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Let's have a Symposium report

C

C Edward Moore

Joined
Apr 25, 2004
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Location
Burnt Chimney, SW Virginia
Website
www.burntchimneystudios.com
I hope that everyone who attended the Symposium had a terrific time and that they came back fired up to turn some special project. Please share your experiences with the "homebound" and tell us about it. In particular, was there a gathering of forum members at the Sheraton as planned? How was the panel discussion about copying the work of others?

And on the light side, did anyone deliver my message to Bob Rosand about the $3 that I owe him? 😀
 
Ed - I just got back from my first symposium and it was awesome. There was some absolutely fantastic work displayed in the gallery as well. Based on what I learned, I will be doing the following:
1) Turning a cube on the bias
2) More multi-axis turning
3) Inlaid boxes
4) Salt Urn
5) Trembleur
6) Experimenting with surface treatments
7) Spent more money (after all, you can't take it with you) 😱

Steve
 
Steve, it seems you attended Jean-Francois Escoulen demo 😉
I just did a trembleur last wednesday, but it broke after 50cm (19"), just 3" before the targeted length. I managed to save it, but the base is not as I had intended.
Pascal
 
Pascal Oudet said:
Steve, it seems you attended Jean-Francois Escoulen demo 😉
I just did a trembleur last wednesday, but it broke after 50cm (19"), just 3" before the targeted length. I managed to save it, but the base is not as I had intended.
Pascal
Click to expand...
Yes - He was a wonderful presenter and obviously very skilled. He did demonstrate his homemade string steady which appears to be a requirement if you do anything longer than about 6". As I learn how to do this, I do expect to have shorter than expected pieces. I also attended his multi-axis turning demo. I missed his eccentric ball & chuck demo apparently due to a change in schedule. 🙁 I have heard there may be a video coming out on this.
Steve
 
Panel Discussions

Ed Moore said:
I hope that everyone who attended the Symposium had a terrific time and that they came back fired up to turn some special project. Please share your experiences with the "homebound" and tell us about it. In particular, was there a gathering of forum members at the Sheraton as planned? How was the panel discussion about copying the work of others?
Click to expand...

Terrific time, indeed.

The panel on copying was quite civilized, and the room was SRO. There seemed a majority feeling, if not consensus, from the panel that he who "steals" ideas and trys to market them as his own hurts himself far more than the original creator of an particular idea. Johannes Michelsen was delightfully up front when he stated that there is nobody that "copys" more than he and wondered whether the Stetson Hat Company wouldn't have something to say about what he makes for a living. On the other side, copying of the "master" by the "student" is expected and encouraged. Go to a Bihn Pho demo, go home and do his stuff, and try to go him one better, and he'll be very pleased (I think). The key point here was going the teacher "one better", taking what is given and advancing it another notch or moving it as a technique in a new direction, or at least trying to do so.

There were no fisticuffs, no accusations of elitist snobbery or allegations of entrapment, indeed no arguments or even modestly raised voices. But there were detailed points of view, and honest information in an open, caring, and "professional" atmosphere.

The panel on inspiration and ideas ran rather too long for audience involvement. It seems, however, that those folks coming up with "new" ideas and techniques, busy though they may be, always make time to stop and observe the world around them, and then think about what they see and how they can apply it to their work. Sort of "Stop and smell the roses, you might just learn something from them."

The quality of the work in the Instant Gallery was daunting and inspiring at the same time.

Finally got to meet our Moderators. Amazing, however, how much Steve looks like his avitar. 😀 😀

Mark
 
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Marcia and I, (Johnny) just got back home from K.C. and what a GREAT time we had. The instant gallery was truly awsome. I have numerous pictures to down load and if I can only figure out how to load some. Then again, Jeff was there and most likely will post some pictutres for all to see. The demonstrations were truly OUTSTANDING, far too many to watch all of them, so I saelected what I was interested in. The auction netted over $68,000.00 for the educational fund. My piece brought a fair amount and I'm pleased with my donation. Now we should see moneys given back to people whom need it to advance their skills and others interested in woodturning. Johnny
 
Thank you!

Jim,

Thank you for posting the pictures. And yes, your girls are pretty. 🙂

There were some pretty impressive pieces shown in those photos.


Mark,

Thank you for the synopsis of the panel discussion. As many of us have probably figured out, much of the copying issue is perception and attitude. I'm glad that the discussion was about an exchange of ideas and viewpoints and that the ugly side of things was suppressed.

