2007 AAW Symposium - Part 2a

Friday, June 29, 2007. The first day of the AAW symposium began with the opening ceremony. The highlight was a beautiful and moving tribute to Frank Sudol given by Binh Pho. Frank was scheduled to be a lead demonstrator this year, but passed away in December 2006. He will be sorely missed in our woodturning community.

The 2007 AAW symposium was at the Oregon Convention Center - a wonderful facility. I had attended a scientific meeting here about five years ago and was impressed with the facility for taking care of a large group of scientists. I was even more impressed with the facility for an AAW symposium. The rooms were large enough for everyone to have a comfortable view of the demonstrators. The video set-up seemed to go very smoothly. The trade show and instant gallery spaces were great, and the volunteers and AAW staff members were helpful and they all did a terrific job of putting on a great symposium.




I dropped in on the beginning of the youth turning program as Bonnie Klein was finishing the set-up.










Who goes with which lathe???









I hadn't had a decent cup of coffee by the time I reached the convention center so I stopped in at Starbucks. It was a pleasure to find Jane and Arthur Mason there and I sat down with them for a visit. Jane and Arthur have been avid collectors and supporters of woodturning as art. Check the website for the Mint Museum, which hosts part of their collection.

I was introduced to the Masons at last year's symposium and so I just this year learned that Jane is a very talented 2D artist. She had her sketch book with her and showed me some of the drawings and sketches she had been working on.

Wow! I was very impressed. She captures the essence of a scene and the expressions of the people she sketches very well.



I've always wished I could draw. For the longest time I measured the worth of an artist by their ability to sketch. Maybe that's because my mother is a 2D artist and I used to sit as a model in her art classes, listening to the discussions bouncing around behind the easels.

My drawing ability is pretty limited to doodles and sketching plant parts in my field notebooks. I was so surprised to discover that I had some artistic talent in 3D and that my color sense was so well developed. I think it's because I've spent several decades learning to "see" nature through the lens of a camera or the eyepiece of a microscope. I still wish I could draw, though.







I did a quick round of visiting some of the demonstration rooms after finishing my coffee. Art Liestman had a good crowd watching him talk about elements of design.

I see Dennis Laidler there in the back (white-haired ponytail). . .





The Japanese turners also had a full room. Yoshinori Satake was talking about the history of Urishi-ware via an interpreter.









Alan Lacer. I'm not sure what rotation this was from - I'd guess it had something to do with use of the skew or making boxes.










Mike Jakofsky demonstrated hollow form techiques.









I took a quick walk through the trade show area and found Jimmy Clewes hard at work.







What I was really after was some prime time in the instant gallery during the early part of the day while everyone was wrapped up in the first rotations. I'll post part of my pictures now and finish it in a later post (Part 2b). FYI - I didn't take photos of all of the turnings in the instant gallery. What you'll see here are pieces that caught my eye. I'm biased toward decorated and sculptural work, so if you're looking for brown and round - I'm sorry to disappoint you. While I like the beautifully made bowl, platter, box, or hollow form made from beautiful wood, I find it much more interesting to see turnings that have gone beyond turning as a canvas for wood grain.





These fun turnings are by Art Liestman. I like how he's carried his Mondrian and Puzzle Illusion motifs forward into these interesting shapes.







This was an interesting vessel done as a collaboration by Millie and Ray Daikawa. It looked like a metal inlay, but I didn't pick it up to take a closer look. I'm not too sure about the way the design went onto the vessel, but the potential for this type of surface enhancement is certainly good.








Beautiful ornamental turning work by Robert Sakawye.











I liked the clean lines of these vessels made by Tom Crabb.










I also enjoyed seeing this pierced vessel by John Shrader.








Garry Bowes is developing a sculptural series. The first ones I saw seemed very rigid and stilted - these have so much more life to them. I can't wait to see what he brings to next year's symposium.







I love wood and glass together and so these finials were great to see. Dave Schweitzer brought these to the instant gallery. Dave collaborates with glass artist Bryan Rubino for the finials. It's a nice combination.







Then there's the amazing political and satirical humor of the zany Gerrit Van Ness. This one is titled, "Green with Envy."










This one is called, "Liar, Liar!"










"End of the Road."

I'd love to see a gallery exhibit of Gerrit's work. These small glimpses don't give the proper context for his creativity.










Multi-axis turnings by Mark Sfirri. You can see some process pics from my earlier blog postings.















John Williams is doing some great texture and coloring enhancements on his vessels.












Here's a detail view of the pyrography and coloring treatment.









These earring and necklace holders by Caroline Harkness are favorites of my mother-in-law.














I'm sitting in my "studio" chair in my living room as I enter this blog posting. I'm looking at my Michael Werner multi-axis bowl/sculpture that hangs on my wall. I love these platters - they're so interesting to explore.









It's great to see wearable art made from turnings. This necklace was made by Robert Nelson.















It's always fun to see where my influence has had an impact. This and the next decorated platter are by Bruce Campbell.

















Wow! I love the color and surface treatment here. These three vessels were made by Steve Sinner.









































A "Red Cord" vessel (left) and "Chinese Lattice" one (right) by J. Paul Fennell.









Lidded vessels by Wally Dickerman.












Two sculptural pieces by Booker Brooks. Booker is a fellow clubmate of my in Central Ohio Woodturners.














Colorful pierced work by Joey Richardson. You can see the influence of Binh Pho in this work.






I wanted to get to some rotations, so I took a break in photographing instant gallery selections. On my way out of the gallery I saw Gerrit Van Ness and Jim Christiansen sorting through envelopes. They're organizing a gallery exhibit and had all the invitations with them to distribute to various artists.

Art Liestman and I will be sending a collaborative piece to this exhibit.



The first POP (Professional Outreach Program) presentation was originally scheduled to be given by Giles Gilson. Unfortunately, Giles had to cancel. The presentation turned into a panel discussion on the work of Giles Gilson.

Panelists were (L to R): Jacques Vesery, Binh Pho, Ray Leier and Jan Peterson. Ray and Jan own del Mano Gallery.






The next rotation I attended was by Alain Mailland. Alain does some of the most interesting sculptural work in contemporary woodturning. You can see the carving he's doing on this tree vessel if you look at the big screen.






I'm hoping to go study with Alain sometime in the next two years.











This explains the next photo.






















I'll end "Part 2a" with this photo of Molly Winton's rotation.

I can't believe how many pictures I took! It's going to take a bit more time to finish all the processing and posting of photos. Stay tuned for more good fun. . .