The "Artist" at work.  Turning spin tops at Bridgeport State Park.  This young lady is patiently waiting so she can give it a whirl.

I love to teach, and demonstrate this wonderful tool.  Perhaps the occasional young person will  give it a try and discover their innate talents to work natural materials.

If you want to see a larger image (of the young lady and her mom) click on the picture.

 

I have tramped the  Sierra Nevada Mountains since I was 13.  Spending whole summers on the loose up there.  The sparse alpine regions with granite sculpture and 10,000 year old glacial polish and striations informs the objects that come out of my studio.  The bark and gnarly, worn trees of that harsh environment inspire my designs.  These mountains are much a part of me.

The lathe is arguably man's first woodworking machine.  Which came first, the lathe or the potters wheel?   We have images of wood turners and turnings thousands of years before Christ.  And all this while the Glaciers were still wandering the Sierra Nevada range!

This heritage of my life and man's history drives me to develop my woodturning techniques,  to discover and  rescue Sierra woods.  The surprise of the graphics hidden in these woods is unveiled by the turning process.  I find myself drawn to ancient utilitarian forms as an element of my designs.   I delight to embrace remnants of a tradition when wood and stone were man's principal raw materials.  And when mind, eye, hand, and body were the intimate instruments of creating objects.