Wednesday, July 23, 2008

2008 AAW Symposium - Part VIII - Sunday

Whew! Finally - the last day of the symposium was on June 22nd (so I'm only a month behind posting things. . . I guess I've been a very busy person this summer). I hope you've enjoyed reading about the symposium and seeing the pictures. Post a comment so I know you've been here!






Back to the instant gallery for a closer look at this interesting piece by Pascal Oudet. I saw an image of how he mounted this root burl on the lathe - it looked pretty darned scary to me, but the result is wonderful.











I wandered back into the trade show and finally had a chance to say hello to Jimmy Clewes.

Sunday tends to be for catching up on all the things one missed earlier in the schedule.









It's also a time for catching up with friends. Here's Harvey Fein (L) and Bill Smith (R) chatting in the upstairs lounge.









Knick McKay and his family were just coming out of one of the youth turning sessions and Knick had to show Harvey the CD top he had just made.









Between youth turning sessions on Sunday, John Wessels was invited to give a demonstration on turning ivory. Bonnie Klein had been announcing this impromptu session throughout the weekend and so there was a big crowd to watch the action.








John usually turns on a huge Wadkin lathe and so it's fun to watch him use this Jet minilathe.










It's amazing to see those huge hands hold such tiny tools and taking such delicate cuts. He had this piece of ivory in cast pewter to turn an acorn.








The pewter served as the material for the acorn cap.










John textured the cap using a rotary carver and a ball bur.









Bonnie is reacting to something John just said. You have to listen for those zingers sometimes - they sneak in at unexpected moments.










Here's the finished acorn prior to some patination of the pewter.











John used a chemical to change the pewter's characteristics.
















A bit of buffing with steel wool. . .












Drilling a hole for the loop.











The drill bit broke off, but it would have been a dandy key chain.









John also demonstrated an acorn made from red ivory.











In the meantime, Bonnie was gearing up for the next youth turning session,















as were her able assistants.

















John finished a beautiful red ivory acorn and everyone had a good time with this demo.










Afterwards, John met with Ray Leier from del Mano Gallery.










Watch for John's work to be in del Mano's Small Treasures show next year.










The Spheres exhibit auction took place on Sunday afternoon. The collectors were assembled to bid on these wonderful pieces.










There was a good sized crowd to bid on the 47 pieces in the show.









Most of the artists were also on hand to watch, including Jacques Vesery (on right), the chair of the POP committee, and J. Paul Fennell.









John Hill was the auctioneer, and he really liked working this crowd. The number of bidders was just right and he was able to really hold their attention and make it fun for everyone.







When Binh Pho's piece came up for auction, he was the one to bring it out to show it to the crowd. It brought a big price - $15K or thereabouts.









The was J. Paul Fennell's piece on the auction block and John was showing the details of the stand here.









I think you can tell by the faces of the bidders that they are having a very good time with John as the auctioneer.










John Wessels showed all the bells and whistles of his lovely piece.
















This was my piece and it went to a very good home.









Interested participants watching the action.









I attended the final POP panel discussion. This was presented by Terry Martin, Kevin Wallace and John Kelsey. It was one of the best of the entire weekend - basically giving an overview of the history of woodturning as art in terms of myth and reality; hearsay and truth.











John brought several pieces to pass around, including this spalted maple vase done by Melvin Lindquist.















This bowl was made in Africa and had several maker's marks that were of interest.









The evening was for relaxing and enjoying the company of friends.

Bonnie Klein and Art Liestman








L to R: Gorst duPlessis, Pascal Oudet, Matthew Hill and Art Liestman.



It was a great symposium, and I'm looking forward to next year's one in Albuquerque. I'll be a demonstrator there, so come on and join the fun!

4 comments:

Leppikallio said...

Thank you very much Andi, what a great collection of great pictures and good stories. Especially the story of the fiddle is nice and touching.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the great pics and the stories to go with them. My camera was not working well so I could not take as many as I wanted. Thanks for all your time doing this for us

Andi Wolfe said...

You're very welcome. Thanks for posting comments to let me know you've visited.

Rtgleck said...

Andi,

Really love your blog, pic's and stories you share. Thank you for posting them and sharing your adventures.