Metalworking Facilities
As part of its mission to preserve and advance the fine art and craft of metalwork, the Museum features a fully operational blacksmith shop and sand-casting foundry and employs four full-time artists. The Museum also has several 3 - 12 month artist-in-residence positions and a two-year blacksmith and museum internship position.
Schering-Plough Smithy
Open to the public since 1985, the Schering-Plough Smithy offers visitors the opportunity to see blacksmiths at work. Here special workshops are held by visiting artists as well as regularly scheduled classes.
Commissioned special projects have included a weathervane for the Memphis Zoo, a sterling silver coffee and tea service for the trident nuclear submarine the U.S.S. Tennessee, a suit of Etruscan armor and weapons for the Memphis Wonders International Cultural Series, and trophies for the Memphis in May International Barbecue Cooking Contest.
The versatile staff has worked on a variety of restorations including the Graceland gates, the statue of Elvis Presley now housed in the Memphis Visitors Center, cemetery gates for the City of Pontiac, Illinois, bronze leaves for the Oklahoma State Capitol, and made new bumpers for the tractors used by the Memphis Park Commission.
Lawler Foundry
Stanley Lawler, president of Birmingham, Alabama-based Lawler Machine and Foundry, provided the funding for the foundry located west of the Schering-Plough Smithy. The foundry houses melt furnaces, a kiln and molding equipment for green sand casting.
Lawler Machine and Foundry was founded in 1933 in Birmingham, and is a leading supplier of both cast and forged iron components to the ornamental iron industry. Lawler Machine and Foundry also cast the railings for the Riverbluff Pavilion, site of many weddings and concert performances on the Mississippi River bluff.
Shop Staff
More Information
Contact the Smithy staff at 901-774-6380 for information regarding commissions and repairs. Book a tour and get a demonstration by a professional metalsmith!