David's Reports On AAW Conference

My wife Victoria and I just returned from Orlando, Florida after taking in three days of the American Association of Woodturners symposium. To sum it up, the symposium was AWESOME! There were non-stop demonstrations going on by some of the best turners in the country as well as some of the best turners in the world. In conjunction with that they had a tradeshow located adjacent to the conference filled with everything you need to create incredible works of art on the lathe. Burls, state of the art lathes, specialized turning tools, laser guided boring bars for turning hollow vessels, resin impregnated colored burls, vegetable ivory, unique carbide rotary burrs that cut with ease, you name it, it was all under one roof. My only frustration was that there were anywhere from 12 to 14 demonstrations going on simultaneously, all of which I wanted to see and of course, you can only take in one at a time. In addition to a Saturday night banquet and auction to raise funds for the Woodturners scholarship fund, there was an incredible "Instant Gallery" that boggled the imagination. The tradition of the "Instant Gallery" is such that woodturners are invited to bring up to three pieces of their work and place them on display for their fellow members to view and to purchase. The breadth and the scope of the work on display ranged from exquisite miniatures such as Steve Sinner’s pierced goblet that was about three inches tall with a stem that was approximately 1/16th of an inch in diameter, to some three foot tall hollow vessels turned out of solid spalted maple.

Carvings, piercings, Bin Pho’s beautifully airbrushed hollow vessels, segmented work, pieces with threaded lids, the list goes on and on of pieces too beautiful to describe with words. It was a wonderful experience and I arrived home with enough inspiration to last until next year's symposium.