2004 Beneath the Bark: Twenty-Five Years of Woodturning | |
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| In the ever-expanding world of woodturning, symposiums and similar woodturning get-togethers are commonplace.
There are many events organized annually in Britain, Ireland, France, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Australia, and North America. The largest is the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) Annual Symposium, but the longest running is the Utah Woodturning Symposium held each year in Provo, UT.
Talk with woodturners who have attended major symposiums around the world and most will put the Utah Symposium on a short list of top events. The regular attendees speak of camaraderie, of the relaxed atmosphere, of seeing old friends, of making new ones. We do that elsewhere, yet Utah offers something special- something more. |  | |
So what is it that distinguishes the Utah Symposium from the other major woodturning events, given that each offers a wide range of topics covering all aspects of this craft? Partly it is Utah's moderate size, but mostly I think it's Utah's rich tradition.
Symposium's roots go back to 1970s
The Utah Woodturning Symposium emerged from the Wood Working West Symposium and a series of summer workshops Dale Nish initiated in the late 1970s with sponsorship from the Department of Industrial Education at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo.
These early conferences included a heavy dose of woodturning along with other woodworking activities including furniture design, wood bending, and wood carving. With the increasing interest in woodturning-both as a hobby and livelihood-the first dedicated woodturning symposium was held in Provo in 1979. The event drew 29 participants.
Twenty-three years of in-house management and a willing staff of student assistants have ironed out all the organizational wrinkles. For the first 22 years, Bob Brenner, the now-retired gofer, ironed out how to overcome every foible in each demonstration space so there are no surprises remaining. It's a compact venue with excellent facilities and a perfect campus setting with the Wasatch Mountains as a backdrop.
There's rarely a problem with the lathes, chucks or anything else requested by demonstrators because the nearby Crafts Supplies is the chief provider. There's never a problem with wood, so having all logistical challenges ironed out makes the Utah Symposium the least stressful venue for demonstrators, who find virtually none of the hassles so often experienced at other events.
The organizers make every effort for demonstrators to function almost as they would in their own workshops. Thus, participants see relaxed presenters in informative sessions.
Top-notch staff from around the globe
The Utah Symposium has the reputation of assembling a top-notch line-up of presenters from around the globe. Most have a well-established national or international reputation-or the potential to get there soon. Demonstrators traditionally bring a strong technical background, artistic finesse, and teaching skills. Says Kip Christensen, who took over the reins from Dale Nish in 1998, "Our big draw has to be the quality of the presenters and the strength of the program. People don't travel through Provo on their way to anywhere, so we have to give them a good reason to come here. And many do year after year."
Last year's clutch of demonstrators was no exception, each with a remarkable ability to demonstrate the how-to skills and design sensitivity essential to efficient, enjoyable and productive hours at the lathe. Dale Nish and now Kip Christensen have introduced many newcomers to a wider audience creating a significant list of well known turners who first demonstrated at a Utah Symposium.
An excellent feature of the Utah symposium is the opening session in the BYU Varsity Theatre. After a brief welcome by campus administration, attendees watch the fast-moving slide introductions: Each presenter gets two minutes to show six slides of their work and describe what participants can expect to see.
The demonstrations are held in two adjacent buildings. Each area is equipped with video monitors and tiered seating. There are generally 10 demonstration areas and 10 sessions. With the addition of the evening presentations, participants choose from more than 100 demonstrations and slide talks.
Instant Gallery draws a crowd
Each year the Utah Association of Woodturners, an AAW chapter, organizes and runs the impressive Instant Gallery The 2002 Gallery drew more than 800 pieces. Since 1999, the Utah chapter has produced a CD recording the work in the gallery, shots of the demonstrators in action, and other highlights. According to the participants, the Utah Symposium is neither too large nor too small: Meet someone and you are likely to meet them again. The campus is compact, so attendees easily walk between sessions. The negatives-for a few-are that tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine are forbidden on the BYU campus. (However, each of these is available off-campus.) Contrary to widely held belief, all this stuff is readily available in Provo-it just isn't announced with flashing neon signs.
The evening program is the highlight of the Utah Symposium for many. This portion of the program includes slide talks, special presentations, and a good portion of light-hearted fun.
In the 80s, an open shop period allowed participants to turn while the demonstrators hung about to offer hands-on advice.
In those days, BYU had 15 to 20 lathes, and participants were given a chance to create something from a standard 3x3x8" blank. The finished pieces were sprayed black for judging and eventually just about everyone got a prize. The inventiveness resulting from this challenge was a constant surprise.
Don't miss the Great Egg Cup Race
During the past few years, the Great Egg Cup Race has replaced this activity. For a couple of raucous hours on Thursday and Friday evening, in the words of the famous English turner Bill Jones, "you can watch heaps of really good wood being totally ruined by the world's finest turners."
Egg-cup racing is a sort of bonding extravaganza for woodturners. There are prizes, and most years it seems that everyone who enters wins something. Indeed, there's a suspicion that if you didn't win your category the organizers might invent one just for you: best cup by a one-armed turner over the age of 95 wearing a pink mini-skirt.
The Great Egg Cup Race might have originated in England, but it's become institutionalized in Provo. Racing pitches two turners or pairs of turners against each other and the clock on identical lathes. Quality is not a primary consideration, but the atmosphere and camaraderie generated by loud barracking is worthwhile.
Show-and-tell sessions also were a feature of the early symposiums, as were design critiques of pieces in the instant gallery. The original Utah approach selected a benchmark from three similar pieces-preferably from one turner. Then the critique accessed other pieces in relation to the benchmark. Turners found these critiques invaluable. But this too became unwieldy as the symposium attracted more participants.
Recently the symposium included two special exhibitions. The 1999 event included the only public showing of the Dale and Norene Nish collection, which remains one of the finest woodturning collections anywhere. In 2001, the symposium featured a retrospective show of the late Ray Alien, who had recently died. In recent years, organizers added a Swap Meet which has all the energy of an Eastern bazaar.
Utah registration capped at 460
In recent years nearly 500 turners have signed up to attend the Utah Symposium. "With our current facilities, we can best handle about 460 participants. This past year we had to put restrictions on registration for the first time," says Kip Christensen.
Originally published in the Journal of the American Association of Woodturners, Spring 2003, Vol. 10, No. 1. Articled provided by permission of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW). |
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