[Carolyn Tillie]

He isn't well known as far as jewelers are concerned. But he had a very influential career in the training of many notable artists over the years and while I am definitely not one of the famous, I was one of the very last to experience the guy that was "Al Pine." He was known for wearing dingy, battered overalls with Oxford shirts and wingtip shoes. By the time I came around, he was mostly tired of teaching as he put his energies into selling tools. Most of the tools that I still use were acquired from Al.

He traveled extensively and was a Fullbright Scholar in the 1950s. One of my best memories occurred before I was actually a student of his; I had received a scholarship to attend Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, under Philip Fike who was known for a expansive investigation into the history and production of both the fibula and niello. Al had enrolled in the school's blacksmithing course -- not because he needed to learn anything, but just to hang out with fellow blacksmiths during the summer. One night, Philip and Al took a handful of us students off campus to a lobster dinner. Over cracked lobster and fried clams, we students sat enraptured as we heard stories of the history of American metalsmithing, post WWII, from two of the guys of were more than witnesses; they were directly responsible for much of what shaped the direction of metalsmithing and jewelry in the 1960s, '70s, and onward.

Thanks, Al. It was great knowing you.

A brief biography