Turning Southern Style XXI

[Thom Sturgill]

Headed to Dalton, GA for the GAW symposium this weekend. Nick Agar, Benoit Averly, Jimmy Clewes, Nick Cook, John Lucas, Harvey Meyer and several of our Vendor friends like Vince Welsh, Doug Thonpson, Lyle Jameison are demonstrators.

Be glad to meet up with any Creekers that make the trip. Remember to bring your 'Beads of Courage' boxes!

[Russell Stanton]

My wife Charline and I will be there also and will bring a BOC box.

[Steve Mellott]

I'm already here and have already delivered my Beads of Courage box. Will see you tomorrow. We are expecting about 225-240 attendees (basically the same as last year.)

[Bill Bulloch]

I'll be there too. Bring Nick Agar up in the morning. I got a Beads of Courage Box and a pocket full of money.

[Mike Peace]

I provided my BOC boxes earlier since I am unable to attend due to my son getting married this weekend. Sorry I will miss the symposium since it is always a good one. I know how hard you worked Steve and know it will be a big success.

I did get to see Jimmy Clewes tonight at the GAW meeting and plan to attend an all day demo with Benoit Averly next Tuesday in Gainesville at CWT.

[Bill Bulloch]

You missed a good one Mike. Thom, Steve and I had a good time.

[Russell Stanton]

As did my wife and I. I even got one of the $50 vendor bucks for our BOC box. Also it was great to meet Thom.

[Thom Sturgill]

And Bill won "People's Favorite" (and $100) for his polychromatic 'bowl from a board' entry. It had a lot of people scratching their heads at how it was done. It was also one of eight picked for critique by the two foreign demonstrators, Benoit Averly and Nick Agar. Jimmy Clewes was under the weather and did not attend the evening session, but stayed in to recuperate. I do not remember whether it was Nick or Benoit that picked his bowl to critique, they each picked four separate items.

The symposium reported that they collected between 75 and 80 BOC boxes this year. This is the first time the symposium collected them, and the first time the Atlanta Children's hospital has had the boxes. The symposium started the program in response to seeing the collection at the last AAW symposium and vow to top the number of bowls the AAW collected last time when the AAW comes to Atlanta next year. When the AAW was at Tampa a few years ago I checked and could not find a Florida Hospital that was taking part in the program. There are many now so I will be pestering some of the Florida Symposium Committee to get on the band wagon.

[Randall Mack]

I was interested in going to the North Carolina turning symposium. I googled hoping to find some good videos or pictures taken at other symposiums. I could not find much. I hoped to find something from the Turning Southern Style 2015 or earlier. Does AAW prohibit photography at these meetings?

[Thom Sturgill]

No, I forgot to take any this year and usually the symposiums post pictures of past meetings. NC only does their symposium every other year and they do a great job. I have family in NC and have been to two of them and might go this year, although I doubt it. Many of the same turners we had at the GAW symposium although NC is larger.

If you have not been to a symposium, I can not describe what you have missed. GO! LEARN! ENJOY!!! I know of no better way to get inspired, and no matter if you have been to dozens, there is always something to learn. The experience of being in a crowd of hundreds that share your hobby is in itself wonderful.