John Eric Byers is an artist, designer, and craftsman working exclusively with wood. To Byers, wood is like clay to a potter; he transforms the material through exceptional care and precision, hand-tooling the surface to create something truly unique. His works succeed due to an intriguing contradiction: while the forms are strikingly geometric and minimal, they are enriched by the superb craftsmanship and intricacy he brings to the material’s surface. As Grace Glueck noted 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 a purity of form, structural integrity, and surface texture, as well as a deep respect for the materials he employs.

John Eric Byers is an American artist with works in the permanent collections of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Numerous awards include the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and inclusion in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Arts.