Sarah Denny's artist's statement
Viewing Objects with an eye for Tradition
Sarah Denny is a silversmith committed to hand making silver vessels using traditional hammering techniques. Her work consists of one-off, sculptural objects, which emphasise the beauty of form in silver.
Enthused by the natural growth and development within her country surroundings of North Yorkshire, Sarah strives to create finished pieces that are sophisticated, beautiful and sometimes curious in form.
"Objects should be considered thoroughly - inspected from different angles. I like to be able to direct someone’s viewpoint and to highlight various aspects of a form. I believe that as feeling humans we need to continually empathise and respond to the objects around us which can make us wonder or smile - to be able to appreciate simple things such as shape or composition - or merely to enjoy the glance of a beautiful curve!"
Sarah enthusiastically believes in the importance of maintaining traditional smithing techniques, aspiring to promote a complete appreciation of how an object evolves, through material quality and the hand skill of hammer work. Her methods of hand raising can often be extremely labour intensive in terms of physical effort and time scale as every object is hammered entirely from flat sheet. Form is sometimes tested and explored in its model making stage using a base metal. The manipulation of metal is developed further still in its silver form, where the complex fabrications must be carefully considered.
Sarah believes that her thoroughness and dedication of such a traditional practice is a great strength which proudly differentiates her work.
