Award-winning art forged from health scare

Sam Sherborne said his sculpture Staying Alive aimed to bring some humour to his experience of illness

A serious health scare inspired a Sheffield artist to create a set of award-winning sculptures which have gone on display in a new exhibition.

Sam Sherborne, 62, survived an infection after undergoing an operation to treat prostate cancer four years ago.

The blacksmith, who worked on his statues from his forge in the beer cellar of a former pub, has now showcased pieces inspired by the health scare at the Cooper Gallery in Barnsley.

"Making these things took a long, long time and if I was making them for a trivial reason I would have struggled to put the hours into making them that I did," he said.

While Mr Sherborne's 2020 operation was successful in removing the cancer, he lost a lot of blood and in the days afterwards became increasingly unwell.

Doctors were unsure whether he had sepsis or pneumonia as antibiotics and other treatments failed to have an effect.

But he said a surgeon came in to work on his day off to "shake things up" and set him on the road to recovery.

One of the artworks, Sulky Arrogant Saves My Life, is based on his original view of his surgeon's manner.

"I found him sulky and arrogant. Now I realise he was probably just overworked," he said.

Sam Sherborne won the Cooper Prize for his work last year

Mr Sherborne's sculptures are crafted in the cellar of the former Vulcan pub in north-east Sheffield, which closed in the early 1970s and was almost completely destroyed by a gas explosion a few years later.

The artist, originally from Bristol, won the regional Cooper Prize for his work last year.

He said his illness had been the "driving force" behind his recent art.

"Rather than feeling bitterness, I was able to process the experience and now overall I’m grateful," he added.

Mr Sherborne's workshop is based in the former beer cellar of a closed pub in Sheffield

The show features five pieces that chart Mr Sherborne's illness, one of which is called Staying Alive.

Mr Sherborne said that by borrowing the Bee Gees' track title, he was able to "bring some levity" to the situation.

Other works reflected his upbringing in a "dysfunctional family" and his ideas around issues including climate change.

He added: "Even with the autobiographical pieces, the stories behind them are universal.

"People can sometimes feel like they’re the only person in the world who has experienced something out of the ordinary, but hopefully art helps to show lots of people have been through this."

The exhibition opened on 2 November and runs until the end of March.

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