October 2009 AAW Board LetterFrom Frank Amigo
Greetings fellow wood turners. This will be my last letter, but hopefully not the last contact we have. For health reasons, I have decided not to run for the AAW board again. The past three years have been fun and very interesting. I have served on the Symposium Committee. Again for health reasons I was not able to participate as fully as I wished. I worked on the Educational Opportunity Grants Committee, chaired by Malcolm Tibbetts, and enjoyed that a lot. The only drawback there was that we were not able to give as many grants as we would have liked. These grants are funded by the money raised at the Saturday night auction at our yearly symposiums. I also worked on the Chapters Committee, am liaison to the Ethics Committee and chair of the Nominating Committee. I am most proud of our work on the latter. The nominees for the AAW board this year are a very strong group. No matter whom you select out of the six, we will have a very strong board, so please vote. I started turning as a hobby about 1978 and joined the AAW in 1989, after retiring from government work. At that point, my life changed greatly. You all know how addictive turning is. I found work that I really loved and an organization that allowed me to get fully involved in this work. I turned, I taught turning, and, as my wife likes to say and my friends really know, I talk about turning. In 1991 I started the turning program at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, Maryland, and in 1992 helped sixteen others form the Chesapeake Woodturners. That group has, for geographic reasons, split into four chapters and continues to grow. In 2000, we moved to New Mexico where I taught a small group of people to turn who then started the Mountaintop Turners. In 2006 we moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado, and joined the Rocky Mountain Woodturners, a very large club. This is the first chapter I have been in that has professional turners.
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In the fall of 1992 the Chesapeake Woodturners sponsored a five-person gallery show at Maryland Hall's Cardinal Gallery. That gallery program took wings and has grown enormously. As a life member, I continue to get the club's newsletters and am proud to see that they hold many chapter gallery shows each year. This is very important for several reasons. One is that it instills in the chapter members a desire to do more professional work. It also helps create a larger base of members who are willing to volunteer for chapter work. Another is that the advertising it creates gives the community a greater knowledge of woodturning. The community around Annapolis really knows woodturning now. This brings the chapter new collectors and many offers of trees, including historic trees offered by the mayor and governor. And, you know that the best wood is free wood. The Rocky Mountain Woodturners did not have a gallery program, so this year my wife and I picked three other non-professional turners to join us for a gallery show. Each of us was to make eight to ten pieces. We found a gallery in Old Town Ft. Collins, and on October 2nd opened at the Centennial Gallery during the First Friday Art Walk. We had a great time talking to large groups of complete strangers about woodturning for three hours. The show looks to be a success and will continue for the month of October. I plan to do a how-to article for the American Woodturner sometime in the coming year. It will include lots of pictures. I encourage all chapters to try it. It's a great esprit de corps builder. On a personal level I would like to encourage you to renew your AAW membership. The benefits and support are very rewarding. With the journal going to six issues per year in 2010 the enjoyment will only be expanded. AAW memberships are due for renewal before December 31, 2009. I would like to encourage you to renew your membership online through the AAW website. To renew, simply go to the AAW website and click on "renew membership" on the AAW homepage. It's easy and secure. Your membership card will be included with the first journal for 2010 in an effort to increase overall efficiency, reduce staff time as well as save postage costs. You may also want to consider purchasing a gift membership for another turner, your local library, or perhaps your Arboretum so they can have the American Woodturner Journal as a resource to share. Your act of generosity may inspire future woodturners! So long until we meet at future AAW symposiums. Frank Amigo |
