News From the AAW

[note]The following is from the latest newsletter of the American Association of Woodturners. There is an amazing amount of activity going on in the AAW to advance the state of our craft, so if you are not already a member please consider joining.[/note]

aaw symposium collageOur 25th Anniversary Symposium was a great success and we want to share some of the highlights with you. We had over 1,700 registered attendees, 83 youth program participants, our largest Trade Show, and a rich Instant Gallery.

In addition to photos and highlights from the sypmposium in this newsletter, take a look at the calls for entry, Board of Directors voting information, and upcoming regional symposia.

We hope that you have had a great summer!

Photos from the symposium can be found on our Facebook page or at aawoodturners.blogspot.com

Remember to Vote for the AAW Board of Directors

The Nominating Committee has presented six candidates to the AAW Membership for their consideration. Find out more information about each candidate here.

Voting began August 1, 2011. Your vote must be cast electronically or postmarked no later than October 21, 2011.

You have two ways to vote:

1) Electronically: Visit woodturner.org/boardvote and log-in using your member number and password

2) Paper ballot: Complete the paper ballot, which is included in your poly-bagged August issue of American Woodturner, and mail using the enclosed self-addressed envelope.

All voting is handled by an audit firm; therefore the AAW office will not be able to send replacement ballots. If your ballot is misplaced, you will need to cast your vote electronically. We encourage you to participate in the voting process and hope that you are able to take the time to help make this election turnout significant.

Book Signing Event at Special Interest Night

The Special Interest Night book signing event was an even bigger success than we could have imagined. Attendees patiently waited in a line that traveled into the hallway to have over 50 artists and authors sign their books. Three of the woodturning community’s latest books were available that night; Conversations with Wood: Selections from the Waterbury Collection; The Cutting Edge: Contemporary Wood Art and the Lipton Collection; and Woodturning Today: A Dramatic Evolution. It was a great chance for people to browse the great new woodturning books, and meet the top artists and collectors.

Woodturning Today: A Dramatic Evolution

The symposium gave us a chance to showcase AAW’s 25th Anniversary book, Woodturning Today: A Dramatic Evolution. The response from members and the woodturning community was great!

This 256-page book is filled with color photographs of beautiful turned art, personal narratives, and a detailed walk-through of the past twenty-five years of AAW. Continue to tell the story of the American Association of Woodturners, and help new turners explore the history of this amazing craft.

We are happy to announce that pre-orders are arriving on the doorsteps of people around the world. Thank you all for your patience. We hope you enjoy your commemorative book!

If you have not yet ordered your copy, please page through this 18 page excerpt from Woodturning Today.

Object Conservation

During the 2011 Symposium, AAW and the Collectors of Wood Art co-sponsored a discussion on object conservation. The discussion was led by conservators, Laura Kubick and Hugh Schockey, from the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC.

The Smithsonian has generously shared their hand-outs from the panel discussion. Two articles are available to view online: Selecting Materials for Wood Art and Preservation of Wooden Objects.

Unseen Pleasures of Turning

Tib Shaw, Curator of the AAW’s Gallery of Wood Art, and Malcolm Zander worked with Vision Loss Resources in Minnesota to organize an event at the symposium for a small group of blind participants to learn more about woodturning.

Follow this link for details and photos from the event.

Thank You 2011 Symposium Volunteers!

On behalf of the entire AAW board and staff, we would like to thank all of the volunteers that worked so hard during the symposium. The 25th Anniversary International Symposium was a milestone in AAW history, and because of the strong support from volunteers, the symposium continues to be a great success! Thank you for all of your dedication and hard work.

Please take a moment to look at the list of 2011 symposium volunteers.

AAW / newsletter

2012 AAW Chapter Challenge

Your SPSW Board of Directors thought it would be a good project to come up with a Chapter Challenge entry for the next AAW Symposium in June 2012. Bill Bender and Mike Hughes have already volunteered to start coming up with ideas for the project, but they also want contributions from all club members who have great and gifted ideas.

AAW Chapter Challenge Guidelines:

The entries may be functional or not, as long as they are turned by multiple memebers and limited only by the imagination of the participants. The best entry in each category will receive a winner’s plaque presented at the banquet. More explicit directions for the AAW Chapter Collaborative Challenge project are specified in the latest issue (August 2011, page 11) of the AAW American Woodturner. Categories are:

  • Artistic
  • Mechanical/Technical
  • Fantasy

In addition to the winners in the three categories, there will be a Best in Show plaque for the best of the best.

