98

Turning Towards the New Millennium

Cleveland State University Art Gallery
June 11-30, 1998

The second international juried exhibition titled PATHWAYS ’98, Turning Towards the New Millennium was on display in the Cleveland State University Art Galleries, Cleveland, Ohio from June 11 through June 30, 1998. The opening of the exhibition corresponded to the American Association of Woodturners’ twelfth annual conference which will be held in nearby Akron, Ohio on June 12-14, 1998.

Following in the footsteps of the 1997 AAW exhibition "Turned for Use", PATHWAYS ’98 was a juried exhibition of the finest international contemporary work in which the process of lathe turning was utilized as a significant aspect of its creation. Ten categories were created to provide selected groups of objects to represent the breadth of divergent pathways presently being explored in woodturning, globally. Submitted work was original in design showing innovation, excellence, invention, or personal interpretation but not imitation. Judges considered the totality of each work, for example, its demonstration of idea/concept, execution, techniques selected, and choice of materials. Other criteria such as aesthetics, proportion, and finish were also evaluated, by a panel of independent judges selected from both within and outside of the woodturning community.

The ten categories were:

• Architectural Elements
• Bowls & Platters
• Furniture (turned, or with turned parts)
• Hollow Vessels
• Lidded Containers
• Miniatures of All types
• Non-Wooden Turnings
• Sculpture
• Turning Derivations
• Utilitarian Housewares

A special historical component of this exhibition was a museum quality display of nineteenth century Peaseware, which was produced in northeast Ohio, and sold country-wide.

Organizing committee member Gene Kangas, Professor of Sculpture at Cleveland State, and exhibitor at "Turned for Use", commented about the show format: "I believe this format could be used each year. Perhaps adjusting some categories, but by having overall continuity, we should generate more entries. Having a specific theme can work against you, as I’ve found in some of our student shows. If a possible entrant’s specialty doesn’t match the show theme, they either have to work real fast to get a piece together, or skip the show altogether... they usually do the latter. A broader show really invites a wider representation, as you are letting the artists’, rather than the organizer’s interests, determine the show- In this way, it is much more democratic."

The Pathways name was selected because it suggests woodturning as a means, rather than a destination. Pathways also exemplifies the explorative phase of woodturning- where some paths may become mainstream foundation, and many will lead to further discovery. Committee member Steve Loar, Director of the School of Design at Rochester Institute of Technology and Juror for "Turned for Use" explains: "My new theory is that turning should become like rock’n’roll - rather than fracturing, it should look toward accepting, welcoming, absorbing, and translating other influences. Use the stuff of sculpture, furniture, art, creativity, and design (as pathways) to create personal work that is still tethered to these central concerns"