AAW Symposium - Thursday, 2006 Jun 22

This year's symposium was on an odd schedule (Thursday - Saturday). Usually it's Friday to Sunday. I started the day by trying to find a place to eat breakfast away from the hotel. With 2000 registrants and most of them staying at the hotel, it seemed a good plan to go away from there for meals. Art Liestman and I were going to go to Luigi's for breakfast pizza, but that fizzled out when they weren't open for breakfast. We did manage to find a small deli that served coffee and bad breakfast muffins. Wasn't great, but it served the purpose.

I found Steve Loar on the trade show floor about 8 am and found out where he had put my package of turnings. He brought back two pieces for me from the "Our Turn Now - Artists Speak out in Wood" show that had just finished at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I put those into the instant gallery along with the two pieces I brought with me.

The IG opened just as I was finishing my set-up so I was able to get around and take pictures before it got too crowded in there. Here are some of the turnings that caught my eye in the instant gallery:



Two large platters by Harvey Fein. These are really interesting pieces that are constructed on the lathe with a router set-up that Harvey designed. He puts a lot of thought into the design process.










Mark Kauder with his vessels. He was giving them a final dusting before the gallery opened.













Michael Hosaluk vessel. Michael is very creative, and I always enjoy seeing where his imagination has taken him with his work.















Three carved hollow forms by Dixie Biggs.














A carved vessel by Peter Madsen. This reminds me of an artichoke or something similar in the sunflower family. The detail work on this was nicely done.

















Exquisite work by Hans Weissflog.












Collaboration between Jack and Linda Fifield. Linda does the beading on these vessels, and they're wonderfully made.












Molly Winton's caveman art vessel.


















Collaboration between Molly Winton and Dave Bowers.

















Fred Klap's contributions to the instant gallery. I love the finials on these boxes.











Work by Pam Reilly. I have one of Pam's holly and bloodwood boxes. She's doing some very nice work this year.













Carved platters by Betty Scarpino. I like the progression of this series from bottom to top.


















Carved vessels by Avelino Samuel.











Nick Arnull's hollow forms.














John Jordan hollow forms.












I don't know what this is called, but Elvie Jackson made it. Elvie is an ex-submariner, and there's some statement behind this piece. It's humongous.










One of Gerritt van Ness's tin man series. This one is called, "Getting to First Base."















Sculptures by Trent Bosch.
















John Lucas made this platter using an inside-out construction technique. It's very interesting to see in person.




















A three-way collaboration between Binh Pho, Julie Heryet and Nick Arnull.















Keith Tompkins rose and fish sculpture.














Pat Kramer's Norfolk Island Pine vessels.














Interesting segmented work by Bill Smith. I especially like the fluted bowl.

















Suspended boxes by Gary Saunders.













Art Liestman's new work. I like the movement captured in the dancing figures.











Hollow forms by master turner David Ellsowrth.













Here are my four pieces in the instant gallery. I had the two on the right in Provo last week. The other two just came off exhibit (January - June).

I'm happy to report that the two on the right have new homes.








David and Ruth Waterbury with David Ellsworth. David and Ruth added "Hidden world" to their collection. David had just given me a critique, which was very helpful.











David and Ruth with their new collection


















A happy artist (even if a bit sleep-deprived at this point in time).
















I went to some interesting rotations on Thursday. The first one was by Clay Foster.




Here I am with Clay who is sporting a new hairstyle this year. I've always known Clay with long hair in a pony tail. I hardly recognized him the first time he said hello to me on Wednesday.








Clay was demonstrating how he makes a hollow form in two sections. He had a map of Texas on the wall to show where his hometown, Krum, is located. I love Clay's sense of humor and the zingers he throws out in his deadpan delivery. Here's what he said about his home town:

"Krum is so small that our fire fighting equipment is a big brown dog."






I also went to Giles Gilson's panel discussion on inspiration from prior art. David Ellsworth and Kevin Wallace also were on the panel. This didn't end up quite as I expected since some of the artists actually sent in slides of their inspirations that weren't from prior art. It was still good, but not what I had expected.






J. Paul Fennell led a panel discussion on cultural appropriation, which included Clay Foster, Binh Pho, Graeme Priddle and Curt Theobold. The best quote of this one was again from Clay Foster who was talking about the use of symbols that one may not fully understand.

"Merely having the Chinese symbols of "beef with broccoli" tattooed above your butt crack doesn't make you spiritual." Graeme Priddle jumped in there and added, "No, but it does make you 'sexy.'"



Carl Voss sitting at Butch and Pat Titus' desk. The sign is cute.



















I finally met Merryll Saylan! She was checking out the Cryosteel Engineering Technology display. Merryll is one of my personal heroes in woodturning, so it was a real pleasure to have a chance to meet her and talk to her about her work. She's very nice.






Thursday was capped off with a dinner for members of the "World of Woodturning" web forum. This was started by Herm deVries a few years ago. Herm wasn't able to be there with us in Louisville, but Art Liestman and I took care of the gift exchange. You can see more pictures posted here.



We met at a restaurant called, "RAW," which is supposed to be a good sushi place. They had a challenge in handling the 120 or so WoWies that showed up. The highlight of the evening was a turner's exchange.








I sat with the Canadian group, including Joe Houpt from Toronto and Art Liestman from Vancouver, BC. Art had just been making "moose antlers" while the picture taking was going on.







After the WoW dinner, Bonnie Klein and I had a small gathering in our room at the Galt House. We had a nice set-up with a living room area separated from the bedroom and bath areas. I forgot to take pictures - sorry! We did have a nice time, though.