WOODTURNERS EXHIBIT WORK AT OCAC

Linda Suter, Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild

Artisans from the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild return to the Oxford Community Arts Center with an exhibit that opens on November 11, 2011.  OVTG  boasts about 230 members from the southeastern Indiana-northern Kentucky- southwestern Ohio region. 

This special exhibit will open at 6:00 pm on November 11 during Oxford Community Arts Center’s regular Second Friday celebration.  Forty-three pieces from nineteen artists will be on exhibit until December 2^nd.  Items will be available for purchase and may be picked up after the show closes, just in time for holiday gift-giving.

Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild is a chapter of the American Association of Woodturners.   The organization strives "to provide education, information, and organization to people interested in the art and craft of woodturning."  Their other goals and efforts include: Promoting woodturning as an art form and craft; sharing ideas regarding woodturning, including lathes, tools, turning materials, turning techniques and design of turned objects; hosting international professional woodturners’ demonstrations of methods and techniques; and providing woodturning mentors to new members.

Artists with pieces on exhibit range from Arnold Ward who turned his first pieces, a chess set, on the lathe in high school 30 years ago and Ralph Mckee who has been woodworking for over 45 years and whose work is made from down trees from his  farm that he saws into lumber on a Wood-Mizer saw mill, air dries then kiln dries in a home built solar kiln,  to Dave Wright who has been turning wood for about three years. Often their attraction to wood and woodworking came at a very early age.  When asked about his infinity to wood and woodworking, Vaughn Solomon said, “In the home of my grandparents the floors I played on were cherry, cut from my grandfather’s orchard. Even today some of that same wood embellishes my workbench.” 

Many of the artists produce their art for pleasure and offer it for sale as a means of sharing the beauty and keeping down the clutter in their studios and homes. Still others “find great joy in seeing what lies inside each broken and rotting log – sort of like opening a Christmas present and anticipating the surprise to come,” says Mary Carol Meinken. 

Sande Raabe has always been a “maker of stuff.”  She has tried everything from macramé in the 1970s, silver smithing in the 80s, quilting in the 90s and before taking up wood turning.  “I love it,” she says. “I find myself in the garage at the lathe when I should be cleaning the house.  I like going out to the woods, dragging a piece of wood back to the house and seeing what I can make. I have especially enjoyed all the positive people I have met in my wood turning journey”

Bruce Gibson considers himself “an amateur woodturner introduced to the hobby about 13 years ago.”  The artistic pieces he creates are generally one-of because, “for me, the fascination is in the creative process.  The wood itself often dictates the final outcome of my creative process because hidden imperfections and wood grain subtleties dictate the flow of the work.  I find pleasure in releasing the natural beauty hidden beneath the bark.” 

The group’s show at Oxford Community Arts Center opens on Second Friday at 6 p.m. and lasts until 10 p.m.   The reception is free and open to the public, as are all Second Friday events.   Second Friday Arts Evenings, occur monthly and feature live music, exhibits of visual art, and a reception for the artists.

The Center is located at 10 S. College Avenue in Oxford, Ohio. For additional information about Second Friday or about the Arts Center itself, contact 513-524-8506, emailinfo@oxarts.org, or visit their website at www.oxarts.org.