I have chatted privately with Binh Pho about this topic and I liked his approach to it. The bottom line for me seemed to be "Use the techniques, but find your own artistic area." In other words piercing and airbrushing is fine, but don't try to do the oriental motif with dragonflies, snakes and kimonos. Find an area of your own such as animals, flowers, or trees. Binh will tell you very quickly that Frank Sudol was his teacher. I am sure that no one would have trouble distinguishing Binh's work from Frank's.

I was particularly interested to hear about Johannes' comments. If you use his methods you are probably making a hat. So I have felt that he in particular has been "sinned against" more than most. But for him to point out that he is copying Stetson hats puts a very interesting perspective on things. I wonder if he feels that he has been ripped off by others who make hats like his. 😕 🙂
 
Hats, Big and Small

Ed Moore said:
I was particularly interested to hear about Johannes' comments. If you use his methods you are probably making a hat. So I have felt that he in particular has been "sinned against" more than most. But for him to point out that he is copying Stetson hats puts a very interesting perspective on things. I wonder if he feels that he has been ripped off by others who make hats like his.
Click to expand...

That was discussed, and while I didn't transcribe or even take notes, my recollection is that there are a lot of people around the world making hats who learned his techniques which was fine, even satisfying to him. I seem to remember, however, that there was a brief mention about someone doing hats but then attributing them to Johannes to raise the sale prices. THAT got a flash in his eyes.

Mark
 
Wow - another incredible symposium

The 2005 Symposium set 3 new records:
- Over 1,100 attendees overall
- Over 1,300 folks at the Saturday banquet
- $68,000 raised for the Educational Opportunity Grants referenced here
(last year $56,000 was raised)

Also:
  • I linked up with numerous folks from Austin !
  • the impressive work presented in the Instant Gallery was great
  • the Youth turning room was a success - with the 21 lathes in constant use by our next generation of turners getting great instruction from experienced turners
  • the demonstrations and discussions were inspirational
  • I got to meet many of the people I've "met" over this forum and the other forums
  • the juried Oz exhibition was fantastic
  • I learned a bunch from both adhoc discussions and the scheduled demonstrations
  • the selection of goodies on the tradeshow floor was hard to resist
  • I got to see new and modified tools and lathes including the PM 3520b (which I'll describe in a new thread)

As always the AAW webmaster will post pics of
  • the symposium
  • the juried exhibit (Oz this year)
  • the instant gallery
  • the chapter collaborative entries and winners
  • and a few other pics like the tradeshow floor, etc
I will try to get the pics posted within a week. (pics from last year) I am also working on a larger software project in parallel for the AAW, and that will be described and explained later.

My thanks to all the folks who made the symposium happen - most of whom tirelessly volunteered their time...a huge list of people from all over the AAW membership.
 
Excellent Symposium, Problem with vendor

Greetings, all,

I also had a great time at KC. I'm waiting for my colored dyes to arrive in hopes of creating my version of Phil Irons' beauties.

One problem for me. I bought some chokecherry burls froma vendor named Fulmer Hardwoods. I bought a slab about 3 inches thick and 10-12" across, thinking it would make 3-4 covered vessels and boxes. It was heavily coated in parafin (to prevent checking, I assumed) When I started to cut it apart, I found that the extra-thick layer on the bottom covvered a huge area of totally rotted wood, right through the center. I got one small box out of the entire slab.

I know, buyer beware. For all the rest of you, beware when you buy from Fulmer Hardwoods. They couldn't have missed that bad wood, and in my opinion, purposely sold me junk. If I had my way, they wouldn't be invited back to another symposium.

Ok, enough griping. All in all, a wonderful event. I really enjoyed the sessions with Phil Irons, Cris Stott, and Dave Lancaster. Several good points from others on teaching form to new turners. We brought 9 members to the event, including two youth members, one of whom wonthe "Best of Show" award from his peers. He also was lucky enough to win a new lathe and tools, which his mother tells me will be shared with his brother.

I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Ron Williams
MinnDak Woodturners
 
Bad Wood

Ron,

I would suggest that you contact the vendor directly about the wood. While some wood-sellers cut and prep the blanks, others merely buy and resell so would not have seen the rot any more than you did. Give the guy a chance to "make it right" before you encourage others not to deal with him. If you don't have contact information, the AAW will have all the specifics as they don't allow just any fly-by-night to set up a stall.
 
for the photo guys

Did any one photograph the auction table and its contents? Since it drew a very considerable amount of money for the EOG Fund, I'd be inerested in seeing what sort of turnings it contained.
 
Yes - I got 12-15 pics of the auction items while they were still in the instant gallery area. Those will be posted in the upcoming AAW online symposium gallery.

And as always, the AAW will have CDs/DVDs of the Symposium, including the instant gallery and auction items.
 
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