Sunburst at Clear Creek No. 1

Sunburst at Clear Creek No. 1, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

Fun with light painting! How cool is that?

Turning 2009 symposium

What's not to love? Great demonstrators, good fun, nice scenery and a weekend of woodturning! I'm taking a lot of photos, so will have some detailed postings in the near future. First I have to catch up on the Dublin Irish Festival, my trip to Mexico, and my hands-on class with Jean-François Escoulen. Hmmmmm, methinks it's been a busy month!

Jalopy in the forest

Jalopy in black & white, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

My first attempt at B&W processing. I just added the Nik software plug-ins to aperture and I messed around with the software for monochrome settings. This started out as an HDR processed stack of six photos. I like the B&W better than the color. Let me know what you think.

The photo was taken at Glacier Ridge Metro Park.

Geese on the mall

Geese on the mall, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

Here's another image from my walk on the National Mall last Tuesday. I messed around with camera settings for awhile. This one was taken with the setting at "Faithful" - manual exposure, RAW format. I thought the effect was interesting - it looks like a painting rather than a photo to my eyes. Comments are welcomed - what do you think?

Washington Monument

Washington Monument, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

I'm in the Washington DC area for the rest of the week, doing my scientific civic service. I had some time yesterday to walk the Mall and to visit a couple of museums. I took my tripod with me with the intent to try some HDR photo processing, knowing the lighting wouldn't be all that favorable by the time I arrived in DC. This is my first attempt at tonemapping a photo.

I did a lot of walking yesterday, spending most of my time on the mall rather than in museums. I did visit the natural history museum to see what their Darwin exhibit included - not all that impressive, I'm disappointed to report. The highlight of the natural history museum was their butterfly exhibit.

I also visited the Air and Space museum, not having been there in more than a decade. I went to see Alan Bean's paintings, and they were definitely worth seeing in person.

2009 AAW Symposium, Part V: Sunday, June 28

This is the last post I'll have on the 2009 AAW symposium. At the end of this entry you'll find an index to all the posts I made for this event plus links to my Facebook photo albums.

My last rotation was the first one on Sunday morning. I had another great crowd and lots of great feedback. That made four for four - a nice feeling.

The next rotation scheduled included the instant gallery critique. The panel included Kevin Wallace, Merryll Saylan and Garry Knox Bennett. Jacques Vesery was the PoP committee member organizing the set-up and flow of the discussion. Because my sphere project received an Excellence Award, I was interested to hear what the panel would say about it during the critique. Most of the comments focused on the organic feel of the piece. I'll have to buy the symposium DVD to hear all the details.




Kevin Wallace always has interesting things to say about wood turnings.














L to R: Kevin Wallace, Merryll Saylan, Garry Knox Bennett. They had to turn around to see what was being projected to the audience.










Merryll and Garry gave each other the business throughout the discussion. I enjoyed that.








I had a few minutes to take in the trade show one more time and was delighted to have a chance to visit with Eli Avisera (with Ron Zalk). Both are from Israel.









Eli set up one of his dynamic multi-axis sculptures for me.










These are so cool, and I really love how you can play with them.
















Eli is as photogenic as his turnings, don't you agree?











Eli sent this demo piece home with me.















The last rotation I attended was John Wessel's pewter inlay demonstration. It was so great to see him again and to watch him demonstrate. He has fun with the audience.






Index to all the 2009 AAW blog posts:

June 22, 2009: Just in time for the AAW Symposium
June 25, 2009: Arrived in Albuquerque for the AAW Symposium
June 27, 2009: A totally awesome day
June 28, 2009: Second day of the AAW symposium
June 29, 2009: Day three of the AAW symposium
September 16, 2009: 2009 AAW Symposium, Part I: Thursday, 25 June
September 20, 2009: 2009 AAW Symposium, Part II: Friday, 26 June
September 25, 2009: 2009 AAW Symposium, Part III: Saturday morning, June 27
September 27, 2009: 2009 AAW Symposium, Part IV: Saturday afternoon & evening, June 27

Links to all the photos I posted on my Facebook Fan Page:

2009 AAW Symposium - Thursday, June 25th (27 photos)
2009 AAW Symposium - Merryll Saylan and Garry Knox Bennett exhibit (27 photos)
2009 AAW Symposium - Spindles and Spirit of the Southwest exhibits (58 photos)
2009 AAW Symposium - Friday, June 26th (38 photos)
2009 AAW Symposium - Saturday Morning, June 27th (39 photos)
2009 AAW Symposium - Saturday Morning, June 27th - Part 2 (36 photos)
2009 AAW Symposium - Saturday Morning, June 27th - Part 3 (65 photos)
2009 AAW Symposium - Last installment (42 photos)

And that's, all, folks! If you've enjoyed the series and photos, please feel free to show your appreciation by leaving a comment here or on my Facebook fan page. If you're a Facebook member, please add yourself as a fan to that site. I post pictures there first, so if you want to know what's happening, that's a good place to stay on top of things. You can also show your support by purchasing one of my CD's (links on the upper right side of the blog page; also available on iTunes) or by making a small donation via the PayPal link up on the right side of the page. Every little bit helps to keep this information flowing your way - it does take time and effort on my part to share this information with you, plus my photographic equipment supply list is constantly growing. I'd like to keep this blog free from ads, so your help is much appreciated.

One of my favorite photos

3608.20090830.park of roses, originally uploaded by andiwolfe.

I'm trying to do macro photography without a macro lens. I like this one, so I thought I would share it.

2009 AAW Symposium, Part IV: Saturday Afternoon & Evening, June 27

After lunch I had a bit more time to wander through exhibits and pop into a few rotations to check out the action.

Here's my good friend, John Wessels, from South Africa. He made his debut as an AAW demonstrator this year. He did rotations on turning cast pewter (shown here) and doing pewter inlay work. I enjoyed watching John demonstrate. He's sassy!





Marilyn Campbell was the center of attention here. She was being recorded for the Symposium video series. Marilyn was demonstrating her epoxy techniques.








Emmett Kane from Ireland was doing surface enhancement techniques.












Andrea Martel (Canada) was turning thin-walled vessels from green wood.






David Nittmann had a lot of 2-D work on the walls as well.












Meanwhile, back in the instant gallery, Jacques Vesery was chatting with Derek Weidmann and his wife.











Derek Weidmann received a Collegiate Award for his multi-axis, carved figure.










I stopped by the craft room to see what was going on there and found a carving demonstration taking place.










Here are some of the carvings on display.











L to R: Michael Hosaluk, Albert LeCoff and Garry Knox Bennett, visiting in the instant gallery.












Early afternoon activity in the instant gallery on Saturday afternoon included the gathering up of the auction donations that would be in the live auction at the banquet.










Jack Slentz received an Excellence Award for his carved disc.










Medallions by David Nittmann
















Some interesting multi-axis turnings by Eli Aviserra.


















Another Excellence Award was given to Charles Faucher.

















Satoshi Fujinuma














Satoshi Fujinama














I had the last rotation of the day to do a coloring demo. Here's my supply set-up.











And, here I am, ready to go.










As soon as I finished my demo, I hurried back to my hotel room to freshen up for the AAW banquet.

Here is collector David Wahl, modeling his wife's handbag.














Jean François Escoulen waving to me from across the room.










Always a huge crowd for the banquet.











Auction donations lined up and ready to go.







Hmmm, there seems to be a recurring theme of Jacques Vesery consuming bottles of wine at the AAW symposium. Jacques, is there something we should know????

Alain Mailland is on the left and Pascal Oudet on the right. Maybe Jacques was just trying to be one of the French guys for the night.





One of the highlights of the evening was David Ellsworth presenting Merryll Saylan with the POP Merit award. I think you can tell from this photo that there is a long standing friendship between these talented artists.










Merryll was delighted with the award she was given.









It was a custom-made trophy turned and painted by Mark Sfirri.



Front. . .














. . . and back.














The most heartwarming event of the banquet was a touching speech given by former AAW president Phil Brennion, who has been heroic in his recovery from a debilitating back injury that has resulted in paralysis. The AAW set up a rehabilitation fund for Phil and he thanked the membership in person. It was so great to see him at the symposium this year.






John Hill did most of the evening's auction, but when his voice gave out, the pinch hitter stepped in. This was Rob Wallace's debut as an AAW auctioneer.









And, finally, no evening of the AAW symposium would be complete without the night cap in the hotel bar.

Miscellaneous pics from around Ohio

I'm starting to use Flickr more and more. There are some neat features there. Here's a slide show of my most recent nature pictures taken in Ohio - mostly in the vicinity of Columbus. I recommend that you view the show in full screen mode. There's a toggle on the lower right hand of the slide set (after you hit the play button) that will take you to full screen mode (move your cursor over the image and it will bring up the control bar). Comments are always welcomed.

2009 AAW Symposium, Part III: Saturday Morning, June 27

I had one demonstration rotation scheduled on Saturday (last one of the day), which gave me a lot of time to take in the trade show, instant gallery, a panel discussion, and to visit with friends.

The first booth I encountered upon entering the trade show was Bill Rubenstein's Stubby Lathe USA. Bill was there with his daughter this year. I own a Stubby 750 - one of the best lathes in the world. I really, really love this machine - quiet, well-engineered, no fuss, and it has a small footprint. Perfect for my basement shop.






John Jordan and Dan Bailey.












I have no idea what John Jordan said to this woman, but it must have been hilarious!










Front, right - my academic colleague and friend, Rob Wallace.










L to R: Bill Rubenstein and Johannes Michelson.











My favorite trade show encounter was this young man, Will Foresman. He was working at Don Pencil's tradeshow booth. Don had found me wandering by and told me there was a young man who would really like to meet me. So, the expression on Will's face was as shown here.

"You're Andi Wolfe???? WOW!!!!! I'm a HUGE fan of yours!"









Well, flattery like that is worth a picture together, don't you think? Thanks, Will!












Jimmy Clewes made a lot of shavings on the tradeshow floor.











A close look at Cindy Drozda's tool set. She was demonstrating at the Packard Woodworking Supplies booth.










My favorite sign in the trade show. "Buy more, get more!" Amazing how that works.















Steve Worcester (the guy who made that pink sign above" with Mark Baker - turner extrordinaire and current editor of the UK journal, Woodturning.











Curt Theobald with his lovely daughter.












My favorite picture of Alain Mailland. He had moved his sculpture over to the "fragile" table and set it up correctly. He's holding his postcard that shows the correct orientation. Previously, it was on another table, laying on its back.











Youth turning awards.










An interesting display of Bob Rolling's femispheres. I think that is Joel Rakower admiring the display.

















An interesting something or other by Robert Bagley

















Tucker Garrison piece - I liked this one a lot!












A two-part mask by Keith Holt.


















Cindy Drozda's work. She secured this with a lot of sticky discs.















The collaborative challenge entry by the Dallas Area Woodturners won big time.
















Another view of that winning collaboration.











Chicago Woodturners collaboration














Trent Bosch - I really like these new pieces!











Bill Smith











Curt Theobald has such interesting segmented forms. I always enjoy seeing these shapes.













Sharon Doughtie was another Excellence Award recipient.















Wes Loukota had some interesting work, also.


















Douglas Jones and Kim Kulan-Jones received an Excellence Award. The use of materials in these pieces was very interesting.














Jean François Escoulen was the artist-in-resident for this year's symposium.









Pascal Oudet received a Purchase Award for his sandblasted egg-shaped hollow-form.










Michael Hosaluk worked with rawhide on this piece. He turned a form, wrapped it in rawhide, bound it, unwrapped and bent it. Another Excellence Award recipient.











One of the PoP panel discussions was "Whose turn is it anyway?" - organized by Michael Mocho and including Betty Scarpino, Joe Seltzer, and Jack Slentz. It was intersting - talking about how turning includes a diversity of techniques, materials, and interpretations.









Art Mason (center) paid close attention to the discussion.














Albert Lecoff of the Wood Turning Center was also in attendance.





On my way to lunch, after the PoP panel discussion I attended, I spotted this demonstration on weaving, sponsored by the Crafts room. In addition to the wood turning rotations and panel discussions, there's a craft room that has a variety of demonstrations. It gives attending spouses a break from having to sit through wood turning demos.

More pictures from Saturday morning are here:

FB-2009 AAW Symposium, Saturday Part I
FB-2009 AAW Symposium, Saturday Part II