By Alicia Stemper/Vitamin O for the Orange County Arts Commission
Edward Wright built his first frame for a cross stitch piece made by his wife. “From the moment I started, I knew. I went after it with a passion.” He read books, attended workshops, visited factories and learned everything he could about the various aspects of framing. He now mixes the mechanical precision of joining wood together with the artistry of gilding, carving, and creating one-of-a-kind finishes. “I have a finish I’ve done since 1974 and I do it differently every time…the more I know, the more likely I am to find a different way of doing it.”
From the moment he made that first frame, Wright has been hooked on the art form. Upon reflection almost 40 years later, he understands why. “It was clear, grounded, and specific, and I was drawn toward that because it is what I need.” Frames are quite literally a box, “… the only box that works for me.” Wright is driven to create, explore, and innovate within the bounds of his very traditional craft. “This year is the first time I really describe myself as an artist. I never wanted to be an artist…While it may be my gift, it is the thing that makes it difficult because I am constantly considering options, wanting to change things. I’m never satisfied with things as they are.” He finds the inherent boundaries of a frame help him manage those impulses. “Most arts are just opening you up, which would be a disaster for me.” Wright notes he has been trying to figure out how to contain his artistic side his whole career. “I am attracted toward limits but at the same time, I can’t stand not being able to create.”
His business, Frames by Edward Wright, is in the Eno River Mill complex in Hillsborough where his one of a kind, handcrafted frames are made using Old World techniques and materials. Some of his frames are in art museums such as the Ackland at UNC, the Nasher at Duke, and one was recently in the North Carolina Museum of Art. He takes even greater pride in his frames that are now in the homes of private collectors. A frame made by Wright is different than one made at a retail framing shop. He wholesales his frames to shops that serve customers who understand a frame as a piece of art in and of itself; customers who are seeking an heirloom. Wright feels such a customers understand “the value of what I do is that it is one of a kind.”
Learn more at https://www.framesbyedwardwright.com/