Chapter Profile: New Mexico Woodturners

new mexico woodturnersSeems like the are many well known artists from the Southwest. There are many types of art – paintings, sculpture, pottery, weavings and wood – that have a Southwest style.

The AAW chapter in Albuquerque also has some great artists. The New Mexico Woodturners was formed in 1992 and now has over 100 members from the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and around central New Mexico. They meet on the first Saturday of the month. Recent demonstrators include Molly Winton who is a professional woodturner from the Northwest, Dave Stein who demonstrated turning parts and articulated joints for operable wooden “machines”, and coming up in July is Ralph Watts on how to layout, turn and carve legs for your vessel or bowl.

The members of the NMW participate each year in a woodturning exhibition at the New Mexico State Fair. The exhibition includes woodturning competitions, live demonstratons, and videos on a range of turning topics.

The NMW website has several galleries of work produced by the members as well as several tutorials on Long Stemmed Goblets, Metal Spinning, Advanced Laminations, Happy Face Pens, Laminate a Zia and more. They also have a fun quiz to test your wood eye – Think You Know Your Wood?

So for some of that Southwest feel, check out the New Mexico Woodturners.

chapter profile

AAW Symposium Planning Guide

The AAW Symposium being held this month in St. Paul, Minnesota, looks to be an amazing event. If you are planning on attending you may want to download the Symposium Planning Guide. And if you are unable to attend, the planning guide looks like a great overview of what is planned.

A quick look at the guide shows that there are 78 demonstrators and panelists, including some who have demonstrated at SPSW meetings. There are four exhibits including a retrospective on David Ellsworth’s turning career and items from the AAW Permanent Collection. There will be eight galleries, including an instant gallery, the Chapter Collaborative Challenge, and emerging artists. There is a banquet Saturday night and a trade show throughout the weekend.

There are also gatherings of the virtual chapters – Ornamental Turners International, Segmented Woodturners and Principally Pens.

You can download either a low-res version or a high-res version from the AAW Website.

AAW

May Board Minutes Posted

For those SPSW members who like to keep up with what is happening at the board meetings, the minutes of the May 31st meeting have been posted. Look under “For Members\Board Minutes\2011\May”

members

Segmented Woodturners June Chapter Summary

The Segmented Woodturners virtual chapter of the AAW has released the June Club Summary. Here are some of the goings on:

June is membership renewal month and all members will need to renew before June 30th in order to continue to have access to the full site, like the forum, gallery, and links. Renewal is easier that ever and can be completed through the club website. And with your renewal, or new membership, you will receive a free DVD of the Symposium that was held at Arrowmont last November.

Some of the classes available at the AAW Symposium in St. Paul this month will be conducted by the Segmented Woodturners Chapter president, Malcolm Tibbetts. The classes include:

  • Introduction to Segmented Woodturning
  • Checkered Hollow Form
  • Tricks and Tips for Segmenters
  • Segmented Sculpture
  • Stave Construction

Planning for the next segmented symposium is going on. The date has been set (subject to change) for Oct. 19-21, 2012 at South Lake Tahoe, CA. Suggestions for demonstrators are being requested so make sure to submit your choice.

The June 2011 edition of the American Woodturner has a great five page article on the 2nd Segmented Woodturners symposium. The article also has plenty of pictures too! It’s well worth checking out.

With the current spate of publicized woodturning injuries, a poll is being taken as to how many members use a face shield while turning. As of the time of the club summary, 54 members have replied and 24% of the responders indicated that they “rarely” used a face shield.

Some of the current forum discussions include:

  • How to maintain focus when working with large projects and keeping all in order
  • A discussion on the most efficient way to cut staves for segments
  • A member is getting ready to re-organize his shop and was looking for recommendations on sliding miter saws
  • A question about the best glue to use for gluing acrylic pen blank material into a segmented ring

At last year’s Segmented Turning Symposium, Jamie Donaldson conducted a photography session. He has recently given permission to distribute his training guide, Donaldson Phrugal Photo Studio. You can download it from the Segmented Woodturners website, but you must be logged in first to see it.

The chapter website received 6,146 unique visitors in March and 444,205 page views.

AAW / chapter profile / segmented

June Membership Meeting

The second of this year’s Mini Symposium’s. These are always an extremely popular event. Get there early and enjoy not only Beth’s wonderful refreshments, but also your chance to learn from some of your fellow club members. It is amazing that I learn something new at each one of these events. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill in our club. Join in on the conversations at each of the demonstration areas. You too will be amazed at not only what you can learn, but also what you can impart to your fellows. This month’s demonstrators:

dan stromstadDan Stromstad – bowl turning

 

 

 

 

968529898_y2ldz-l-1Paul Crabtree – bowl hollowing

 

 

 

 

Carol Zandel – little bitty things

 

 

 

 

 

stephanie laneStephanie Lane – pyrography

 

 

 

 

 

Jack Wayne – small platters

 

 

 

 

 

Warren Swift – small jigs

This will be your first chance to see someone turning on our new Powermatic. Don’t miss this event.

Membership Meeting / woodturning events

What’s Happening at Other Chapters

The Woodturners of Olympia will be holding their Turn and Learn event at their June 23rd meeting. Topics to be covered include coloring/dyeing, turn a pen for our Military Personnel, finishing projects – wax, varnish, photography methods turning bottle stoppers, turning hollow forms and platters w/ band inserts. The meeting starts at 6:30 with a potluck preceding at 5:30.

The Seattle Woodturners meeting is scheduled for June 9th and will feature Dick Watson. Dick will be demonstrating the skew. His talk will cover five basic cuts, different types of skews, as well as sharpening techniques.

The Northwest Woodturners meeting will feature pen fabrication and design with Mitch Patton. They will also be holding a Learn-to-Turn session at the Rockler Annex in Beaverton, Oregon on June 11th, 9:30 am to 1 pm. This is an especially good opportunity for new turners to bring questions, pet projects, tools to be mastered and have plenty of expert willing help.

The Beaver State Woodturners in Eugene, Oregon will be meeting June 27, 6:00 PM at the Woodcraft in Eugene. The demonstration will be provided by Dean Jordan on metal spinning.

woodturning events