Ed McEndarfer grew up in Oklahoma and earned the Bachelor of Architecture degree from Oklahoma State University.   After a tour of duty as a Navy Civil Engineer Corps Officer, he moved to Rochester, New York, where he earned the Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics at the School for American Craftsmen.  After teaching there and at Moorhead State University in Minnesota he joined the faculty at Truman State University.

During a sabbatical at the University of Kansas in 1979 he found the fledgling medium of computer graphics and went on to earn the PhD in Special Studies.  In the dissertation he wrote an interactive program for the display and manipulation of color theory principles, bringing the microcomputer into the teaching of studio art fundamentals. 

His principle medium of expression is clay.  Highlights of his show record include Young Americans of 1969 at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, the more recent Animals USA at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Hoosier Salon Show in 2006 and 2007. 

He was Convener of the Art Faculty at Truman State University, President of the Missouri Crafts Council, President and Board Member of the Kirksville Arts Council,  Board Member of the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies,  Juror for Grant Proposals for the Missouri Arts Council and Juror for the Paintout at T.C. Steele State Historic Site.   He is currently a member of the Bloomington Area Arts Council, the Hoosier Salon, and the Local Clay Potter’s Guild.

He has made several trips to China to tour, lecture and study ceramics there, and was a part of the first International Summer School at the Jingdezjhen Ceramics Institute in 1996. 
He was a visiting artist to the University of Tasmania where he lectured and produced demonstration pieces.  He has also been a visiting artist at Tama School of Fine Arts in Tokyo, Japan; Jingdezjhen Ceramics Institute; and the Shanghai Institute of Technology.

Ed is now Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts and resides with his wife, Ann, in Bloomington Indiana where he continues his studio work.