Master: Martha Hopkins Apprentice: Kerry Stagmer Baltimore City/Howard County Master-Apprentice Grant Recipients 2008
Master Silversmith Martha Hopkins continues her father’s craft, prized since the heyday of Baltimore’s dominance of the silver trade. Although one of only a few artisans who still hand-hammers silver— which is clearly much more time-consuming than mass manufacturing, as most of today’s silver products are made— Hopkins has moved into the realm of modern design. Stagmer, who has been making swords for 25 years, turned to Hopkins to add new dimension to his work through the delicate art of silver ‘chasing.’ From his first lesson, he learned that every hammer blow counts, inside and out. “It’s important to keep these traditions alive,” Hopkins said. “There’s too much of our skills and our tradition that’s no longer in existence.”
