May, 2005 – Channel Islands Woodturners

Meeting Information: Sunday, May 15, from 9 am to 4 pm

Special Demonstration

Andi Wolfe: Turning and Surface Decoration

At Levi Mize Woodcraftsman’s Shop

162 Aviador Street #17+18, Camarillo, CA 93010

Aviador Street is N. of the Camarillo Airport and is reached from the Central Ave. exit off of US 101: go S. and turn left on Ventura Blvd. then right on Aviador St. About three-quarters of the way to the dead end, on the left is a long building. Levi’s shop is the last two doors on the left on the S. side of the building. Please park directly in front of or behind his shop or against the curb on the N. side of the building and not in front of other shops.

BRING YOUR OWN CHAIR OR SIT ON THE FLOOR

At the April meeting we welcomed Pete Ortega as our newest member. Al Geller announced that the mentoring program at Cabrillo Middle School was starting April 18th and that additional members can sign up to help if they are interested. Contact Al for information.

Sam Turner reviewed the new categories for this year’s Ventura County Fair in August and encouraged everyone to enter as many categories as possible. While quality is important, it is also incumbent upon us to have a significant presence again this year to justify our separate Turning Division at the Fair. More specific information will be posted as it becomes available. Also we will need members who are also AAW members to sign up for rotations as demonstrators.

The Challenge for April was natural edge bowls with many quality entries. Al will need to find a different prize for first place since so many of us have the book “500 Bowls” already.

This month there is no challenge due to the special all day demonstration with Andi Wolfe (see below). We are again limiting attendance to the first 40 people who sign up. Call Ron Lindsay to indicate your RSVP and arrange to pay the $25 fee (checks should be made out to him, not to CIW). We need the RSVP no later than May 14th so we can order the appropriate number of lunches which is included in the fee. We have invited members of several of our neighboring turning clubs so get your RSVP in quickly.

Member Art Waldinger began the April demonstration with a discussion of what makes a great photo of a turned piece for use to present your work to a gallery or book editor. He reminded us that it is good to keep photos of your work for your own use as a record and to show how you have progressed in skill and artistic ability. [Your webpage editor also appreciates the photos!] Art then demonstrated how using natural indirect sunlight, a piece of mat-gray colored laminate, and simple reflectors made of Styrofoam, mirrors, or even aluminum covered tops from take out food containers we can take professional quality photos. A digital camera lets you see the results immediately, but a film camera works just as well. He demonstrated the set up and took photos of work that will shortly appear in our gallery section and everyone had an opportunity to use their own cameras. The handouts that he passed around are available in our loan library.

ANDI WOLFE
Andi, an Associate Professor in the biology department at The Ohio State University, says her woodturning obsession compliments her interests in science. Her day job is as a plant systematist – a scientist who investigates the relationships among plants. Andi’s training included plant anatomy and morphology along with learning how to shoot close-up photos of flowers and plant parts that are relevant to her work, and she feels her professional interests have now become important to her in her woodturning as inspirations for decorative elements.
In her artist’s statement, Andi says she has always been attracted to old botanical prints of herbals and florals, some published more than a hundred years ago.

NEW SERIES
Recently, Andi has started work on a new series of bowls and platters that feature botanical motifs: entire plants, leaves, flowers, or parts of plants that one would see magnified through a microscope. Her goal is to depict the plant parts featured as accurately as possible, although she does take some artistic license, of course, to compliment the color of the artwork to the color of the wood, or when the design is abstract as opposed to mimicking a botanical print. However her primary objective is to preserve the essence of the wood while using it as a medium for artistic impression.

WOODTURNING

For her woodturning, Andi uses an Omega Stubby 750 lathe, enhancements are produced through a range of techniques, from carving with hand and power tools to pyrography and coloring with aniline dyes and acrylic paints. Recently she has relied primarily on pyrographic and coloring techniques for the series featuring botanical motifs.
Andi’s work can be seen at the Del Mano, The Real Mother Goose and the Ohio Craft Museum galleries and it is well worth paying a visit to Andi’s own web site.

Gallery of photos from the April meeting: