UNC Wilmington graduate student Melina Reed responded to the scheduled lapse of the N.C. film incentive package by designing a tangible reminder of the local creative community. Her “Filmington” jewelry pieces feature a stamped pendant and a small metal gear to represent the network of film professionals and supporters. The detailed, thoughtful and poetic elements of this design embody Reed’s talent and personality as both an English teaching assistant and a jewelry business owner.

In 2012, Reed transformed her hobby for metalwork into a business, Red Canary Designs, selling items such as leather cuffs, belt buckles and copper or enamel earrings at Urban Revival at 606 Castle St. Her first name Melina, she explained, means “canary” in Greek.

“I wanted [the business name] to be something personal but not just my name,” Reed said, “I’m not really like a formal artist. [The name] has a little more personality to it.”

Many of her designs are rooted in personal events, like the Filmington pendants. Reed’s closest local friends and boyfriend work in the film industry, so she follows the news about the lapsing of the incentives package (set to begin Dec. 31), which would dramatically diminish production and cause many film workers to relocate. 

“The people I care about are busting [themselves] in this community,” she said. “I’m not campaigning to change anything. It’s more of a solidarity thing—to say, we’re with you. It’s something for film people and non-film people to remember that Wilmington has been as a film community.”

Likewise, Reed tentatively plans to work with UNCW’s Women’s Studies and Resource Center to create similar pendants as part of a fundraiser. She’s eager to work with previous professor and director of the WSRC, Katie Peel, for a possible pre-holiday sale in November.

Peel purchased a Filmington pendant after spotting them on Reed’s Facebook page, which continues to be the best resource for the business.  

“It’s not a small thing to be a grad student. On top of that, she’s creative and makes these beautiful things… I’m in awe,” Peel said. “She’s a fine critical thinker, but applies that critical thinking to her everyday life, for her. It goes beyond the classroom. She lives it, and that’s really awesome.”

Like Peel, other customers and friends sense Reed’s devotion and happily support her efforts. She’s sold more than 100 Filmington pendants at Urban Revival, making it her best-selling item.

“I think the word’s gotten out,” said Steven Fox, Urban Revival co-owner. “A lot of people have requested one. It’s brought a lot of people to this area and this business.”

Fox describes Reed’s work as edgy, but her personality as caring and gentle—she’s a sensitive artist who is most motivated by her mother’s old paintings. This contrast attracts customers of all ages to her designs.  Reed also set prices at affordable rates (the Filmington pendants are only $5). She finds herself using “cheaper” materials for practical reasons and because she likes the earthy tone.

“I used to call my pieces ‘tiny universes,’” Reed said, “because there’s always a theme that ties texture and color—enamel—and words together in my pieces… They have a meaning to me as the artist, but they always take on a new meaning depending on who wears them.”

Fittingly, Reed’s work as student, instructor and artist manifests from a love of words (even her cat’s name originates from a play on language—Catun, a combination of cat and kitten). For example, Reed once studied John Ashbery’s notable poem “Some Trees.” Inspired by his work, she made a necklace with leafless trees formed out of the word “some.”

Though, her favorite piece was a commissioned project. She designed the wedding rings for Cape Fear Community College professor Marlowe Moore Fairbanks, who inspired Reed to teach English after Reed completed a class about argument-based research.

“She really encouraged us to create our own voice,” Reed said, “which I felt related to the art.”

After an encouraging experience at CFCC, where Reed also took her first metalwork classes, she hopes to teach English at a community college after graduation. Until then, she will continue operating Red Canary Designs and hopes she can develop a career practicing both education and art.

“I seriously never know what to expect when I start with a piece of metal,” Reed said. “It’s like I start hammering, [and] my mind goes somewhere else—euphoria, I guess?—and what comes out is never exactly what I expect. I guess, just like my pedagogy as a teacher, I am process-oriented as a metalworker.”