For inspiration and ideas, see what entries have been presented at previous symposiums at this link at the AWW website.

For more information, please contact:
Wally Haugan, coordinator
Phone: 253-631-5949
Email Address: hauganwj @ msn.com

AAW / members / symposiums

August Demonstrator – Dan Ackerman

Dan Ackerman boxI started woodturning in 1986 after witnessing a few turners demonstrating at the Bellevue Craft show. The first five years was just a compulsive effort trying to learn tools, sharpening, design, etc.; starting with bowls,, then hollow forms, then boxes, and a variety of other shapes and disciplines. Along the way, I was fortunate to assist David Ellsworth at Arrowmont School for the Crafts and we became friends. He was very helpful in giving me insight and direction. Then I ran for the board of the “National Association of Woodturners” and during the next five years influenced the start of their now active film library! As a board member I got to go to the national symposium for all five years and watched some of the world’s great turners and learn.

Dan Ackerman BoxMeanwhile during this time, I experimented with all sorts of ideas, including starting a rosewood gift business with my wife Kathy and a few employees. We did that for 10 years until I burned out on doing production turning 7 days a week, with no vacations and, it seemed like, no rest. By then we were doing some of the best shows in the country: Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York. But, we weren’t seeing the return we expected and we were both burned out, Kathy on marketing and me on production.

Dan Ackerman boxIn doing all this turning I had become quick and self assured and I had decided to do boxes as the most stimulating form of turning. My “nitch” design is the box within a box which you will see at the demo. It is unique and it stimulated an old hobby of mine, woodcarving, which I combine with my design boxes. I’ll have some examples of carved boxes also at the demo and look forward to seeing some of my friends at the Fife Club. Thank you for having me.

demonstrator / Membership Meeting

Sanding Deep Hollow Forms

1

The Northeast Florida Woodturners Association (Jaxturners) have posted videos of their latest meeting demonstration. In this demonstration Bob Hunt starts with a discussion of turning safety, sandpaper and techniques for sanding deep hollow forms.

Here is the first of the four videos. You can see them all on the Jaxturners YouTube Channel.

httpv://youtu.be/qFsKU6feJRA

demonstrator / safety / techniques

Board Message from American Association of Woodturners

[note]This message was sent by AAW Board Member Stan Wellborn[/note]

Working Without a Rule Book

Stan WellbornAt a regional symposium a couple of years ago, I watched a wonderful demo by Mark Gardner, a talented young turner in North Carolina. At one point, he performed a chucking technique that was inventive – and unorthodox. Someone in the audience joked, “You know you really can’t do that.”

Mark just grinned at us and said, “Show me the rule book.”

Since then, I’ve often thought how nice it is to enjoy a pursuit like woodturning in which there are no firm do’s and don’ts. To be sure, we have to observe basic safety measures, learn how to ride the bevel, keep a sharp edge, and other basics. But beyond the fundamentals, the field is open to anything you want to try – so long as you get the result you want.

Today’s turners certainly aren’t afraid to venture into the new and unfamiliar. One guy produces stunning pieces by turning fragile twigs embedded in blocks of ice. At my local club last month, I saw a veteran turner produce a beautiful platter using nothing but a 1½-inch scraper. In my own shop, I’m doing a lot of hollowing with the lathe running in reverse. And every issue of American Woodturner contains some novel way of doing tried-and-true lathework.

What does any of this have to do with AAW operations? It’s true that the AAW Board has a detailed handbook of procedures and protocols that govern our actions – everything from budgeting to bylaws, and from ethics to elections. With that foundation in place, the AAW is free to try out new ideas and “think outside the bowl.”

At our national symposium earlier this summer in Saint Paul, AAW members suggested a variety of great new ideas to me and other Board members and staff. We continue to get both critical and constructive proposals by phone and e-mail. I’m eager to try to put some of these ideas into action, because introducing dynamic and positive change is what keeps any organization fresh and innovative.

The AAW Board and our Executive Director are determined to try new approaches to expand the organization’s membership to broader demographic and geographic areas – especially to international prospects, retiring baby-boomers, and younger audiences. We welcome all your ideas and will give them serious consideration.

And, you don’t need to worry about any rule books.

Happy Turning!

AAW / Message