Biography from the Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery

Albion Smith learned to weld as a young boy in his father’s sheet metal shop. For a time, he lived in a school bus to save money and support his desire to make one-of-a-kind custom sculptures. Because space in the bus was limited, Smith scaled down his pieces and abandoned welded steel to become a silversmith. He enjoys the complexity of silversmithing and makes jewelry, watch cases, goblets, and teapots that display a variety of semiprecious stones.