ARTIST PROFILE

"The essential quality of my work is harmony of form. I want my sculptures to stir the observer’s inner sense of beauty. To be peaceful in their simplicity. I want my jewelry to soothe. To be elegant, casual, and comfortable – like fine silk and soft blue jeans."

Nancy's passion for metalsmithing began over 35 years ago. She was captivated by the age old process of forming the metal directly with hammers. "The hammer is simply an extension of my hand..." Her exploration of the traditional smithing techniques, raising holloware and forging, started with traditional vessels forms. Soon she began to push the envelope both technically and visually, leaving the rotation form and functional form behind. Asymmetrical table top sculptures and wallpieces were a natural progression for her nature based aesthetic. "Natural forms have always fascinated and excited me: plant forms, earth forms, human forms."

Sculptural jewelry was the next step, taking the sculpture off the pedestal and putting it on then body. Nancy did a series of one of a kind sculptural bracelets over the course of two years in the mid 1980’s. The tremendous success of this direction encouraged her to repeat the designs, adding earrings, neckpieces, and pins to her line of bracelets. Over the last 20 years the line has grown with over 80 different designs, each made in a variety of sizes, available in both a Sterling & 18K combination and solid 18K gold.

To create each piece, flat patterns are cut from sheets of gold and silver and hammered systematically over specialized tools. Once a piece has been hammered into its final form, it's filed and sanded, then buffed to a high polish. This fine finish accentuates the simple sculptural lines of her jewelry.

In the fall of 2006 Nancy started on a new exciting path; hand-wrought bronze sculptures. Her new work, made from hot-formed 1/8" thick bronze plate, is a culmination of her 35 years of experience. This type of forming, with hammers on such massive sheets of metal, produces works that have both the physical and visual strength usually found only in a bronze casting and the fine linear fluidity that can only be accomplished when a skilled metalsmith works directly with the metal. The surface has a rich heat patina while the edges are high polished, defining the forms with reflected light. Every centimeter of these pieces are hammered many times as the form is considered and perfected. The subconscious becomes conscious then intuitive. A lifetime of studying nature’s most exquisite forms, the geometry of nature, and the forms that physiologically feel good to the human eye, is drawn upon in the creation of these new works

Nancy Linkin’s studio is in coastal Maine, surrounded by a lovely perennial garden and lush Maine woods, rich in the natural forms that have inspired the fluid grace found in her work.