November Demonstrator – John Shrader

John ShraderOnce again we are fortunate to have John Shrader as this month’s presenter. Many of you probably remember John’s presentation from last November. It was certainly one of the best presentations
of the year.

In John’s words – “I try to convey a feeling of grace and elegance with my work. I love the richness of wood grain and delight in displaying it so others can also appreciate its beauty. While I find perfection admirable, for me it is the siren song leading to being safe, so I strive most of all for excellence. I utilize my background in engineering to facilitate executing difficult projects, but the technology is always subservient to communicating a feeling or an idea. For me, working in my shop a joyful experience. I hope that this joy is communicated to those who acquire my work, and that they share in it.”

This is certainly evidenced by the following:

shrader turning“Fine Wood Artists member John Shrader has won the Carol Duke Award of Excellence at the Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair July 29-31, 2011 in Bellevue WA for his outstanding woodturnings.

There were approximately 1,000 submissions to the fair for the 325 booths available. From these 325, only ten were chosen for the Award of Excellence. The Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair was recently chosen as one of the top 100 art fairs in the country, and drew an estimated 330,000 people to the three day event.”

You owe it to yourselves to attend this presentation. I am sure it will again be one of the best of the year.