Woodturning weekend - what fun!

Jacques Vesery and J. Paul Fennell came to Columbus this past weekend for the opening of the Ohio Craft Museum exhibit, and a club demo for Jacques. The next several posts are from this past weekend. Wow! What a great weekend!


Walt Betley and Jacques Vesery relaxing in my kitchen. You can see part of my woodturning collection behind Jacques.


I had a small party on Friday night. L to R: Paul Fennell, Steve Wolfe, Walt Betley.


L to R: Barbara Crockett, Ron Damon, Jacques Vesery.


Lee Damon went with Craig Wright for a ride in his new car. They were gone a long time, and Ron kept muttering, "I can't believe my wife went for a ride with Craig Wright. . ."


They had good time, obviously.


After Jacques' demo with the Central Ohio Woodturners on Saturday, Steve and I invited Paul and Jacques to go see Concertante (a chamber group) at the Southern Theatre. Can you believe your eyes? Jacques wearing a tie - a Jerry Garcia one, of course, but, still, a tie!

L to R: J. Paul Fennell, Jacques Vesery, Andi Wolfe, Steve Wolfe

Jacques Vesery visits Central Ohio Woodturners

Jacques Vesery came to visit our club to do a hands-on class and an all day demo. We had the demo at Wood Werks, and there was a good turnout. Everyone enjoyed the day very much. Jacques started out with a demonstration of how he makes a hollow form. Then he gave a slide presentation to talk about his work and inspirations. After lunch he demonstrated carving and woodburning techniques to make his surface enhancements, and then he ended the day with painting and gold leaf techniques. Thanks, Jacques!


Jacques started the demo by talking about wood preparation.


Here is his swept-back grind on his small bowl gouge.


Jacques hard at work making his canvas.


Still at work.


And more turning...


Demonstrating carving techniques.


Three different leaf designs carved on wet wood.


Painting techniques demonstrated.


Examples of Jacques work.

"Our Turn Now" - Ohio Craft Museum: Opening

Our Turn Now: Artists Speak Out in Wood opened at the Ohio Craft Museum on January 22nd. The reception was from 1 - 4 pm. During the first two hours there were demonstrations and hands-on activities downstairs. There was also a lot of viewing activity going on in the exhibit. At 3 pm, J. Paul Fennell, Jacques Vesery, and I gave a "museum talk" about the work in the exhibit.

Here are some pictures of the opening and then from the museum talk. The pictures were taken by Steve Wolfe and Dave Long.


There was a great turnout for the exhibit, and people seemed very interested in the work.


More furious activity. I always like it when someone takes a closer look at my work.


Here are the three of us (Me, Paul Fennell, Jacques Vesery) watching Sharon, the executive director of the Ohio Designer Craftsmen, introducing the exhibit.


We had people stay in place as much as they could while we went around to talk about the work. We broke all the exhibit rules to hold pieces up (very carefully) for viewing when it was easy to do so.


We're watching Norm Sartorius tell us about his "ceremonial" spoons.


Jacques is talking about Mike Lee's family group of vessels.


Jerry Bennett describing his unusual sculpture.


J. Paul Fennell explaining his work.


My turn to talk about the botanical inspirations that are reflected in my work.


Jacques' turn.

"Our Turn Now" - Ohio Craft Museum

Here are some of the pieces in the exhibit.


Vessel by Bill Hunter.


An overview of the installation. You can see work by Michael Mode, Betty Scarpino, Ron Layport, Mark Sfirri, Dennis Elliot, Todd Hoyer, and Alain Mailland, J. Paul Fennell, Stephen Hogbin, Virginia Dotson in the glass case.


An older piece done by Frank Cummings.


A bleached and carved madrone vessel by Christian Burchard.


One of Christian's madrone baskets and two of his sculptural pieces. These are assembled hollow forms embellished with metal work.


A collaboration by Binh Pho and Alain Mailland. The title of the piece is "Arwen."


J. Paul Fennell standing next to his carved vessels. I wish I had less reflection off the glass, but you can see how beautiful the vessels are.


One of Jacques Vesery's vessels.


Self explanatory.



The piece that goes with the label.


My two other carved and colored leaf vessels.


Twisted bats by Mark Sfirri.


Some of Michael Mode's older work.

"Our Turn Now" - Ohio Craft Museum: People

Here are a few more pictures of people at the opening of the exhibit.


Judith Nestel was the curator who worked on this show. She's standing next to a William Hunter vessel (made from cocobolo).


Jacques Vesery and Paul Fennell looking over the exhibit before the opening. We needed to think about our approach to the museum talk later in the day. You can see Christian Burchard's work in the foreground. The dynamic duo is studying David Sengel's piece called, "Bush's Big Plate." Next to them is some work by Michael Mode, Todd Hoyer and weird bats by Mark Sfirri. You can also see a collaborative piece by Robyn Horn and Steve Loar and an offcenter bowl by Bruce Mitchell in the center of the room, but in the background of the photo.


Trouble makers three?


Betty Talbot standing with my "Dylan's Song." David Sengel's teapot is in the background.

"Our Turn Now" - Ohio Craft Museum: Demos

During the opening reception, two activities were going on downstairs. One was a woodturning demonstration by Jim Burrowes . . .



the other was a craft project (making bird feeders), organized and led by Walt Betley.

New Project, part V

After the rough-out is done the real fun begins. This is a series of photos showing the stages of carving the veins on a leaf surface. I use a high-speed air tool for this work.


Start by defining the veins.


Carve away the surface and leave the veins exposed.


Shape the veins, smooth the surface.


Ditto, but go back to Foredom tool now.


Use micromotor tool to do the final shaping and polishing.

New Project, part IV

I finished the roughout last weekend, but am just now finding time to update the blog. The first picture shows the back side after the roughout was finished. The second picture is a top view that shows the potential of this piece. It's going to be a lot of detail work from here on out.