Turning 2011 symposium

The Ohio Valley Woodturning Guild does a symposium every other year.  I started attending in 2001, and I've been to all but one ever since then (I missed 2005 because of my trip to Australia to demonstrate in another symposium).  The attendance is capped at 250, which makes it pretty cozy and easy to visit with folks.  The symposium takes place at a church camp, which has housing and dining facilities as well as a huge hall for setting up the demo areas.  The only drawback is the difficult acoustics in such a venue, but the quality of the demonstrations and demonstrators more than make up for that.

In addition to the featured demonstrators, there are guest demonstrators who fill in the early morning and late afternoon time slots.  I'm doing two demos in that framework - one on 3D carving and the other on coloring techniques.

Here is a snapshot of the symposium.  I didn't spend a lot of time processing these images, so they are nearly straight from the camera.

Al Stirt demonstrations include platters, fluting, surface texturing.

Jimmy Clewes knows how to throw some shavings.

Betty Scarpino does a great demo on sculptural aspects of her work.

Kimberly Winkle demonstrated techniques for making a stool, and surface enhancement techniques. 

Avelino Samuel's demos included hollow forms with spirals and straight flutes.

Keith Holt has a series of demonstrations on multi-axis turning to explain his approach to using the lathe for sculptural work.

Benoít Averly's demos focus on box making.  I purchased one of his hut boxes and am delighted to add it to my collection.

Richard Raffan - always a class act.

AAW booth at the trade show

John Jordan, Al Stirt and Basil Kelsey

Stubby Lathe demo in the trade show

Doug Thompson of Thompson Tools (buy them - they are amazing!).

Jim Burrowes demo

Youth Turning

Youth Turning - I think this guy is pretty happy with the program.