2009 AAW Symposium, Part II: Friday - 26 June

My first rotation was Friday morning, 9:10 to 10:40 a.m, followed by my second one 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. After I finished, I grabbed a quick bite of lunch and then took a walk through the instant gallery. Here's a selection of images for you to see.


vessel by Don Derry
















Glass and wood by Jim Keller















Anthony Harris had a sign next to this bowl of spheres, eggs, and threaded boxes that said, "Please touch!"









Since I had the afternoon free, I went with Paul and Judy Fennell over to Rio Grande - the best jewelry supply company you could ever meet. They have some of the most interesting gadgets that work very well for wood carving. This is their showroom. You can place your order from the catalog and they'll fetch everything to one of the counters here. I bought a bunch of earring supplies with the intent to play with some ideas for jewelry in the very near future.

I'm a trinket junkie myself - only with regards to dangling earrings, though. I know what I like to wear, I always receive compliments on my choice of earrings, and so I thought I might enjoy making some of my own design, in wood.




I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the exhibits that were taking place as part of the symposium. The first one I saw was by Merryll Saylan - this year's recipient of the POP merit award.










Merryll was a pioneer of surface enhancement techniques and coloring. I've long admired her work and it was a delight to see so many interesting pieces assembled for this exhibit.















The AAW has a catalog for each of the exhibits and you can find out more from going to their exhibit website: Gallery of Wood Art











The second exhibit I visited was "Twirlings" by Garry Knox Bennett. He has an interesting mind. . .















The bowl on the left is named, "Wired."












I thought this was an interesting concept, too.

















The POP exhibit this year was called, "Spindles."


This is by Louise Hibbert











Classic Jean François Escoulen (France)


















Ed Kelle

















Ray Key (England)




















Doug Fisher (Canada)


















John Wessels (South Africa)

















Emmett Kane (Ireland)


















J. Paul Fennell



















John Jordan
















The last exhibit to visit was "Spirit of the Southwest." Wow, four exhibits this year! That was amazing!


Todd Hoyer















Bernie Hryzak












Neil Kagan













Pascal Oudet (France)


















Clay Foster













Gerritt Van Ness













Bill Luce

















J. Paul Fennell


















David Nittmann











Ron Fleming


I posted many more pictures from these exhibits on my Facebook woodturning page.

Merryll Saylan and Garry Knox Bennett exhibits
Spindles and Spirit of the Southwest album











Time for another walk throught the instant gallery. Every year the entries are amazing.

This one is by Bill Luce, and it received an AAW purchase award.













A beautiful and delicate flower by Malcolm Zander. The thin walls on the original form are amazing, but to add the pierced design and assemble it into a sculpture makes this a stunning piece of eye candy.










This was one of my favorites in the instant gallery this year - a classic Binh Pho piece with the added carved textile effect.



















An ornamental rose engine wall hanging by Gorst duPlessis
















Another of my favorite pieces in the gallery, done by James R. Johnson.













And, here was a huge surprise for me - my sphere won an Excellence Award! That was truly an unexpected delight, and it gave me a happy buzz for the rest of the weekend. I still smile when I see the ribbon in my curio cabinet. It was nice to be recognized for pushing the envelope a bit on my carved pieces.














Keith Holt's work was right next to mine in the instant gallery. He turns a multi-axis form and then carves the mask.















A long, eventful day deserves a night cap, eh? It's always fun to visit in the hotel bar at the end of the day.

Jerry and Debbie Kermode









L to R: Mike and Jenny Mahoney, Gorst duPlessis











Ellis Wallentine (from Woodcentral) taking Mike Mahoney's picture.









L to R: Gorst duPlessis, Cliff Johns, and some folks I met, but I can't recall their names. No, it wasn't from imbibing too much wine, I'm just terrible with remembering names of people I've met only once.








There are more pics on my Facebook woodturning page: Friday AAW symposium album.

My "live" post from this day was: A totally awesome day.

More photography practice this morning

5732.pelargonium.inniswood, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

Steve and I got up before sunrise to take advantage of first light at Inniswood Metro Gardens. The challenge for today was the breeze - with the low light, some of my exposures were more than 1 second long. That translates to a lot of images discarded before processing.

I posted 26 images to my Flickr account, which is linked here. Check out the camouflaged spider on the infructescence that has the long hairs on the seed pods.

