Woodturners take pieces of trees that might be discarded or burned – and make them into works of art. The Montgomery County Woodturners Association is a group that brings together novices, hobbyists and professionals interested in the craft of turning wood. Members of the Montgomery County Woodturners Association meet monthly and are open to anyone interested in the craft. The meetings are held on the Thursday before the second Saturday of each month from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. and are held at The Woodworkers Club, located at 11910 Parklawn Drive in Rockville. Information on upcoming meetings may be found online, here.

Anyone interested in learning the craft of turning wood may take classes at the Woodworkers Club.

 

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Whether you like bead work or needlepoint, artist Martha Collins could have the right piece of wood jewelry or decor for you.

Since moving to Sequim in 1984, Collins continued to master her wood art such as a helical mosaic bracelet or a small bowl. Her work doesn’t require a dizzying amount of work with tweezers, but rather an intricate process of laminating, slicing with a band saw, re-orienting, re-laminating, and lathe turning.

“The interplay of these components is revealed and accentuated in the lathe turning,” she said.

An item like a bracelet or bowl can hold up to 1,200 pieces of wood, she said, giving the appearance of beads or needlepoint.

Pictures may not do her work justice, she says.

“Not until you hold it and see it, will you understand,” Collins said. “It shows you something you’ve never seen before.”

Locals get a chance to see Collins teach and some of her art at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, for the Strait Turners’ monthly meeting at the Gardiner Community Center, 980 Old Gardiner Road.

Recently, Collins has been making an effort to teach or speak more after years on the road for some of the biggest art shows in the nation. At her busiest schedule, she attended 16 shows a year along with hosting instructional sessions.

“One of reasons I want to teach is because in our world there’s so much technology that people forget the joy of working with your hands,” she said.

Along with private lessons at her Lost Mountain Road shop in Sequim and lectures at various events, Collins continues to teach at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking too.

Crafting a career

Collins’ interest in woodworking began in Michigan where under Title IX she became the state’s first certified female cabinetmaker.

Since then, she feels she’s created a name for herself.

“What I do is very much a niche because of the amount of steps I take and because of hand dying the veneer,” she said.

Discovering the process for making helical mosaic chevron bracelets was a “what if” moment among colleagues, she said.

While in Michigan, she and others in the shop took a piece of rosewood veneer and shifted the pieces, laminated them and turned them.

Collins said the shop’s owner said it looked like his own grain of wood and shortly thereafter another apprentice asked “what if” they used laminated material. She’s used a similar process ever since then.

After building her home and shop in 1983, Collins moved to Sequim with her family the following year and went full-time producing her distinct bowls, tableware, and jewelry in the late 1990s while traveling to art shows across the nation.

Nuts and bolts

To create one original block for her many creations, Collins chooses from 40 different woods she purchases from sustainable companies in Port Townsend or Portland.

She’ll laminate 12-13 different species of hardwoods with each piece 1/4-inch by 3.5 inches by 16 inches long.

Collins said it takes her time to choose the right order for the woods before adding maple veneer and dry clamping it. Using jewelry epoxy, she laminates the block together and clamps it together. Once cured, Collins said she squares the block up for slicing at quarter-of-an-inch within 0.002 of an inch all four corners.

Once the edges are right and shifted into the desired pattern, Collins takes them to the lathe to be turned into bowls or bracelets or other items before finishing them later with epoxy or lacquer.

Collins said similarly to a baker using flour and water, “what comes out all depends on how you cut it.”

Over the years, she said one of her challenges has been pricing her items but she’s made simpler designs of her bowls and bracelets in recent years.

“With me you don’t have to shell out big money for a Tesla. I also make a nice Chevy too,” she said.

Collins has diversified her output as well with bottle toppers, earrings, spice mills, remembrance boxes and more.

A full year

Collins said she continues to submit work to juried art shows and plans to exhibit at some of the Northwest’s bigger events such as the RAGS Wearable Art show in Tacoma March 9 – 11 and both the Best of the Northwest in Seattle in March and the fall, while going to shows in San Francisco, New York City and Boston later in the year.

She anticipates her work on display in several shows too including the Port Townsend’s Northwind Gallery’ “Women in Wood” show in April, and the American Association of Woodturners’ “Turnabout: Women at the Lathe,” at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, Tenn., through March.

“I’m fortunate to have this career,” Collins said. “It’s been a real pleasure for me.”

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A Kingsbridge man specializes in the craft of wood turning.

