2010 AAW Symposium - informal portraits and people pics

One of the things I most look forward to at the AAW symposium is to reconnect with friends I've not seen in person for many months, sometimes since the last AAW symposium. I also very much enjoy meeting new people and making new friends. It's a natural extension for me to take pictures of friends during the times we spend time together, or to take some informal and candid images. I've been accused of having a camera growing out of my face, too. So, this posting is about people - mostly some of my dearest wood turning friends, but also people I've just met for the first time as well as the range in between those two extremes. Some of the pics are just snapshots that reflect a shared moment. Others are informal and candid portraits. I'm finding that I enjoy doing black and white processing for portraits, so you'll see a mix of color and black and white photos for this posting.


L to R: John Whelan and Flynn Cohen. These two gents were the headliners for the Thursday night talent show. I've known John for about the same amount of time I've been turning, but from the Irish music scene. We met through the Dublin Irish Festival and we've become friends through the years. Flynn and John regularly play gigs together and it was a great pleasure to have them on stage for the AAW.








Douglas Fisher. I've known Doug from his online postings and from his amazing work, but this was the first time we've met in person. In fact, this was the first time Doug had done any demonstrating, and he made his debut at an AAW symposium. I'm looking forward to having opportunities in the future to chat again at a symposium.














Sharon Doughtie and John Jordan - good friends and a lot of fun to be around.












L to R: David Ellsworth and Pascal Oudet. You could caption this, "the old and new generation of turners." David is a charter member of AAW, the first president, in fact, whereas Pascal was one of our featured Emerging Artists highlighted by the Professional Outreach Program.















L to R: Tucker Garrison and J. Paul Fennell. Tucker was one of the other emerging artists featured this year. When he did a hands-on class with me a few years ago I knew he would be making a splash in a very short period of time.











Bill Grumbine, demonstrating on the tradeshow floor for Robust Lathes. Bill and I met just a few years back, and we've had some interesting conversations about "brown and round" v. "artsy fartsy." I think we both enjoy these chats and can appreciate each others' point of view.













The caption of this picture is "The three amigos." I can't remember their names, but they're from Canada and I spent a bit of time chatting with them about carved turnings one evening in the bar.











Ray Leier, co-owner of del Mano Gallery. It was great to see Ray so relaxed and enjoying the moment.


















Is Ray the next Marlborough Man?
















Hmmmm, let's put a wooden cowboy hat on him and see how that looks, shall we?

Actually, I'm calling this series of images "From the Smokers' Corner." When I intercalated myself for a picture, someone handed me a cigarette, which Giles Gilson decided to smoke.

L to R: Giles Gilson, Andi Wolfe, Norm Rose and Ray Leier.









Arthur Mason and Ray Leier.















Arthur Mason, Ray Leier, and Norm Rose.












Arthur Mason and Ray Leier.













Clay Cochran and Norm Rose.













L to R: Elizabeth and James York with Binh Pho,















L to R: Deborah Kermode and Bonnie Klein.















L to R: Pascal Oudet, John and Vicki Jordan. I love this pic.












Pascal Oudet and Andi Wolfe















L to R: John Jordan, Andi Wolfe, and Pascal Oudet.















A yearly tradition - my pic with Mike Mahoney. I suppose that in 10 years I can post a retrospective of all the symposium pics we've had together. You'll be able to see us age in "real time" then.
















Fred Klap from the Canadian contingency. I really like this informal portrait I captured of Fred.



















My woodturning "bro" and me: Art Liestman and Andi Wolfe.













Two of my best friends in wood turning:
Art Liestman and J. Paul Fennell.

I don't know what we were joking about, but Paul's about to crack up here.












Hans Weissflog












Three other amigos, or, perhaps I should say, "The Glitterati."

L to R: Giles Gilson, Mark Lindquist, and David Ellsworth.










Stuart Batty and Ashley Harwood.



















L to R: J. Paul Fennell, John Wessels, Gorst DuPlessis, and Bonnie Klein.














Claude Lethiecq from Quebec - a new friend as of this symposium.















L to R: Molly Winton and Ruth Niles.














L to R: Mark Lindquist and Giles Gilson













L to R: Richard Hogue, Marilyn Campbell and Terry Martin - the panelists for the instant gallery critique.













John Hill, auctioneer extrordinaire.

"Will you give me a thousand?"

"Andi, a camera flash is a bid!"

"Yes, I've got a thousand!"

"Who will give me eleven hundred?"

"Yes, I've got eleven hundred. Now, twelve hundred!"

Whew! Off the hook on that one . . .









John and Elizabeth York sharing a laugh at the teapot auction.

















Dixie Biggs - watching the action during her teapot being auctioned.


















Tib Shaw, the AAW gallery director and an extraordinary person who I've really enjoyed getting to know over the past few years,