Comments are welcomed - either here or on the Flickr photos. Thanks.

2009 AAW Symposium, Part I: Thursday - 25 June

This year's AAW symposium was at the Albuquerque Convention Center - a very nice venue for this kind of event. We were a bit spread out over a couple of different buildings, but I didn't find it difficult to find anyone I wanted to see and it was nice to get some exercise. However, the elevation is a bit higher than many of our members are used to and so I heard about, and witnessed, several altitude-related issues for some of the attendees. Having just come back from the Himalayas, I was quite comfortable and found myself running through the convention center from time-to-time.

Thursday is always for registration and getting reacquainted with friends not seen for a while. It's also a good time to put stuff into the instant gallery, and, for demonstrators, time to set up the room where they will be demonstrating. I had four rotations scheduled this year - two on coloring techniques and two on surface enhancement techniques.

I was able to put six pieces in the instant gallery this year because I was a demonstrator. Here are the three new pieces - L to R:

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." - Lao Tzu, No. 5 (redwood burl, 5 inches diameter).

"Parturition" No. 2 - Afzelia burl

"Bowl Anatomy 101" - pear.





I put these three older pieces in as examples of some of the coloring and surface enhancement techniques I would be demonstrating.











I took the opportunity to get some photos of some of the other pieces in the gallery that evening. I couldn't spend a lot of time taking photos Thursday, but it's about the only time I would have to walk through before the crowds came in so I did what I could.

This one is by Alain Mailland from France - one of my absolute favorite artists in contemporary wood turning. His work is amazingly creative and always pushes the limits of the medium.











This is another sculpture by Alain Mailland.
















Three beautiful hollow form sculptures by J. Paul Fennell. The details on each of these pieces are wonderful. I can't wait to see what Paul comes up with next.










An egg for contemplation by Jacques Vesery. Jacques didn't have a lot of work to display this year, but he had a very good excuse after having a bit of a mishap with a bandsaw earlier in the year. He's fine now, but he's still missing some feeling in the fingertips. Ouch!
















Wood and pewter inlay by John Wessels from South Africa. John made his AAW demonstrating debut this year with six rotations.















A whimsical teapot by Michael Hosaluk (Canada).

















Pascal Oudet (France) made his demonstrating debut at AAW this year, also. His work is delicate and sandblasted to perfection. He uses oak very effectively in these forms.











Classic John Jordan. I never get tired of looking at these carved hollow forms.










Dale Larsen is making some of the most beautiful salad bowls out there. You want to pick these up and pet them.









Classy hollow forms from a classy guy - David Ellsworth.











A walk on the wild side from my favorite young artist - Derek Weidmann. Derek has such a creative imagination - you have to really study these multi-axis sculptures to fully appreciate the stories he's telling in the work.














Art Liestman is making some very interesting forms these days, also. His tea pots all have "attitude."







 J. Paul Fennell, standing next to his instant gallery display. Paul was also a demonstrator this year.

By the time I ran into Paul in the instant gallery, it was almost time for the demonstrator's dinner. We met up with some friends for some liquid refreshment before dinner (I had a lemonade - yes, really!).






My favorite ex-Aussie; well, once an Aussie, always an Aussie, I suppose - Phil Irons.












Phil's outback hat - doesn't that look as if it belongs in the outback?












David Ellsworth











After the demonstrator's dinner, there was a fun presentation put on by Terry Martin and Jacques Vesery. It was a slide show from events such as Emma Lake and the symposia in France organized by Jean François Escoulen.

You'll have to ask Jacques why he was drinking wine from the bottle through a straw.







It was a delightful, and sometimes risque, presentation. The room was in stitches most of the evening. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nepal Trek 2009 - May 22, Kathmandu

This is the last post of my Nepal 2009 trek. You'll find an index to the entire series at the end of this entry. I sure hope you enjoyed following along with me. It was truly an extraordinary experience and one that I will always remember. I'd like to thank Jon Miller, Chris Marquardt and Monika Andrae for their time and effort to organize this trip. Mountain Tribes was a fantastic expedition company to have as our foundation for the trek - thanks to everyone there, especially Babu, Sonam and Karma, for their accommodations and hard work to make our trip a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'd also like to thank my trekking friends (Steve, Megan, Steve, Kyle, John, John, Thilo, Jeff) for their support and encouragement.





