I’ve always been a maker. I started when I was very young in my father’s shop, nailing lobster trap scraps together. Over the years, woodworking became and stayed the main outlet for my need to create. The “turning” point for me was a routine visit one day in 2005 to a woodworking tool store. That day there was a woodturning demonstration underway right there in the store. The turner was a member of the Maine Woodturners, which meets nearby. I joined immediately and am now honored to have served on the Maine Woodturners Board of Directors and am currently their President. I am also a member of the American Association of Woodturners, the Maine Crafts Association and the Maine Crafts Guild.
Most of my interest in turning lies in making bowls and vessels, usually from found or salvaged timber. While the wood and its figure are certainly important pieces of the process, the form itself is the signature of the maker. The turned form springs from the life experiences of the turner, influenced by what he’s previously done, seen, thought about and created. Though not formally trained in the arts, I like to think that my sense of form was shaped by my time spent lobstering on Penobscot Bay, mesmerized by the sea and its creatures.