Russell Neyman
10-29-2015, 2:32 PM
Our club -- The Olympic Peninsula Woodturners -- crossed an interesting threshold with our programs last evening. We were celebrating our 30th year as a woodturning organization and 25th as a chapter of The American Association of Woodturners, and we took that opportunity to honor Wally Dickerman, who has been spinning wood blanks for nearly 80 years.
At 94, Wally just wasn't up to the long, arduous drive from his current home in Portland up to Bremerton and back, so we improvised; we did a live feed and interview with him using a Skype connection, feeding it into our two huge monitors at the meeting hall and jury-rigging a sound system. We also superimposed a slide show of his work and collected images of his career. Sure, we had some technical hiccups, but it worked out very well and we shared information that couldn't have been presented any other way. I can't help but think we pioneered a new way to bring famous artisans to the forefront without the costs of travel, hotel, and speakers fees.
Now, I seriously doubt that a bowl demonstration would be very successful through this method. This lends itself to an interview-and-slide show sort of thing, but in the age of advanced smart phones, I suppose someone could creatively make it work. I bring this up because I know that there are other chapter presidents and program coordinators who could put this to use.
By the way, Wally Dickerman is a wonderful woodturner with a rich history. Here's a link to our newsletter, which previewed the event and talks about Wally. http://www.opcaaw.com/Newsletters/oct_15.pdf
At 94, Wally just wasn't up to the long, arduous drive from his current home in Portland up to Bremerton and back, so we improvised; we did a live feed and interview with him using a Skype connection, feeding it into our two huge monitors at the meeting hall and jury-rigging a sound system. We also superimposed a slide show of his work and collected images of his career. Sure, we had some technical hiccups, but it worked out very well and we shared information that couldn't have been presented any other way. I can't help but think we pioneered a new way to bring famous artisans to the forefront without the costs of travel, hotel, and speakers fees.
Now, I seriously doubt that a bowl demonstration would be very successful through this method. This lends itself to an interview-and-slide show sort of thing, but in the age of advanced smart phones, I suppose someone could creatively make it work. I bring this up because I know that there are other chapter presidents and program coordinators who could put this to use.
By the way, Wally Dickerman is a wonderful woodturner with a rich history. Here's a link to our newsletter, which previewed the event and talks about Wally. http://www.opcaaw.com/Newsletters/oct_15.pdf