Ivan Braun’s studio in his home basement is where he transforms wood into functional items such as bowls, vases and more.

Braun’s craft runs in the family, and he picked it up from his father and grandfather. These days, the 72-year-old retiree specializes in handcrafted urns for cats.

“It’s providing a way to memorialize the pet in a way that’s beautiful,” he says.

Wood turning involves using a chisel to transform spinning wood into various shapes and forms. Braun says it takes practice, patience and concentration.

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The artisan, artistic and aesthetic aspects of craft receive their full due in 2018 as the American Swedish Institute focuses on “The Handmade” in a series of exhibitions that begins with CraftBOWL. The exhibition opens on Friday, January 19, with a preview party and showcases works by three Swedish master craftspeople—Jögge Sundqvist (wood), Ingegerd Råman (ceramics and glass), and Bertil Vallien (glass). In installations throughout the mansion, their work explores functions, archetypes, culture and technique, while demonstrating why these artists have global followings. Also on view is 101 Bowls, which examines what the lowly yet ubiquitous bowl means to 101 organizations and artists committed to bowl-making traditions. We talked to Scott Pollock, ASI’s Director of Exhibitions, Collections and Programs, about the presence of CraftBOWL during the Super Bowl, and why Minnesota is “a national centrifuge for craft.”

Why did ASI decide to dedicate 2018 to a series called The Handmade?
ASI has a longstanding history with the handmade agenda ever since the institute became a cultural center. Our first formative collection, a major Swedish textile collection, was established by Hilma Berglund, also the founder of the Minnesota Weavers Guild. Hilma was instrumental in establishing Minnesota’s craft agenda, that by nature of the textile collection also became ASI’s agenda.

The craft agenda in Minnesota continues today, with the relocation of the American Craft Council to Minneapolis from New York just a few years ago. And a number of very active and strong craft organizations in town, such as the Textile Center, Northern Clay Center, FOCI Center for Glass Arts, and the American Association of Woodturners, among others like the now ubiquitous North House Folk School, are partners ASI is collaborating with to make the 2018 Handmade effort possible—and make Minnesota a national centrifuge for craft.

Also, there is an underlying moral imperative in the handmade that’s penetrating across all levels of culture and society perhaps more now than ever. There seems to be a drive to move away from anonymity toward meeting the maker, a deeper appreciation for objects in our lives that connect us to place, a desire to better understand what connects us across generations and cultures rather than what divides us, that makes the handmade more visible, more desired and perhaps more 2018.  I mean name a city you can’t find a craft brewery in anymore…well, actually don’t try.

Moreover, the craft agenda in the Nordic region has always been strong, where it permeates all aspects of society, including architecture, fashion, public policy and cultural practice. As an organization with deeper connections to the Nordic region and committed to connecting local audiences globally, ASI is committed to introducing the Nordic region’s craft agenda to our regional audiences.

Why is CraftBOWL the first in this series?
Honestly? CraftBOWL was born out of our community’s fascination with another bowl event that promises to bring the nation’s spotlight to Minnesota this winter.  The idea of a creating a space for a counter-cultural experience that’s genuinely ASI, genuinely Minnesotan—a craft based event—just felt right.  It felt like our community. Naturally we’re excited to share this project with the country and all our sports fans. I mean, Sweden might not have a pigskin-specific agenda, but big sports events are certainly a part of Swedish culture. We know CraftBOWL can have the same kind of magnetism that an event like the Super Bowl can have, but in a sort of only at ASI kind of way.

CraftBOWL also has a focus on the most universal reference that all mediums of craft can connect to: the bowl-shaped vessel.  Quite literally, the bowl is at the center of the craft world.  There are ceramic bowls, there are metal bowls, there are wood bowls. And almost everyone uses a bowl! One of the five installations planned, 101 Bowls, gets at the heart of that idea. It features 101 different artists and organizations who demonstrate the value of the universally accessible form, the bowl, that all craft communities seem to have a connection to. So why not kick it all off with a bang?

How and why were the three Swedish artists for CraftBOWL selected?
We asked three significant craft organizations in Sweden to name their most influence craft ambassador. They suggested Jögge (wood), Ingegerd (ceramics and glass), and Bertil (glass).  They are all established craft veterans in their respective disciplines. They have all been responsible for putting Sweden’s craft agenda on the world map. But they have never been presented together before, which was important for us.  As a small organization in Minneapolis, ASI is having an impact in Sweden with projects like these. Who would guess it would take three rooms on Park Avenue in Minneapolis (the exhibition galleries in the Turnblad Mansion) to bring them together.

