I had the pleasure of attending the Campbell Folk Art School earlier this month in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in N.C. Even better was the opportunity to have John Keeton as our instructor. Goal of the course was to turn at least one clamshell (made in two halves and glued back together) hollowform and an ogee-shaped bowl. The extent of my self-taught experience has been 6-8 basic bowls and other small items but no hollow forms.
The campus for the Campbell School was very nice, great family-style food and comfortable accommodations with great mountain scenery.
The course was fabulous with just the right amount of instruction and encouragement by John. As most of you already know from seeing his outstanding work, form and design are extremely important and John conveyed this very well with power point, turnings that he brought and by relating it directly while we worked on our turnings. He also sent each of us home with a DVD covering the powerpoint he did at the start of the course.
I've not posted pix on the Creek yet of my hollow form or bowl but am working on that. Bottom-line is that I was amazed at being able to turn the hollow form and finial given my turning experience. John gave me the instruction and confidence to do more.
If you ever have a chance to go to the Campbell School or especially to attend a course anywhere else the John teaches, try to take advantage of it!
Bruce