says Scott. “But I see charm as multifarious—a giant, amorphous, ever-changing thing. It’s really up to the people who are living in it, who are of it, to constantly redefine it.’”

And so, with these four teens, and their instructor Molly, we answered Scott’s invitation and did just that. Using the framework of Buddhist Metta meditation practice (loving kindness) each teen crafted their own mantras:

May I be more________

May Baltimore be more ________

May all beings be more ________

We took our time to craft our mantras, one teen getting stuck on Baltimore: “Be more? I want Baltimore to be less, be less trigger happy!” What might the opposite of that look like? They landed on “peaceful.”

Left: The BJC recycling bin with plastic packaging —Right: the plastic we meditated

And, then in meditation together, we infused their intentions into plastic waste (sourced either from their homes or the BJC) that I will transform into Charm City charms–jewelry objects of good fortune for the wearer, the city, and all beings. 

Feeling peaceful themselves after our 2 mini meditations, I hope that they can return to these simple techniques, breathing, focusing on sound, and growing love and happiness in the body whenever they need a moment of peace.

One of the teen’s worksheets with completed Mantras reading: May I be more Assertive, May Baltimore be more Peaceful, May all beings be more Accepting

We ended the experience with a group discussion, a conversation that actually continued among a few of them after the workshop completed. Still grappling with the complexities of their experience I overheard: “why would anyone move here? I want to leave” so I popped back out from my workbench to listen and ask some more questions. Sawyer answered: “Baltimore has so many resources and opportunities and good things and also, people are just too trigger happy, people are really getting shot for things that could just be a conversation” Behind her I noticed our plastic mind-map and among a sea of red words the only thing written in green caught my eye, “Mixed feelings”. “Would you say your feelings for the city are mixed?” I asked “yes, exactly.” The conversation evolved to her hopes and dreams as she prepares to enter her senior year of high school, but my heart was still holding the weight of this dissonance. Now that I’ve seen “The Body Politic” I look forward to the film making its way into the school system, as I sat watching in the theater I so badly wished the BJC YouthWorks participants were sitting and watching with me.

From right: Sawyer, Lynea, Jaylynn, Myelle, and instructor Molly selling their work at the Farmers Market

Days after the workshop, in exceptional summer heat, the teens debuted their creations at the farmer’s market where I came to support them.  I instantly fell in love with… you guessed it, CHARMS by Myelle!  I purchased three charms and strung them on the same chain:

“A smile for you”

“Good luck”

“Happy”

As I navigate, and soak in, the nuances of my protagonist Baltimore, I intend to wear these charms every day I’m in the studio allowing these 3 wishes to bring my efforts, and the efforts of everyone here, good luck, smiles, and happiness.

Until next time with love and gratitude,

Jeanne Marie

Three black resin charms on a copper ball chain that read: Good Luck, HAPPY, A Smile For You - Made by Myelle