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DON RUSSELL (USA): Hails from Oxford, Georgia. Don has been a woodworker for over 40 years, making wooden items, from toys to museum exhibits. He has taught woodworking classes around the Atlanta area in Georgia, and currently runs several classes a year at the John C. Campbell Folk School North Carolina. He has also presented at past American Association of Woodturners Symposiums. He has been President of several woodturning groups in the Georgia area.
His interest in geometric shapes has led him to develop a system for the construction of polychromatic – style staved type turnings, with each one being different and unique. Don’s sessions will be of interest to those who wish to learn the techniques of making segmented turnings.
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DIXIE BIGGS (USA): Dixie makes her home in Gainesville, Florida. She
has been a full-time studio woodturner/artist since 1989. Prior to that
time she worked as a biologist at a University of Florida research lab.
She grew up with a love of carving and a fascination for working in
wood. Her interest in woodturning began in 1979 when she taught herself
to use a wood lathe so she could duplicate a chess set her grandfather had made. Having a biological background and a love of gardening, much
of her work incorporates a botanical theme. She is best known for her
meticulously carved “leaf wrapped” vessels. Her work is in many public &
private collections worldwide. She has demonstrated at regional and
national symposiums, including Utah Woodturning Symposium and American
Association of Woodturners.
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BENOIT AVERLY (FRANCE): Benoit grew up in Burgundy (France). After leaving high school and working in various fields, he began woodturning in 2002 with Gilbert Buffard. He became a full time professional woodturner in 2003 with Richard Raffan being an inspirational mentor for him. He has been Richard’s workshop assistant on several occasions at various locations around the world. In spring of 2006 Benoit won the national contest for young craft artists “Concours Jeunes Createurs” and later that year the “Prix Departmental de la SEMA” His work is now part of the collection of the museum “Mussee des Pays de L’Ain” Attendees to the symposium will be inspired by this young turners approach to an ancient craft.
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JOHN WESSEL (SOUTH AFRICA): Is a retired airline pilot with an engineering background and lives on a small farm in the Western Cape of South Africa. He did sheet pewter classes with his mother at the age of 10yrs. At school his favourite subjects were industrial art, woodwork and metal work, taking every opportunity to work on the wood lathe he could. He was 15 years old when he first started woodturning. In 2007 he attended the British AWGB Convention at Loughborough and saw Simon Hope doing cast pewter work on bag pipes. Now at 63 he is putting all this together to create pieces with a difference. Attendees to the symposium will no doubt be inspired by this mans approach to going just that little bit further to make a difference.
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RICHARD RAFFAN (AUST): Lives just outside Canberra, ACT, he began turning wood in England in 1970 at the age of 26, after a successful career in the London wine trade. He has earned his living turning wood ever since. Although largely self-taught he soon established himself as a leading figure in the hand-crafts revival, and since the early 1970s his work has been acquired for public and private collections across the world. Today Richard is probably the world’s best-known woodturner, famous as a bowl and box maker, as teacher and demonstrator and author of classic woodturning books and videos. Tens of thousands of woodturners learned the craft from Raffan’s Turning Wood, Turning Boxes, Turning Bowls, Turned Bowl Design, Turning Projects, Taunton’s Complete Illustrated Guide to Turning, and The Art of Turned Bowls. For thirty-five years Raffan has been a major technical and artistic influence on woodturners worldwide.
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TERRY BAKER (AUST): Lives at Pretty Beach north of Sydney, NSW, he began woodturning in 1983 after having spent 15 years teaching industrial arts in the education system. He first worked with Richard Raffan before developing his own techniques and surface designs that bring out the artist in him. In 1995 he received a Churchill Fellowship to travel to a wish list of woodturning and design influences around the world. Terry has demonstrated extensively both in Australia and around the world. His works have formed part of many exhibitions around the country over the years. Attendees will get a great insight into the world of woodturning and design when being part of Terry’s presentations.
