AAW Symposium - Wednesday, 2006 Jun 21

I caught up on sleep a bit last night, so am feeling much, much better than I had the last two days of the symposium. I had a terrible headache for two days, and I'm glad that it has eased up now that I'm home and have had time to unwind. The Utah and AAW symposia in back-to-back weeks was pretty hard to handle. It's going to be like that again next year, which is unfortunate. Here are some pics from the first day in Louisville:


The registration line for hotel check-in at Galt House was pretty long all day on Wednesday. The wait was anywhere from half an hour to an hour.










After the "Learn to Turn" session and dinner with CET and friends, I went to the opening of the "Step up to the Plate" exhibit at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

This necklace of bats was done by Bonnie Klein.







The pyrography piece was by John Nofsinger and the twisted bat on the right is one of Mark Sfirri's. The segmented bat in front is by Bill Smith.













Here's another one by Mark Sfirri. It's called, "Inchworm bat."












This collection is called "Tools of the trade" and was made by Norris White. Everything is made from wood.











A collaboration between Mark Sfirri and Jacques Vesery called "Spring Training." I especially like the lily pad one and the frog peaking out from underneath a leaf.










Johannes Michelson hats and bats.

















Some offcenter turnings by Michael Werner.













My friends, J. Paul Fennell (on left) and Art Liestman (on right). Paul made this incredible pierced bat and ball, and Art made a selection of interesting balls that had everything but the stitching pattern cut away.









"American Dream" by Jacques Vesery.














A collaboration between Nofsinger and Brown.

Stay tuned for AAW pics

Wow - I've been sooooooo busy that I've not had time to blog during the AAW symposium. I've taken dozens of pictures and will post those when I'm able. In the meantime you can see a picture of me at the lathe from the "learn to turn" session on Wednesday at:

http://www.woodturner.org/2006sym_walkabout_1/dsc04561.htm

I'm the one in the red turning smock (the one the Proserpine group gave me in Australia last fall).

One highlight to post before I'm off to sessions this morning --

The AAW auction raised around $85,000 last night with the collaborative piece by Bonnie Klein and Jacques Vesery raising $11,000. I'm sure AAW will be posting pictures of that piece before too long, and it's sure to be in the next issue of the journal.

I'll catch up tomorrow evening, I hope, so check the blog early next week.

The pre-events at the AAW symposium

No pictures as of yet, but I'll try to post some tomorrow. I took a few pics at the opening of the "Step up to the Plate" exhibit, but haven't processed them as of yet and it's late right now in Louisville.

Wow - what a chaotic first day! I arrived in Louisville about 1:45 pm. Central Ohio Woodturners was scheduled to do the "Learn to Turn" session from 3 - 5 pm. I had the lathes with me, so I had to find a place to unload them. I finally found the loading dock and my clubmates arrived to help sort out the details of moving them to where we were supposed to set up.

Then I made my way to the parking garage and then on to registration. After half an hour or more of waiting in line, I finally got up to the desk to get my room key. I made it to our demonstration area, which was in the lobby near the registration area, about 20 minutes prior to our start time. By that time the lathes were on the stands and it was just about organized. Walt, Craig, Jim and Barb had things under control.

I spent the next couple of hours throwing shavings or talking to people about woodturning. That was kind of fun, but a little different for the start of a symposium. We had a big crowd watching Jim Burrowes turn bowls from green wood. I have no idea who was watching me, but I was answering a lot of questions as I went. I just tried to not throw a piece off the lathe.

After that seesion I put two of my carved pieces into the instant gallery and then had dinner with a group of friends at a private banquet organized by Cutting Edge Technology. Paulo Marin invited a lot of the professional turners to come hear about what his company is introducing in the way of new tools at this symposium. I'll have a chance to play with their new gear during the symposium - I'll spend at least one session demonstrating on the trade show floor at their booth.

Next it was a mad dash to see the opening of the "Step up to the Plate" exhibit at the Louisville Slugger Factory Museum, and then the 20 year review at the Kentucky Art Museum. I didn't get to see all of that exhibit, so I'll have to go back at lunchtime tomorrow. I did, however, find Steve Loar who has brought two of my pieces back from the "Our Turn Now - Artists Speak Out in Wood" exhibit that just closed at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Art Museum. I'll put both of those pieces in the instant gallery, too.

Attendance is at this 20th anniversary symposium is a record high, so it will be interesting (or challenging) trying to find a seat in some of the rooms. I have some "must see" rotations on my list. I'll post reports on those in the next several days. . .

Heading to Louisville

Tomorrow I'm heading to my second major symposium of the month - the AAW symposium in Louisville, Kentucky. Usually we have about a month in between the Utah Symposium and the AAW one. Having them back-to-back like this is a real pain. What it means is that I didn't have enough time to make an auction piece or to finish my collaboration with Keith Tompkins, which would have gone to auction. Oh well. With 1800 paid registrants as of last week, I don't think they'll be hurting for auction donations, but there won't be any Andi Wolfe pieces in there this year.

This year is the 20th anniversary celebration of the AAW. There will be three woodturning exhibits, the instant gallery, a great line-up of demonstrators, and plenty of things to do. I'm not doing rotations this year, but will be doing some turning tomorrow afternoon in the "learn to turn" session (Central Ohio Woodturners is the sponsoring club), and also for Cutting Edge Technology in the trade show.

My website has a photo gallery from the 2002 AAW Symposium instant gallery in Providence. My first AAW symposium was in 2001 and I've been to every one since then, including as a demonstrator in 2003 and 2005. I really enjoy the symposium, but I wish they'd go back to having it a month after the Provo symposium. It would make it easier on me, that's for sure.

Say hello to me if you see me in Louisville. I'll have "Quercus rubra" and "The Unseen World" with me in the instant gallery, plus one of my carved pieces that was in the "Our Turn Now" exhibit. Steve Loar is bringing me my work back from the second venue at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Utah Woodturning Symposium 2006 - Part III

I just got back from Utah this afternoon. I didn't have time to update the blog on Friday or Saturday, so this post is really long. I have pictures from some of the other demonstrations I attended as well as pics from the BBQ, a visit to Dale Nish's house, and the closing ceremony.

Demos I attended:


This is Pat Kramer working on a lid to a tall calabash type vessel. I missed the first part of this demo, which was really disappointing to me. He did a powerpoint presentation on the cultural history and significance of the traditional Hawaiian vessels.

Pat had some challenges in keeping to the time frame of the rotation schedule, so I didn't get to see the lid as it was finished.







Here is the tall calabash vessel for which the lid was being made. This was a pleasure to hold. It's made from Milo, which was one of the answers to the trivia quiz ("What Hawaiian wood is also the name of a grain?")













This is one of the interesting carved vessels Pat Kramer had in the instant gallery. It's made from Norfolk Island Pine, has a lot of detail carving in it, and it looks as if it were colored with leather dye. I don't know for sure because I didn't get a chance to ask Pat about it.









I also attended Michael Mocho's rotation on carving with sanding tools. I really enjoyed this rotation and learned a lot of new things that have me thinking about how I could apply some of the concepts presented by Michael into my own work.

Here's an audience member helping with the dust collection system.






Michael showed a lot of interesting fixtures for sanding on the lathe, including spindles turned with two morse tapers to fit into the headstock and tailstock. You can pad the cylinder with a hose and then spray adhesive and connect sandpaper to the spindle. You can make a longer one with several grits and just work your way down the spindle up through the grits.







Here is a box of small, interesting shapes that have been manipulated with a parting tool and/or sanding spindles.










I attended parts of demos by Mick O'Donnell, and all of this one by Liz and Mick together. Liz broke her left wrist a couple of months ago and can't hold things well in her left hand, so Mick is helping her with some of the manipulations done with a jig saw. He also does the carving on their bird bowls.

Liz has a degree in fine arts and has used her education to good effect in these collaborative pieces. Mick turns the form, which becomes a canvas for Liz's creativity. It's wonderful work and they make a really great team.



Here's an interesting technique they shared. You put divots into the wood using a spring loaded punch. Then the wood is scraped away on the lathe until just a shadow of that divot is left. The form is then steamed for several minutes to raise the grain in the divot. It's a pretty cool effect.







Here's a glaze pattern on one of their collaborative bowls. I really like this body of work from the O'Donnells.











Friday evening is the annual BBQ up in one of the local parks at the base of Provo Canyon. Here are some pictures from Friday afternoon and evening:



I am waiting for a ride to the BBQ. This is Dick Sing from Chicago.













A view of Lake Utah from the picnic site.













Here's the other side of the picnic site. I really love the Wasatch Mountains.

















Dick and Cindy Sing at the BBQ. These two are so much fun to visit. I really enjoy the evening gatherings where the story swapping is outrageous, as are the jokes, limericks, and bad puns.










The weather was really fine so we had a huge crowd at the BBQ.












Mark Baker and Cindy Sing.

Mark is from the UK and did some excellent demonstrations this year and last. I sat through part of his gilding demo, but had to leave when the solvents got too thick. I have pretty bad reactions to organic solvents, and I didn't want to pass out in front of everyone.







Here's the rim of a demo bowl that Mark was passing around during his gilding demo.













J. Paul Fennell and Don McDougal at the BBQ. These two are really nice and give me rides back and forth from the hotel to BYU and all over the place. I think I'm going to have to rent the car for next year instead of hitching rides with them. They can ride with me next year. . .









Mick O'Donnell is showing off his legs with his kilt. His wife, Liz, is on the left. Bonnie Klein is on the right.
















Sharon Doughtie with Allan Batty. It sure was good to see Allan at the symposium again this year.

Sharon fell for Allan's "kiss my cheek" trick. Neither one seemed to mind very much, but Allan told me to stop trying to ruin an old man's fun by warning all the ladies about his methods.





Dale Nish invited all the current and past demonstrators to come to his house for a few hours after the BBQ to visit with one another and to see his woodturning collection. That was really a treat for us all. It was so nice to have some uninterrupted time to catch up on news and to see his collection.



Dale has this AAW Lifetime Award hanging on the wall in his den.
















Noreen has a lovely garden and I found this beautiful Penstemon growing there. I think it's Penstemon mensarum, but I'd have to actually key it out to know for sure.
















There are woodturnings scattered throughout the house and stored in boxes in the basement. It was very enjoyable to poke around in the cabinets to see what small treasures could be found. I hope Dale can organize a permanent exhibit for his collection. There are some real gems to be found.













Including Dale's signature "Wormy Ash" vessel. The one next to it looks like it might be from one of the Moulthrops.

















Part of Dale's bird house ornament collection. He makes a new design each year and distributes them among the children and grand children.
















The box covered in thorns is by David Sengel.














Dale Nish and J. Paul Fennell looking at one of Paul's early hollow forms. Dale bought this at an AAW auction in the 1980's.













There are more treasures to see in the hall closet. . .

















Here's part of that closet - pretty amazing. . .















Nick Arnull holding one of Kelly Dunn's Norfolk Island Pine Bowls. It looks like Nick is reciting a soliloquy from Hamlet to Kelly in this picture.

("To bowl, or not to bowl. . .")






The platter on the right was made by Thys Carstens from South Africa. I had this platter in an exhibit at the 2003 AAW symposium.













Liz and Mick O'Donnell. I love the kilt. Mick calls it a "working kilt" so he should be allowed to make shavings while wearing it.














This is my favorite picture from Friday. That's Graeme Priddle on the left and Ken Sager on the right. Ken started the New Zealand woodturning movement. He's 90 years old and came over to give a talk on New Zealand woodturning. I saw his presentation last year - it was terrific.

What's really fun about Ken is that he's 90 years young. He just experienced his first parachute jump at 90. He really seems spry, and he loves woodturning.



A gathering of turners on the patio at Dale and Noreen Nish's home. This was such a peaceful place to sit and visit with each other. The view of the mountains and the garden were very restful. I enjoyed watching the birds - especially the quails.









Pictures from the rest of the symposium events:


Kelly Dunn turning an egg cup in the egg cup race on Friday night. That's Mike Mahoney doing the supervision. Kelly did his project in just over a minute.











The closing ceremony is the last event of the symposium. All the door prizes and awards are distributed then. The demonstrators sit up front. Here's one batch of them.











Here's the other side. The lineup this year was excellent. Kip Christensen is to be congratulated for organizing such a wonderful program.











Here's a view from the back of the room. Some turners have already left for the airport, so it wasn't quite as crowded as the opening ceremony.











The most moving moment of the entire symposium was the speech given by Ken Sager. He expressed his thanks for all the work done by Dale Nish to make woodturning such a vibrant field of craft and art. I hope somebody makes a transcript of that speech - it was priceless.

Utah Woodturning Symposium 2006 - Part II

Today was the official first day of the symposium. I think there are around 450 attendees. We weren't in our usual room for the opening ceremony, so it was a bit tight in here.








The first rotation I attended was given by Bert Marsh (UK). I have one of Bert's bowls in my collection and I've admired his work for a long time, so it was great to have a chance to see him turn a bowl.










Doesn't this express the essence of what all demonstrators sometimes think when someone asks a particularly stupid question?















Here are some of Bert Marsh's bowls in the instant gallery.
















I didn't get to stay in this demo by Nick Arnull, but did manage to snap a photo of him at work. Nick is also from the UK.











Here are some examples of Nick Arnull's work in the instant gallery.













I attended Sharon Doughtie's demo in the afternoon on Celtic knots. Sharon is from Hawaii and is here with her husband, Pat Kramer, who is also demonstrating.









Here's and example of Sharon's Celtic knot designs. She uses Norfolk Island pine and works the weave around the knots as part of the design.












Here's a new piece by Sharon. Hawaii had 40 days of rain in a row and she was influenced by that inspiration in the boxes of surprise. When you open the box you see the design on the outside worked into the inside as a surprise. I like these boxes.













Here's a crew for dinner. Starting at the head of the table nearest the camera and moving around clockwise: Nick Arnull, Kelly Dunn, Bill Luce, Mick O'Donnell, Andi Wolfe, Don McDougal, J. Paul Fennell, Carl Voss, Malcolm Tibbetts, Liz O'Donnell, Cliff Johns, and Stephen Hatcher.





Here are some images from the instant gallery:



David Nittmann is the master of the basket illusion. The large platter is 24 inches in diameter.














Malcolm Tibbetts does some very interesting sculptural pieces. Each one has a story to tell, but lately he's been concentrating on the cultural symbolism of numbers.

















Bill Luce has perfected the bowl. These bowls are ultralight, but feel just right in the hand and have such a beautiful profile. The wall thickness is consistent throughout the vessel. Beautiful work!












Larry Stevenson. Larry took a hands on class with me last year and has made a splash here.












Fantastic work by Jim Christiansen. I love this piece. It is sooooo expressive.

















Kelly Dunn (L) talking to Jim Christiansen (R) about his stunning work.














Stephen Hatcher's beautiful stone inlay vessels.
















Gorst duPleissis brought dozens of his ornamental turnings. I was worried about where these were placed relative to the traffic flow, but I didn't hear of any breakage from people knocking a piece over. One of Stephen Hatcher's pieces took a tumble, but there wasn't a scratch afterwards - that was very, very lucky.













This palm vessel is by Bruce Hoover. Palm is notoriously wicked to turn, but Bruce seems to have this down pretty well.