Edric Florence

Specialty: Wood

I didn’t set out to become a woodturner, many years ago I started out building wooden surfboards with my family (yes I did say wood) in Hawaii in the 1950’s. One of the advantages for me growing up in Hawaii was witnessing the everyday usage of wood, from kitchen utensils, furniture and surfing. Fast forward to me now living in Western Pennsylvania for the last 45 years with my dear wife who has afforded me the time to explore woodturning as an art form. Looking for another creative outlet in the early 1980’s I started dabbling in woodturning and boy I was horrible at it until my break through when I realized that my lathe is just another tool, and it is the artisans creative mindset that needs to be understood and set free. When I finally merged my previous influence from Hawaii and my passion for woodturning I realized I wanted to become a full time studio artist when I grew up.

Edric’s Biography

I’m a studio artist, title given to older, and semi-retired artists which means I’m still active at my craft. Most of my time now is spent on special commissions for collectors, fans and friends of my work. In addition to working on creating speculative pieces that are shared and shown at a few galleries that handle my work. Basically, I’m a self-taught woodworker since the early 1960’s and fan of cultural art all my life, and it gives me great satisfaction to create something that was destined for a landfill, dumpsite or a firewood box. I started looking for another creative outlet which led to woodturning around 1984, and it took me at least 6 years of burning my early creations while I started seeking my own identity. It was in the early 1990’s before I had enough confidence to show my work to the public. It was about that time when I realized that the limiting factor for a woodturner was his mind and I started pushing the envelope on creativity. The more I experiment the more I explore, learn, study, and understand about the art of woodturning, the more my designs will evolve and mature and where this process will lead is purely dependent on my imagination and courage to push the limits of this art form.