1991 AAW Symposium

Just over 250 members from all walks of life descended on the University of North Texas at Denton in June for the 1991 AAW Symposium. They came from as far away as Canada and England, and more than 17 local chapters were represented.

This year's symposium featured more than 60 demonstrations and presentations by 30 different artists. Topics included everything from the very basic to highly specialized techniques; chainsawing to finishing; miniatures to giant bowls; and pole lathes to ornamental lathes.

The various aspects of basic turning techniques were covered by Betty Scarpino, Palmer Sharpless, Rude Osolnik, Dale Nish, Dick Gerard, Alan Lacer, and Alan Stirt.

Bonnie Klein demonstrated how to turn a variety of unusual materials while Max Krimmel showed his technique fro turning alabaster. Jerry Browrigg offered a detailed look at turning banksia nuts, and Nick Cook described his methods for turning small vessels from tagua nuts.

Max Krimmel, Lincoln Seitzman and Eucled Moore covered laminations and segmented turning. Three different styles of carving techniques were handled by Ron Fleming, Al Stirt, and Michael Hosaluk.

A panel discussion on surface decoration included David Ellsworth, Michael Hosaluk, Ron Fleming, Clay Foster, Stoney Lamar, Eucled Moore, and Dale Nish.

Large lathes and oversized tools were tackled by Woody Woodward, James Poppell, and James Johnson. Johnson has the only lathe in Texas with its own license plate.

Other topics included turning crotches and firewood by Todd Hoyer; hollow vessels by Michael Peterson; hats by Johannes Michelson; thread jigs by Bonnie Klein; homemade chucks by Dave Hout; thimbles and sewing notions by Gary Roberts; greenwood goblets by Robert Weber; wall hangings by John Mascoll; and finishing with Bob Flexner.

Ray Lawler provided a look at the history of ornamental lathes while Don Weber build and demonstrated a pole lathe.

Alex Holsinger talked about chainsaw safety, felling trees, and cutting bowl blanks.

The trade show had 15 vendors (our largest yet) selling equipment, tools, supplies, and wood.

The instant gallery was filled with work by many of the participants and ranged from tiny miniatures to large segmented vessels involving thousands of pieces.

In nearby Dallas, Cindi Ray of the Carlyn Gallery brought together the works of local as well as nationally known turners for one of the largest turning shows ever in the area. The show opened on Thursday evening before the symposium.

Saturday evening's banquet was highlighted by our most successful auction yet. With the help of auctioneer Bob Fleming, we managed to raise more than $10,000 for the Daphne Osolnik Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund. We now have more than $30,000 in that fund.

All in all, it was a very successful symposium thanks to the hard work of the Texas and Oklahoma chapters. A special thanks to Alex Holsinger for handling many of the details. Well done.

We are now working on plans for the 1992 symposium to be held June 18, 19, 20 in Provo, Utah. See you there.

-- Nick Cook