Archie Smith

As I studied and taught history for over thirty years, again and again I came upon people in the past who had created "things of beauty". To me the truly awesome wonder of this is that artists are able, through their creation of "things of beauty" to give pleasure and joy to people irrespective and independently of their own existence. We still thrill to the beauty created by Mozart, Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and they have been gone for centuries. My instruments are my small contribution to the body of "things of beauty". For my instruments, I select the most beautiful, highly figured woods available. I split, then bookmatch the pieces to create mirror image effect that is often quite striking. This, together with the inlaying of various materials, provides an outlet for the artistic muses which otherwise find difficulty expressing themselves within the confined acoustical requirements of musical instruments. The artistic muses further express themselves in the "one-of-a-kind" wall display pieces that I have designed for some of the instruments. While many have purchased my work as art simply to be viewed, I would point out that my instruments are functional art. difficulty expressing themselves within the confined acoustical requirements of musical