After retiring from a career in neurosurgery, Ed Byrd enrolled in the College of Charleston in 2002 to study studio arts and art history. He earned a BA in each discipline in 2007 and then independently painted and sculpted for six years. He pursued further studies at the College from 2013 until 2015. He now works mostly in sculpture but continues to paint as the interest appears. He uses traditional formats as well as abstraction and fanciful imagery to make work that is appropriate to the commission. The study of art history reveals a very broad range of precedents to call upon in developing ideas for new work. New developments in genomics, astronomy and other sciences, and the competition of ideas in our country's civil discourse all offer rich possibilities for the artist to explore and comment on the human condition as experienced today. He considers this an exciting and infinitely interesting time to engage in artistic creation.