Born and brought up in the creative environment of West Cornwall artist and craftsman Shelley Anderson first started toying with metal in his dad’s garage. This led him on to train in Silversmithing and Metal Fabrication at Falmouth College of Art.

Shelley has since gained recognition and funding to further his work in restoration from the York Conservation Society. He has also been awarded a scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust.

Shelley uses new and innovative techniques to compliment his traditional metal working skills. Inspired by roaming the coastline and landscape of West Cornwall, he lives and works in the industrial fishing port of Newlyn. Which you can see aspects of in his work.

By working in different metals, and recycled materials he allows the end result to be free, spare and organic, sometimes dramatic and sometimes understated. Always allowing his hand crafted materials to speak for themselves.

Understanding the science, techniques and skills that go into producing a piece interest me as much as the finished article. I love the process from inspiration to ideas and sometimes failures. Learning as much as possible along the way

For eight years I worked at The Copper Works in Newlyn following my training in Metalsmithing. Metalsmithing began to mean to me controlling the way metal moves, and I started to become interested in moving away from this discipline.

At The Copper Works we used a copper tank to quench hot metal, more and more dust and metal being added year by year. One summer the tank dried out and in the bottom, grown from patina, an array of vibrant colours were revealed. Being surrounded by brown copper tones for so long I remember the surprise and thrill of discovering these colours growing from that dark environment.

This was the spark of inspiration that led me to the process I use now. Like how landscapes or coastlines are created, I wanted an outcome that was a combination of a few simple elements that I could use to make something that to me looks as though it has grown itself.

Like the colours revealing themselves at the bottom of the metal tank, once created by man they have been reclaimed by nature like the carcasses of decommissioned fishing boats or rusty mining relics. Battered and scarred and eaten away by the sea.

The mechanical and industrial workings of my home town Newlyn, its quarry and its harbour have deeply influenced my work. I shape sheet bronze by hand, working with the metals natural movement. Like water tension, every stretch or shrink affects the rest of the metal. Patina’s layered over time creating an ancient and organic effect. As chemical reactions take place, set in resin are the crystals that have formed like barnacles or layers of flaked forgotten paint. The colours are reminiscent of Newlyn and it’s coastline.

For this process the designs to me are not so important before I start work. An idea takes its path and is worked on over months, my thoughts layered onto a piece becomes more complex over time than something I have planned out from the start. I sometimes am asked what a certain piece means to me, I go through a love/hate relationship with each one through the months it spends in my studio and it can take time to see it through fresh eyes.