What will viewers learn or take away from experiencing these artists’ woodworking, glass and ceramic artworks?
We’re hoping people acquire a deeper appreciation and understanding of the handmade agenda, whether that be a deepened appreciation for how craft can connect generations and cultures, or how it can encourage us to think more about the intention behind the everyday objects we use. There is nothing like hearing and seeing how these master craft practitioners have paused to think deeper about craft’s role in our world today.  Craft beer may taste great for all the right reasons, but there can be just as much intentionality and thought put into the glass (or bowl if you were a Viking) it’s poured into.

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“Maine Wood 2018” will open Friday, Jan. 19, at the Messler Gallery of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, at the corner of Route 90 and Mill Street. The public is encouraged to attend the opening reception and awards ceremony that evening from 5 to 7 p.m.

“Maine Wood” is a juried biennial exhibition designed to showcase the breadth, creativity and excellence of Maine’s woodworking community. For 2018, the Center received 91 submissions from 47 Maine artists and artisans.

“This is our sixth biennial, and it’s a joy to see how Maine’s woodworking community continues to grow, with excellent new makers being juried in every time,” said Peter Korn, executive director of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship.

Furniture makers in the show include Melinda Aste, Portland; Nick Barboza, Hamden; David Boyle, Bath; William Francis Brown, Camden; Saer T. Huston, Kennebunkport; Aled Lewis, Rockport; Heide Martin, Appleton; Jeremy Porter, Rockland; Libby Schrum, Camden; and Michaela Crie Stone, Rockport.

Sculptors, turners, carvers, marquetarians, lamp makers and kayak builders are Clara Cohan, Cape Elizabeth; Jim Macdonald, Burnham; Rob Macks, Jefferson; Jonathan Moro, Rockport; Julie Morringello, Stonington; Malcolm Ray, Damariscotta; Karina Steel, Camden; John Tomaszewski, Wells; and Jacques Vesery, Damariscotta.

Jurors for this year’s biennial were Fabio Jurors for this year’s biennial are Fabio Fernández, executive director of the Society of Arts+Crafts, Boston; Joshua Friend, editor of American Woodturner, journal of the American Association of Woodturners; and Mira Nakashima, creative director of George Nakashima Woodworker, New Hope, Pa. Maine Crafts Association, Maine Woodturners and Maine Woodworkers Association are co-sponsoring “Maine Wood 2018,” which will run through April 11.

More than $2,000 in donated prizes from corporate sponsors will be awarded at the opening reception. These include $300 gift certificates from DMT Diamond Whetstones for Best Original Design; Rockler Woodworking and Hardware of South Portland for Outstanding Craftsmanship; Lie-Nielsen Toolworks for Jurors’ Best in Show; Architectural Building Products (formerly Maine Coast Lumber) for Best New Maker; Packard Woodworks for Best Turned Object; Rare Woods for Best Use of Wood; and Woodcraft of Portsmouth for Best in Furniture. There also is a $300 cash prize from Holt & Bugbee for the People’s Choice award.

Messler Gallery hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The nonprofit school offers year-round courses in furniture making and related arts such as carving and woodturning. For more information, call 594-5611; e-mail victoria@woodschool.org; or visit woodschool.org.

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In a basement converted into a woodshop, Ivan Braun affixes a small block of wood to his Australian lathe. From this point, he could make anything: a small bowl, a vase for short flowers, or even an urn for a cat.

Braun is a professional woodturner, a craft he picked up from his father, working out of his home.

“I grew up in a house where my parents made stuff,” Braun said.

His mother made jewelry, and woodturning was a hobby for his father. It was his parents’ penchant for handmade crafts that inspired him to take up the lathe, a machine that turns a piece of wood at a high speed.

Braun then shapes the spinning wood by pressing a chisel to it, hence “woodturning.”

Bowls and vases are nice, but it was the death of a friend’s cat in 2015 that inspired Braun to explore making urns for felines.

“What I first made was really taking a vase and putting a lid on it,” Braun said.

It was an entirely new thing for Braun, but as an owner of two five-year-old cats — Lulu and Archie — Braun saw an opportunity.

“It’s being able to bring some solace to somebody that’s dealing with the loss of their pet,” Braun said.

Urns for cats are considerably smaller than they are for humans. The general rule is that one pound yields one cubic inch of ashes. That means a 15-pound cat would create 15 cubic inches of ash.

