WIT EXCHANGE Goes Virtual
Our 2020 WIT EXCHANGE was to have taken place at Arrowmont during the third week of September. Alas! This was not to be, due to the current pandemic. This would have been our third EXCHANGE, and the WIT Committee is disappointed that we were not able to make it happen. The past two years have shown us how important the EXCHANGE has become to a community of women turners in stimulating creativity, fostering collaboration, and facilitating self-confidence.
In lieu of the live WIT EXCHANGE, we sponsored our first Virtual WIT EXCHANGE which ended in January (see the results in the images and links above). We will sponsor a second in March.
Here is how it works:
- Find two other women to partner with–preferably turners, but women with other artist talents are fine. (We encourage all levels of skill to participate, everyone has something to add to the creative process!)
- Select one of the pairs of words below to use as inspiration and then brainstorm ideas on how to represent those words in a sculptural work. These random word pairs consist of a noun and modifier. Please select only from the word-pairs below. (See pictures of examples below.) If you can’t choose, print them out, toss into a hat, and pick from the hat!
- Decide what wood to use, but please keep to a reasonable size so that it can be photographed on a table. (At the actual EXCHANGE, each group had a 10” bat blank, a 12" x 12" x 4" piece of green maple, a 4" x 4" x 6" cherry block.)
- You may participate in up to three collaborative projects, however they must be with different people and use different sets of words.
- Document how your ideas evolved. Take photos of the work in progress. This is part of the EXCHANGE process. Sharing the entire process of each project helps inspire creativity in others. Tell us the story of your project.
- Try to limit your work time on the projects to simulate how our in-person EXCHANGES work. (Each group had 24 hours to think about and finish their project.) Focus on the creative process, not creating a gallery quality piece.
- Please practice social distancing if in confined spaces, wear masks, and use best practices for staying safe during this pandemic.
- Take good quality photos of your final project. The project final photos will be posted in a virtual exhibit. (If you need information on how to make a good photo, please contact [email protected].)
- The deadline will be announced in March. An entry form will be posted on this site in the coming weeks.
- For further explanation and complete details, please check the September 2020 WIT newsletter https://woodturner.org/common/Uploaded%20files/WIT/Newsletters/WITNews202009.pdf
How you approach your project is up to you, but consider working on separate components in separate spaces, sending work sequentially to each participant for contribution of effort, and coordinating assembly in such a way that social distancing protocols can be maintained. We want this to be fun and collaborative, but we also want to make sure everyone stays safe.
We’re looking forward to seeing what you produce! Collaboration is fun and a wonderful way to grow as an artist.
Here are some randomly drawn nouns and modifiers drawn from the word tiles used at the first two EXCHANGES: