Elmer Adams

Elmer Adams began woodturning in 1991 after retiring to the Big Island of Hawaii from sailing and a prosperous development business in the Pacific Northwest. His inspiration came when his wife, Judy, asked if he could replicate a beautiful turned wooden vase they had spotted during a visit to the Volcano Art Center Gallery. Elmer advised her that he would need a lathe, and she okayed it. Soon he was turning and selling his work through galleries. When a gallery owner asked if he could make larger pieces, encouraging Elmer by saying he could sell them if Elmer could make them, that was all he needed to challenge himself further.

Elmer developed a process for hollowing out the large vessels. He designed a custom built lathe, made to handle the weight and large sizes of the logs being used. He devised a series of 2” x 3” steel beams filled with sand with a hollowing tool, no bigger than a pencil, attached to the end. With lengths up to 11 feet and weighing up to 170 lbs the beams enable him to deftly glide the tool across the interior of the piece – producing truckloads of shavings, while being at a safe distance from the mass of spinning wood. At 6’-6” tall, Elmer found the art form that fit his scale. With a natural aptitude for all things mechanical and an appreciation for learning, Elmer began creating these grand works of wood art more than 10 years ago. He has honed his process through years of practice, but his eye for form and the scale of his work set his work apart. With finished works up to 44” tall and 22” in diameter, his work has a grand scale and that “WOW” factor.

At seventy-four years old, Elmer’s knowledge and skill shows in all he does. He is a Master Woodturner, a founding member of the Big Island Woodturners Club (a chapter of the American Association of Woodturners) and is an excellent demonstrator and teacher. He often demonstrates woodturning to a packed audience during the Big Island Woodturners Annual Exhibit, held each March at the Wailoa Center in Hilo.

Elmer enjoys selling his works and sharing the story of the tree each piece has come from. He has developed a clientele who appreciate his unique contribution to the world of wood art. Often in today’s larger homes, there is a need for a piece of art that fits the scale of the space and has a presence in the room. Using beautiful Hawaiian-grown woods like Koa, Milo, Cook Pine, Sugi Pine, and Himalayan Magnolia, Elmer’s pieces display the beauty of nature’s grain patterns and colors in the classical forms of the Mediterranean Vase, the Hawaiian Calabash, and Southwest Native American pottery.

“For the future I want to continue to strive to create as close to perfect classic shapes as possible. The process is one of careful refinement one piece at a time. I know that perfection can never be reached but, the paths on the way are where the rewards are found,” states Elmer.