Competition, however, is tough. A quick search for “cat urns” yields a list of cheap results, some for as low as $10. Braun’s handmade urns command a high price, ranging anywhere from $100 to $300.

Urns are not Braun’s main business. Most of his output comes from an arrangement he has with the New York Botanical Garden, which provides Braun with wood it no longer needs. Braun fashions them into bowls and vases, which is then sold in the botanical garden’s gift shop.

Woodturning is an almost meditative practice for Braun.

“If you’ve got a piece of wood spinning on the lathe, that’s what you got to think about,” he said. “If you start thinking about something else, something bad is going to happen.”

The bowls, vases and urns are more utilitarian than they are ornate. Braun believes in function over fashion, wanting people to get the most out of what we makes. Beyond the shape, the wood he uses typically determines the look.

When Braun works in his basement, Lulu and Archie occasionally join him. Both are rescues from the street outside, abandoned as kittens.

“Once you pick up a kitten, you’re dead meat,” Braun said, adding it’s impossible to say no to taking that kitten in.

Five years later, Lulu and Archie have the run of the house while Braun is working to give departed cats a handmade home.

Braun has considered making urns for dogs, but it’s his own cats and the sheer popularity of cats that keep focused on felines.

“There are more cat pictures than selfies on the internet,” Braun said.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Symbiosis unites wood and wool at exhibition of textile sculptures Colony, 2017, Kimber Olson Catalan Fertility, 2007, Alain Mailland  (Saint Paul, January 10, 2018)–-The American Association of Woodturners’ (AAW) Gallery of Wood Art will host Bound by Nature, an exhibition of sculptural wool art inspired by symbiotic partnerships in woodland environments. The textile works by guest artist Kimber Olson will be complemented by Art from the Lathe, featuring sculptural work in wood from the AAW permanent collection. WHEN Exhibition dates: January 21 – February 18, 2018 Opening reception: Sunday, January 21, 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. Hours: Tuesday – Friday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sunday 12 – 3 p.m. WHERE AAW Gallery of Wood Art 222 Landmark Center 75 5th Street West Saint Paul, MN 55102 651-484-9094 http://www.galleryofwoodart.org/   COST Free and open to audiences of all ages. Mutuality abounds in woodland environments. It also explains why an exhibition of textiles in a venue that specializes in wood art may not be as unlikely a prospect as it seems. The AAW Gallery of Wood Art will host an exhibition of wool sculptures that are premised on mutuality, a type of symbiotic relationship where two distinct species work cooperatively to the benefit of both. Kimber Olson’s textiles reference organisms like lichens, mycorrhizal root networks, and more. Lichens are made up of algae and fungi. The algae benefit the fungi by providing nutrients through the process of photosynthesis, and the fungi provide protection and humidity for the algae to thrive. Organic materials are at the core of woodturners’ and Olson’s art. Trees are the source of art from the lathe. Wool is the principal material in Olson’s art, however, the works are thematically tied to woodlands. Organic, sustainable and biodegradable – wool is an ideal material for art that explores ecological processes. Olson’ art includes traditional and nuno felt, a process in which cloth and wool are combined to produce highly textured surfaces evocative of living organisms. And in a nod to the woodturners, Olson integrated wood into some of her works. Kimber Olson aims to deepen understanding of how nature works and inspire commitment to the environment through her art. Infusing traditional hand processes with contemporary twists, Olson explores organic processes to mine themes of temporality, interdependency, and regeneration. Bound by Nature was made possible by a 2017 Artist Initiative grant Kimber Olson received from the Minnesota State Arts Board. ABOUT THE AAW GALLERY OF WOOD ART Located in downtown Saint Paul’s historic Landmark Center, the Gallery of Wood Art offers an often surprising and always engaging view of contemporary works created in wood. Although all pieces on exhibit have been at least partially created on a lathe, the diversity of techniques, subjects, materials and ideas of each artist keeps each exhibit fresh and engaging. The Gallery of Wood Art also features educational exhibits, a display of vintage lathes, and a gallery gift store offering turned items, books and DVDs. To learn more, visit http://www.galleryofwoodart.org/ About AAW The American Association of Woodturners (AAW) is a Minnesota nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, headquartered in Saint Paul, dedicated to advancing the art and craft of woodturning worldwide by providing opportunities for education, information, and organization to those interested in turning wood. Established in 1986, AAW currently has nearly 16,000 members and a worldwide network of more than 350 local chapters representing professionals, amateurs, gallery owners, collectors, and wood/tool suppliers. The AAW possesses the single largest collection of woodturning information anywhere and its award-winning journal, American Woodturner is the foremost publication on the art and craft of woodturning in the world. To learn more, visit http://www.woodturner.org/. Images High resolution images may be downloaded at http://www.woodturner.org/?page=MediaKitJanuary2018. Contact Tib Shaw,Curator 651-484-9094 tib@woodturner.org Kimber Olson is a fiscal year 2017 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. ###

