1999 AAW Symposium

Tacoma, Washington

The 1999 Symposium of the AAW - Tacoma, Washington

   Turning Northwest
   Tacoma, Washington
   AAW Symposium 1999

   The 13th Annual AAW Symposium
   June 18-20, 1999
   Tacoma Convention Center

The 13th Annual Symposium of the American Association of Woodturners traveled to the Tacoma Convention Center in Tacoma, Washington June 18-20, 1999. Over 970 attendees and demonstrators made the most of three days of education and fellowship.

Highlights

Demonstrations: Over 100 demonstrations in 13 rooms. Featured demonstrators included Bob Flexner of Oklahoma, Yoshinobu Kakizawa of Japan, Ernie Newman of Australia, Stuart Batty of England, Michael Peterson of Lopez Island, Washington, and Don Weber of Mendocino, California. There were also many other national, regional, and local demonstrators who put on their best presentations to the crowds. Two techniques videotapes from the 1999 symposium will become available from the AAW which will feature a selected number of demonstrations.

Banquet & Auction: The banquet was attended by about 1,000 people. The auction followed with over $40,000 of woodturnings auctioned off by auctioneer, Willard Baxter.

Trade Show

Trade Show: The trade show was a hit with the attendees with woodturners stocking up on wood, supplies, and tools.

Instant Gallery

Instant Gallery: Hundreds of pieces were brought by the attendees and the demonstrators. The critique is always a very popular event which many people attended. You can learn a lot from listening to the experts talk about what they see in the pieces. A videotape of the critique will be available in the Fall of 1999. See the AAW video page for more information about the tape.

Chapter Collaborative Challenge

Chapter Collaborative Challenge: The challenge was a huge success with 29 entries from chapters all over the nation. Best of Show went to the Woodturners of North Texas for the "Turn of the Century" The Y2K Treadle Lathe. 1st Place was claimed by the Northwestern Michigan Chapter the Train Engine "Tacoma AAW Special". 2nd Place was captured by the Hill Country Turners Ferris Wheel Motor and Music. Finally, the 3rd Place winner was Nor-Cal Woodturners for their Scaled Hand Drill and Bits. As you go through the other entries, you will see that the voting was very difficult. We saw people scratching their head trying to figure out how to cast their vote. Each attendee received a ballot in their registration packet. The Chapter Collaborative Challenge rules were set during the year by the Chapters and Membership committee.

Spouse/Family Activites

For "non-turners" at the Symposium, several daily chartered tours have been scheduled:

Friday: Mount Rainer & Northwest Trek.
Saturday: Tillicum Village Salmon Bake and Cruise included lunch at Indian village.
Sunday: Sights of Seattle. Four-hour city tour.

Featured Demonstrators

Ted Bartholomew, WA, turning with unconventional tools.
Buz Blum, AK, thin wall green turnings, natural edge bowls.
Phil Brennion, AZ, Southwest vessels in wood; form, design and surface treatment of traditional and contemporary.
Douglas Davenport, NY, turning micro miniatures and making the necessary tools.
Jack Davis, WA, basic metal spinning.
Eugene Doren, AK, turning palm nuts.
Bob Espen, AK, turning tagua nuts.
Peter Fedrigon, NY, dust collection and filtration.
Hans Finsterwalder, AZ, fancy lidded boxes, Christmas ornaments and segmented bowls.
Bob Flexner, OK, finishes and how to use them.
Arnold Geiger, AK, Christmas ornaments.
George Hatfield, Australia, architectural turning: tools, techniques and sharpening equipment.
Bob Hawks OK, Photographing your work with a professional photographer and accomplished turner.
Angus Hoban, Isle of Man, Highland bag pipes, lace bobbins and miniature turning.
Fred Holder, WA, hand chasing threads; making the threaded box and decorating with spiraling, texturing.
Rich Johnson, CA, development of a natural edge bowl using homemade vacuum chuck and pin chuck.
Bill Johnston, NC, advanced techniques for use of Inlac; hollow forms, tools and techniques, for all levels.
Yoshinobu Kakizawa, Japan, Oriental turning methods.
Jerry Kermode, HI, turning a buck(value adding); stitch in time(turning flaws into treasures); natural edged bowls.
Max Krimmel, CO, turning alabaster; making turning pay as a business.
Dale Larson, OR, bowl turning using Pacific Madrone.
Vernon Leibrand, WA, green log to a footed bowl or platter.
Simon Levy, TN, hand & eye connections, fundamentals of drawing to render form and shape.
Luke Mann, VT, bowl turning system for green wood.
Stuart Batty, England, substituted for Bert Marsh due to health reasons.
Woody McMartin, New Zealand, box making, small end grain bowl turning, three legged stool.entirely on the lathe.
Bill Moore, OR, metal spinning combined with turning.
Robert Morelli, CA, precision sharpening of your tools.
Ernie Newman, Australia, history of woodturning.
David Nittmann, CO, the basket illusion., using beading, burning and coloring; tool sharpening without jigs.
Chuck Noble, WA, translucent shells.
Terry Nugent, MT, turning talc into lidded containers using free floating toolrest; high gloss polyurethane finish for wood turnings.
Ron Odegaard, WI, earrings and ornaments.
Michael Peterson WA, surface treatments, contour carving.
Randy Rhine, OR, ornamental turning.
Bob Sievers, WA, multi-axis turning.
Nick Silva, TX, beginning ornamental turning.
William Smith, PA, open segmented turnings, creating blanks for with jigs.
Chris Stott, England, development of boxes,turning a rocking box and small jewelry box, projects for beginners.
Frank Sudol, Canada, the boring bar.
John Swanson, WA, turn a threaded box; how to improve your demos.
Denver Ulery, WA, turning bracelets.
Jacques Vesery, ME, segmented turning,, design and surface treatments; turning miniature hollow forms.
Don Weber, CA, pole lathes, history and making.

East Meets West Exhibition

East Meets West: This exhibition was held at the Tacoma Public Library several blocks from the symposium. It was a mixture from western and Japanese woodturners.

Take a tour of some of the East Meets West gallery.

American Art Company: A private gallery in Tacoma hosted a show of cutting-edge work from leading contemporary turners. This gallery was a couple of blocks down the street in downtown Tacoma and was very popular. Word has it that the gallery was very satisfied with the exhibit.

Photo Gallery of the Symposium Prelude
Photos by Roger Austin Unless Attributed

The local chapters around Tacoma did a great job of moving in all types of equipment. Many volunteers were working very hard to make the symposium a success.	Photo: Nileen Hunt
Photo: Nileen Hunt	All kinds of stuff starts getting unloaded by vendors in the trade show. Pallets of materials, tools, and heavy equipment gets unloaded very quickly in the trade show.
It really does get organized before the attendees start carrying it all off. Believe it or not, most of these tables are sparse by the last day of the symposium.	Photo: Nileen Hunt
Photo: Nileen Hunt	The back door becomes a blur as vendors rush to get set up. Fortunately, the crowd is too busy to get too upset the first day. In the middle of all the organized confusion is the irrepressible Pat Titus who is making sure things are moving along.
The first people that you see at a symposium is usually the registration volunteers. These are the people who look through the thousand or so packets (which they stuffed the day before) for your name. This packet contains the information the attendee needs plus their name badge which is needed to gain entrance to the demonstrations.
	Other people spend time setting up the demonstrators board where attendees can check out "who is demonstrating where?" This is a grid panel by Blake Hickerson of Texas. This type of signage is very helpful to the attendees.
The staff, board, and volunteers are almost shell shocked by the time the public starts coming into the area. Usually Eunice Wynn and Mary Lacer are answering questions as quickly as possible.
Photo by Nileen Hunt The first session on Friday, July 18th, was the opening ceremony led by AAW President, David Wahl of New Mexico. He introduced the board of directors, demonstrators, staff, and special volunteers.	Business was brisk since this large room was made into four demonstration rooms as soon as it was cleared. Photo by Nileen Hunt
One of the most popular locations at any symposium is the Instant Gallery. At right is just one of the long tables on the upper level at the Tacoma Convention Center. The large open area on the main floor was full of tables as below.
Tacoma, Washington as seen from the 18 floor of the Sheraton Hotel. Mount Rainier is said to be in the distance to the left of the Tacoma Dome. The symposium banquet and auction was staged in the Tacoma Dome which is the domed building a couple of miles away. The city and the local chapters in the Puget Sound area made the visiters feel very welcome to be in the Pacific Northwest.
The Tacoma Convention Center hosted five of the demonstrator rooms. This building was just outside of the Sheraton Hotel. The Instant Gallery was just within this rotunda building entrance. The Ornamental Turners demonstration room was also in this building. Also, the trade show was at the back of the Convention Center building.
Highlights of the 1999 Symposium
Bob Flexner Norman, OK. Bob has owned and operated his own woodworking and restoration shop since 1976. By the mid 80's he began teaching and writing about finishes and finishing and this led to a near full-time career. He has written the book "Understanding Wood Finishing" and made two videos, "Repairing Furniture" and "Refinishing Furniture." Introduction to finishing; includes food safety and special finishing problems for woodturners. Finishing with oils and waxes; similarities and differences, concoctions and applying methods. Finishing with film-building finishes; includes methods of applying finishes on the lathe.
Yoshinobu Kakizawa Japan. Yoshinobu was chosen by his peers in Japan to be their representative at the symposium. Although only 24 years old, he has already received several prestigious awards in Japan. Oriental turning methods
Ernie Newman Australia. Ernie teaches a three-year turning program, writes and demonstrates widely in Canada, USA and New Zealand. His passion is the history of turning and he delights in passing on the best in traditional design and technique. 1600 BC to 1500 AD--History of turning household and artistic items. 1500 AD to 1960 AD--History of turning household and artistic items. Design and technique.
Michael Peterson Lopez Island, WA. Michael Peterson is a professional turner and teacher, know for his highly sculptured forms which are often enhanced with bleaching and other surface treatments. Personal work from 80's to present. Carving and contouring. Surface treatments.
Don Weber Mendocino, CA. A teacher, chairmaker and blacksmith, Don uses early technology as a tool to increase the knowledge of turning and toolmaking. Working in diverse places from the Yucatan, with the Mujeres Artasanas project, to the mountains of Appalachia and the coastal islands of British Colombia, he uses the pole lathe as a teaching aid and means of empowerment in rural areas. History of pole lathes. Making a pole lathe.