Salem's War

Ed Kidera is a metal sculptor living and creating in Howard County, Maryland for the last 30 years. In that time, he produced over 8500 signed pieces and several thousand unsigned pieces. Ed works primarily with steel, copper, and brass from old and discarded items. He uses various welding techniques in the creation of the sculptures. Ed started making bells in 1991 for his own garden and for family and friends. Sculpting quickly became his full-time business. In addition to bells and airships, Ed has sculpted mailboxes, birdbaths, tea sets, furniture, gongs, speakers, clocks, and much more. In those thirty years, Ed sold his work at approximately 400 art and craft shows across the country. At one point over 60 galleries carried his work. His work has been featured in several museums. Ed grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin with Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, Kenner Building Sets and Tinker Toys. He progressed to building a tree house by nine and a motorbike made from a rototiller at age twelve. At fourteen he started to build a car, which Ed finished by sixteen and drove to high school in. Engineering seemed the career to follow, so he earned a BS in Applied Science and Technology from the University of Wisconsin, Parkside and a MS in Ocean Engineering from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. After college, he moved to Maryland to work for Johns Hopkins, Applied Physics Laboratory where he invented several motion compensation systems for oceanographic research. It is still in use by APL, allowing for unapparelled reduction in motion contamination of sensor data. He authored several papers on the topic that he presented at various symposiums across the United States. During his time at APL, Ed spent nearly a month on a nuclear submarine. Ed left APL to pursue further education. He completed all of the course work for a PhD in Ocean Engineering at the University of Delaware while he taught full time at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, but never wrote a thesis. In 1983 Ed struck out on his own to design and build motion compensation systems. That evolved into working with early personal computers. Ed developed a computer graphics program for IBM compatible computers in the mid-1980s while self-employed. He also wrote some of the first hospital patient portal software. At the same time in his life, he edited a computer newsletter and wrote a number of very short science fiction stories for the newsletter. In the late 2000's, Ed wrote the words and music for over 120 songs. For a few years he performed at open mics and played music with friends. A limited selection of the music is available on iTunes. The recordings are crude, but Ed likes to think they are not half bad. His later work is better, but never recorded. In addition to creating airships, submarines and more, Ed has embarked on writing science fantasy stories based on his sculpture. This is the third book in the trilogy and probably his final book. In the fall of 2018, Ed was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Despite numerous treatments, the cancer has metastasized to his bones, severely limiting his ability to work on larger sculptures. Working in the shop has become nearly impossible. Last year, he greatly enjoyed teaching his oldest daughter the basics of artistic welding. Ed hoped that 2020 would be a big year. He redesigned his booth and focused purely on the world of airships, allowing him to get into a number of very high-end shows. Covid destroyed what was to be his final year. Although Ed wanted to do at least a couple of shows in 2021, it appears that he will be unable to handle the demands of doing an art show. Ed is married to Brenda, an amazing artist. He has two wonderful daughters, Gwendolyn, and Deirdre.