Master silversmith Ernie Marsh of Lovell, Wyoming, spares no expense on materials and will settle into a project knowing that it may take anywhere from 150 to 450 hours to complete.

“Whatever is needed, you just commit to it,” Marsh told Cowboy State Daily. “Maybe that isn't financially sound, but boy, I've made well over 150 pieces that would not have gotten made without that level of commitment.”

It was this commitment to his craft that earned Marsh a National Heritage Fellowship Award which he was presented at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

It's an honor only five Wyoming artists have received since its inception in 1982.

Marsh is more than a silversmith, his intricate work also celebrates and elevates Wyoming’s cowboy culture and heritage, said Josh Chrysler of the Wy

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