Graduate of New Milford High School, New Milford, CT. Class of 1998. Clinton Smith has been creating art in the forms of paperweights, blown glass, sculptural, and lampworked glass for the last 20 years. Smith was raised in Litchfield County, CT, and became interested in glass, at the age of 19 when he visited a small glass studio in Webatuck Craft Village in New York. After a two year apprenticeship, Smith worked in several other local shops in New York and Connecticut before becoming a full-time gaffer at Gartner Blade in Ashley Falls, MA. Smith has been with Gartner Blade for 16 years now.

As a self-taught lampworker, Smith had experimented with various lampworking techniques finding the results beautiful but quite fragile. Smith soon realized that he could take the delicate lampworked elements and encase them in glass. He became hooked on the paperweight technique. His paperweights emerged half a dozen years later through trial, error, and perseverance.

In the summer of 2012, Smith was the recipient of a full scholarship to the Corning Museum of Glass workshop, “From the Kiln to the Hotshop (and back again)” with Mark Ditzler, Harry Seaman, and Gayla Lee. In February 2013, Smith was awarded the 2013 Niche Award for Lampworked Glass in Philadelphia, PA, presented by the Rosen Media Group. In 2016, Smith Smith was the recipient of a scholarship given by the Delaware Valley Paperweight Collector’s Association, providing him the funds to purchase a new piece of equipment. In the summer of 2018, Smith was the recipient of a full scholarship to the Corning Museum of Glass workshop, “Engraving” with Matteo Seguso, awarded by the Texas Paperweight Collector’s Association.