Pierson Library, Shelburne VT – Summer 2026 Exhibit

How it started, how its going

This exhibit pairs the first bowl I ever turned, with a recent turning. Craft is a journey and woodturning is certainly no exception. To be able to turn a bowl or vessel with a surface free of tool-marks or torn grain takes a great deal of practice. To be able to have that surface be the surface of a pleasing form takes even more.

I turned my first bowl from a freshly downed black birch tree in 2008 in a class that used to be offered at UVM called “Healthy Forests and Humble Bowls”, co-taught by Ralph Tursini and David Brynn. While this bowl is indeed a humble one, I thoroughly enjoyed both the process of turning it and the very close connection with the tree that turning green wood affords. 

18 years later, my skills have improved somewhat and now I help people turn their first bowls at the Shelburne Craft School. When teaching something like woodturning, the need to think about how to sequence and explain each step of the process has a way of sharpening one’s focus and refining one’s technique. Even knowing this going in, I underestimated how much my time at the Craft School would shape my turning. Time with students and colleagues working in wood, ceramics, fiber, and other media have influenced the forms and textures I create, the ways I handle cracks and voids in material, and the ways I incorporate representational elements. The second, more recent, piece here shows some of these influences.

Camel’s Hump vessel. Turned and carved sugar maple vessel, acrylic paint, botanical oil/wax finish. $275. Inquiries