Benjamin C Dearnley

Born in 1964 in Salisbury into a musical family Ben Dearnley moved to London in 1968 and grew up in the City as father was organist to St Paul`s Cathedral form 1968 to 1989 Dr Christopher Dearnley.

Ben used to play in the Cathedral and was influenced by the stone masons at an early age. "I remember standing looking (I must have been about 7 or 8 at that time) as they cut huge blocks of Portland stone and being stuck in awe of the nature and skills of these masons". This was enhanced by the hours spent within the Majestic surrounding of every nook and cranny of one of the worlds finest Cathedrals: being witness to the great works of art set in bronze, stone, glass and mosaics.

It was also at that time when you could get a day ticket for the buses for 5 pence and he would often spend weekends jumping on and off the old classic route masters all over London in mad games of cunning dexterous chase. "Back then the traffic was much faster and you had to be really quick to catch a moving bus"! All the while he`s taking in the inner workings of this amazing City.

The next 3 decades Ben Dearnley spent studying and working in the city as an instrument technician to become a specialist in the workings of the saxophone.

1987-2003 was spent working with the instrument makers and suppliers T.W.Howarth who have one of those quirky old school stores just off Baker Street. "These years were to nurture my fine detail skills and the chance to develop friendships with some of the UK`s finest jazz saxophonists".

A select few I am working with today by way of commissioning a piece of new music

Deciding to take up sculpture full time, I eventually made the transition into full time education at Camberwell College of Arts London, doing a degree in sculpture.

This meant giving up many things and totally changing the way I lived. I moved to north London and lived on a narrow boat in the Lee valley, commuting to and fro on my motorbike, (the only way to travel around London these Days) and totally down sized my existence. This was all made possible by the help given to me by my first steps to become a sculptor back in 1995 with the good fortune of being able to study with a master carver of the past Mr Les Sandham, who worked notably with Jacob Epstein in the 1950`s.

Leaving college in 2006 with my degree! I decided to travel to Italy to study further, to make my pilgrimage to the heart of the mountains of Carrara where the marble is quarried, cut and transformed into the world`s finest sculptures. For it is here where I finally began to develop my relationship with this precious stone.

2007 was spent in these mountains and within the studios of Pietrasnta with
Marco Giannoni and his team, Niccola, Fabio, Francesco and of course the amazing Mori (70+and still going strong) and further south in southern Tuscany with Nigel Konstam at the Verrocchio Arts Centre.
To date my studies continue with each new piece I undertake and I am finding the current series of "Modern Day Heroes" stretching my understanding and response with each new athlete I work with. Along side this I am developing collaborations with graffiti artists form London to Bristol which is taking our current understanding to a new level.

The musical collaborations with Courtney Pine, Iain Ballamy, Andy Sheppard and James Morton bringing a crossover of creativity, all of which makes for a rich time for me right now. Rich is meant in the purest term as I am living my dream and doing the thing I was destined to do?.and loving every dance that comes my way