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TIM SKILTON (AUST): Tim lives in Adelaide and has been full time woodturning since 1990, after a career in the mining and construction industry. He has developed the Tim Skilton range of power sanding system for woodturners which are exported to 10 countries around the world. He specialises in turning Australian native timbers including large river red gum platters, hollow forms from burls and inlaid lidded boxes being a speciality. Tim has been involved with the “Come Try Woodturning” sessions at the Timber shows around Australia with over 900 students being introduced to the craft. He has demonstrated at numerous Australian wood shows and symposiums in his time. He has also won over 20 prizes in various Australian and International wood competitions. Tim will head the hands on education programmes at the symposium.
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BRUCE BELL (AUST): Lives just out side of Toowoomba, QLD. Bruce has been woodturning since 1972 specialising in Australian outback timbers. In 1992 he designed and built the first “Travelling Woodturning School” (a workshop on wheels). Woodturning classes thus became available to both city and country people where they could “enjoy the thrill of making the chips fly”.
Bruce is a member of the International Wood Collectors Society and the American Assn of Woodturners. He has presented at many of the Australian “Timber & Working with Wood Shows”, the AAW symposium in Charlotte North Carolina and Southern States Symposium, Gainesville, Georgia. During his many trips to the USA, he has at clubs across the country and run a week long school at John C. Campbell folk school. Bruce is the convenor of this symposium and will if time permits, do a couple of informal presentations, after dinner.
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BOB NEILL (UK): Works from his workshop in Aston on Trent, south of Derby. He has been involved in art & craft all his life. He taught art at secondary level in Derbyshire & London for over 20years and was one of the leaders in developing ‘basic design ideas’ in art education in the early 60’s. In 1975 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Scholarship in order to exchange ideas with toy designers in the USA & Canada. By the late 70’s he had become part of the pyrographic revival– a traditional craft practiced for many years in Sth. America, Africa, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe.
Bobs decorated turned work developed through his many contacts on the ‘craft fair’ circuit during the early 80’s. In 2003 he was awarded a Shackleton Trust Scholarship– teaching pyrography in the Falkland Islands.
Attendees to the symposium will be further inspired by this mans approach to enhancing the craft of woodturning.
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GLENNY NADEN (AUST):Is an Australian Aboriginal woman of the Gubbi Gubbi &
Waka Waka clans of Southern Queensland. She lives in Coffs Harbour NSW with her
husband Kevin where they operate a family business, Bidjiwong Art-Classic Koori Designs.
Glenny began painting at an early age inspired by both her father and older
brother.
Her artwork depicts her strong personal feeling of a system of traditional knowledge
passed on to her from her elders. Themes throughout her artwork express the stories
and traditions that she has encountered in her life’s journey. Glenny and Kevin are also
members of the International Wood Collectors Society. Glenny will present sessions on
aboriginal artwork, its meanings, cultural history and protocols during the symposium.
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PETER HROMEK (GER): Born in the Czech Republic and now lives in Germany. He
has held a fascination with timber most of his life, and after a career as a precision mechanic
took up woodturning in 1986. Peter was inspired to explore his creativity in
woodturning by Melvin Firmager & Dave Regester.
Today the fascination still continues enabling him to use his creative language in a
manner that makes his multi-axis work different to that of others. The challenge of mastering
the precision, technique and craft needed communicates a feeling of complete,
harmonious & organic object with elegant simplicity and beauty that touches the soul.
Peter is also the author of the book “Wood Vessel Sculpture”. Attendees to the symposium
will most certainly inspired by this mans approach to the use of the lathe.
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JOHN JORDAN: John is known for his textured and carved hollow vessels.
His works have featured in major turning exhibitions in the USA, and has
received
numerous awards for the past 25years.
As a demonstrator/teacher he as travelled to many countries around the
world showing his
particular skills, as well as teaching at the Arrowmont School of Arts &
Crafts.
He has produced three instructional videos on woodturning as well as
having written several
articles on the craft.
Many of his works are in private collections and Museums in North
America and England.
John's pieces are initially turned on the lathe, from fresh, green logs,
using a number of
techniques and tools that have evolved over the years. Each piece is
then hand carved and
textured, using a variety of different hand and small powered tools.
John will be the resident artist at the symposium working continuously
on his pieces.
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