222 Landmark Center | 75 5th St W, St. Paul, MN 55102-7704 877-595-9094 | 651-484-9094 | woodturner.org

Jarret and Breanna Vartanian were living a fairy tale life. They were madly in love and married for just over a year. The couple settled down in a home in Chandler with their eyes set for a bright future.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck when Jarret was killed while working on a project at home involving a technique called fractal burning.

[RELATED: Man found dead after being electrocuted in Chandler] http://www.azfamily.com/story/37208260/man-found-dead-after-electrocuted-in-chandler?autostart=true

The method is actually very simple and easy to do. It’s when a piece of wood is electrocuted and the current moves through the wood, and creates incredible patterns.

Jarret, who loves to work on home projects wanted to try it out. Breanna wasn’t thrilled with the idea.

“It was scary. I couldn’t really get close to it just because I don’t know a lot about electricity.”

After just two days of fractal burning, Jarret was electrocuted and killed. His wife Breanna said he was working on a cutting board when it happened. She is now speaking out about the dangers of fractal burning.

“You have to do your research, you have to make sure you’re safe,” Breanna said.

Fractal burning has caused death before. A man in Washington state was killed while attempting to use the technique and just like Jarret, he had years of experience working with wood and understood safety.

The safety issue was so great that the American Association of Woodturners Safety Committee issued a policy against fractal burning and banned the technique from its events.

As for Breanna, she is now left heartbroken over losing the love of her life. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with expenses.https://www.gofundme.com/jarretvartanian

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An Englishman who was robbed of his sight has since taught himself how to create stunning works of wooden art by listening to YouTube videos.

Chris Fisher, 48, learned the craft of woodturning after he decided he wanted to make himself a vampire stake, years after completely losing his sight to toxoplasmosis.

Fisher was diagnosed with the disease, which can be contracted from animal waste, in October 2008. The pathogen can sometimes lay dormant for years and Chris believes he may have picked it up as a young boy while playing.

“It did irreparable damage to my retinas,” Fisher told InsideEdition.com.

Over a four-week period, Fisher lost his vision permanently.

“The day that I was told that there was nothing they could do was obviously a very sad day,” he said. “But it didn’t affect me as much as I thought it would.”

Fisher embarked on a period of rehabilitation that allowed him to move on from the devastation and learn to how to live day-to-day again.

So how did he end up working with wood?

“Well, the woodturning happened about four years ago,” he said. “And it came about because I’m a very big horror fan, especially of the vampire genre.”

Fisher wanted to make a stake, but wasn’t about to settle for just any sharp wooden implement.

“I wanted to get something a bit more stylized and artistic so I realized that it had to be turned on a lathe but I didn’t know anybody that was a woodturner,” he explained. “So that’s how I decided to listen to YouTube and teach myself, through the medium of YouTube, to become a woodturner.”

Woodturning has helped Fisher gain a focus as he uses hand-held tools to shape a piece of wood while it rotates on a mechanical lathe. He can create bowls, candlesticks, goblets and other items.

Before purchasing his own kit and making the first cut, Fisher spent 480 hours listening to YouTube videos and tutorials online.

“I was on a mission to learn this,” he told InsideEdition.com. “I was an engineer. So I’ve always worked with my hand.”

Fisher said safety isn’t an issue because his blindness forces him to be extra careful as he works. He even suggests that being sighted might make other woodturners “complacent.”

“So, in a way, that’s made me a lot safer,” he said.

And it’s not just the love of vampire ephemera that keeps Fisher at the lathe. The father of one said he does it for his 17-year-old son Charlie, as well.

“He thinks it’s amazing and he’s very proud of me,” he said. “He loves what I’m doing and he’s a great support and a great inspiration to me too.”

Now Fisher is using his experiences to help inspire others.

“I’m doing more public speaking now and talking at business luncheons and corporate events doing inspirational and motivational talking to help business people achieve their potential,” he said.

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