John Eric Byers is an artist, designer, and craftsman who works exclusively with wood.
The wood medium to Byers is like clay to a potter; he transforms the material through exceptional care and thoroughness, individually hand-tooling the surface and creating something completely unique. While the forms are strikingly geometric and minimal, they are contrasted with the superb craftsmanship and intricacy he brings to the material’s outer surface. As noted by Grace Glueck in the New York Times, “The carved, patterned surfaces add considerable interest to his simplified forms, as does his exquisite attention to detail.”
A former student of Wendell Castle, John’s work is guided by the purity of form, structure, and surface texture, as well as great respect for the materials he works with. Heralded as a leading American artist working in wood, permanent collections include the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC. His numerous awards include the prestigious Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, New York Foundation of the Arts Awards and inclusion in the Smithsonian’s Oral Archives of American Arts.
INFORMATION
