September 5 - September 30, 2003
Just Lathing A Round
Brian Tyson
I started learning to turn wood in 1981 by using firewood as my material, a how-to-turn book as my instructor, and a small bobby lathe as my mistress - I stole every minute I possibly could to be with her in the shop. This overwhelming passion only became stronger with time and turning fluency, eventually leading to an outright divorce from my teaching career.
I have turned full time in Chilliwack, BC since 1982, attended every major art and craft show from Victoria to Toronto, supplied dozens of galleries from Sydney to Toronto, several in the United States and one in Ireland.
And, what keeps me at it (aside from the need for money)? It is the ability to take a piece of "firewood" through all the stages necessary to make it a desirable object. Long before a piece is finished, I've lost interest in it because my eye is on the next piece of wood that needs turning.
In almost all cases a two step process is used to produce a finished piece: woodturning is a subtractive process and the removal of 90% of the waste is accomplished while the blank is green and wet resulting in a approximate shape and size; after the piece has dried, an warped an contorted, but hopefully not cracked, it is put back on the lathe and turned to its final form. To produce a finished piece can easily take up to a year to accomplish.
The wood used to make the items in this show ranges from found wood, to blow downs, to building lot clearance, to purchased wood in the case of burls and exotics.
Opening Sunday, September 7, 2003, 10am - 1pm
Circle Craft Gallery - Granville Island Net Loft
