Interview by Vidabeth Bensen and Forrest Greenslade April 7, 2022
Darcy Szeremi will make her Chatham Studio Tour debut the first two weekends in December 2022, but her journey started in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her father was an entomologist at LSU. The family soon moved to Athens, Georgia, where he continued his research at UGA. It was there that Darcy acquired her life-long love affair with metal. “I was one of four daughters, and my parents didn’t quite know what to do with me. So at 17, they arranged for me to apprentice with a family friend who was a metalsmith. It was then that I realized metalwork offered infinite paths forward.”
She studied art at the University of Georgia, specializing in jewelry and metalwork and furthered her studies at CSUS in Sacramento. After her studies, she worked at Autumn Studios, a custom jewelry store in Athens, Georgia for six years refining her skills.
Darcy is primarily a fabricator working directly with sheet and wire. She works with sterling silver, and occasionally with 14K gold, copper and bronze. She utilizes many aspects of metalwork-raising, forging, piercing, forming, chasing, appliqué and more. Combining different metals is referred to as ‘married’ metal. “The media is limitless which is one of the reasons why I love it!”
Over the more than 40 years that she has practiced her craft, Darcy Szeremi has exhibited in Georgia, California, Kansas, Wyoming, Florida, New York, and North Carolina. Locally, she has shown work at Liquid Amber, Cocoon Gallery, NC Crafts Gallery and Pittsboro Arts Gallery.
“My inspiration comes from all of aspects of life – joy, sorrow, nature, animals, dreams, etc. Art emotes feelings and I hope mine makes people happy. I have explored several media and always return to metalwork. It must be a passion!”