Our last day in Nepal was spent organizing gear, having one last photography workshop exercise, and last minute shopping and errands. Steve and I went back to the jewelers to pick up my commissioned earrings and the chain for Steve's medallions. When we arrived, one of the owners was doing this cleansing rite with incense. I thought that was very interesting, and it's certainly not something one would see in the states.









Here are some of our Mountain Tribes staff members - the ones based in Kathmandu.

L to R: Babu (owner), Sonam, Pemba, and Karma.










Four of our friends from Germany were going to be staying a bit longer while the rest of us departed for home. That meant a transfer to another hotel. All their gear was loaded onto Rickshaws for the trip across Thamel.

It was really hard to say goodbye to our friends after having spent the past couple of weeks together on the trail.









Ready to move out. What a cool way to transfer to another hotel, but it sure is a practical way to transport gear on the crowded streets of Thamel.










And off they went.

The rest of us had a leisurely afternoon of packing and waiting for our ride to the airport. Then it was 36 hours of travel time to home for Steve and me.

The main thing I gained from this trip was a sense of living in the moment. I hope I can carry that with me for the rest of my life. It was so great to not be in the stress zone. I want to keep that a priority in my life. There are so many more things to experience in life - beauty, nature, friendship, love, and peace. One doesn't need to be in the stress zone. Three months after the trek, the lesson is holding. We'll see how I do as the academic calendar begins in a week or so.

At any rate, I hope my readers found this series worthwhile. Please do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts about my travel rambles.

The index to the Nepal trip by date or relevance to the date:

1 May 2009: Twitpic - waiting for flight to New York
1 May 2009: Twitpic - on the plane to New York
1 May 2009: Made it to New York
2 May 2009: Ready to fly to Hong Kong
2 May 2009: Twitpic - The view from JFK
2 May 2009: Twitpic - Steve and Megan
2 May 2009: Twitpic - Steve and Kyle
2 May 2009: Twitpic - Andi on the plane to Hong Kong
3 May 2009: Arrived in Hong Kong
4 May 2009: In Kathmandu
5 May 2009: Leaving Kathmandu tomorrow
8 May 2009: Namaste from Namche Bazaar
9 May 2009: Tengboche Monastery and Everest as a companion
12 May 2009: Stuck in the snow in Dingboche
14 May 2009: We're in Gorak Shep
15 May 2009: Climbed Kala Patthar today!
16 May 2009: Back in Dingboche
20 May 2009: Back in Kathmandu
20 May 2009: Decompressing in Kathmandu
22 May 2009: Going home this evening
3 June 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 1 - 3
5 June 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 4, Thamel (Kathmandu)
5 June 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 5, Part 1 (Swayambhunath)
6 June 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 5, Part 2 (Pashupatinath)
11 June 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 6, Lukla to Phakding
16 June 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 7, Phakding to Namche Bazaar
21 June 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 8, Namche Bazaar
1 July 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 9, Namche Bazaar to Tengboche
4 July 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 10, Tengboche to Dingboche
9 July 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 11 - 12, Dingboche
12 July 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 13, Dingboche to Lobuche
19 July 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 14, Lobuche to Gorak Shep
23 July 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 15, Climbing Kala Patthar
4 August 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 16, Gorak Shep to Dingboche
9 August 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 17, Dingboche to Loshasha
14 August 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 18, Loshasha to Monju
22 August 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 19, Monju to Lukla
28 August 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 20, Lukla to Kathmandu
4 Sep 2009: Nepal Trek 2009 - May 21, Kathmandu

And that's all, folks, except for Jon Miller's teaser episode for the Everest Trek 2009 season of The Rest of Everest podcast. Season four of the series is about to start, so please subscribe to The Rest of Everest. It's a great series and I recommend that you follow Jon's advice and start with episode "0" to get the whole picture of what Jon is trying to show about the Everest region, the culture of Tibet and Nepal, and the wonderful people of the region. There will be an Everest Trek 2010 - check in at Everestthetrek.com. It's going to be another once-in-a-lifetime experience. I wish I could go!

Leave a comment, please. Your feedback lets me know people are reading the blog. If you enjoyed the series you can also show your appreciation by purchasing my solo CD, Aisling's CD, or make a donation via my PayPal button up on the right. I do pay an annual server storage fee for posting the photos here on the blog. You can help my efforts by making a small donation. Thanks in advance for your help!