Name: Malcolm Tibbetts
How young are you?
I still think of myself as a “young” person – a very open-minded person, but my body keeps telling me otherwise. I’m healthy enough to occasionally “jog” as exercise, but I’m a long, long ways from being marathon capable. Because of a life time of sport-related injuries and a very thick worker’s comp file, my body provides me with plenty of “aches and pains”.
Physical description:
6’ 3” and too big around the middle, but my wife says I still have a nice butt (she gave me permission to say that).
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Where’s home?
I grew up in a wonderful resort town in the White Mountains of New Hampshire – a ski resort town called North Conway. In 1971, after college and military service in Europe (during the Vietnam “conflict”), and after touring the country in a VW micro bus, I settled in South Lake Tahoe, CA (mostly for the skiing opportunities). I’ve now been in the same town for 36 years and in the same house for the last 31 years. If you’ve never been to Lake Tahoe, do yourself a favor and come visit. Besides the beauty, I’ve got too many turning tools to move.
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Family information:
I met Tere, the love of my life and the center of my universe, at Heavenly Ski Area. Is that mushy enough? I was a ski patroller at the time and she was the first-aid room nurse. You might say it was a match made in heaven. We’ve been married since ‘76 with two grown children, Andy and Cristie. Andy is a student at Portland State (OR) and will soon have his degree in civil engineering and Cristie is a graduate of UC Berkley, about to finish her masters; she works locally as a counselor dealing with dysfunctional families. Our newest family member is Bubby, a sheltie Christmas puppy.
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Do you have a website?
My website is www.tahoeturner.com. I’ve taken the “road less traveled” as I currently do not sell my work through galleries. I market my woodturning through my website, by word of mouth, and by direct email contact with collectors. My son, Andy was instrumental in creating the site, but I’ve finally learned how to maintain it and make changes. I just recently added a few new pages in order to offer PDF files of some of my magazine articles. I also added a calendar displaying my teaching schedule. The internet is simply the most incredible tool on earth. On average, more than 200 people per day spend time at my site. I really enjoy interacting with wood enthusiasts from around the globe. I typically spend at least an hour each day, managing my email and visiting sites such as SMC. I’ll share one website story: A very large software company in India, with offices all over the world recently discovered my site. One thing led to another and they purchased the rights to use four of my images on the outside and inside covers of their annual report. 25,000 color copies were mailed to stockholders – all with my website listed. You gotta love it.
Vocation?
About four years ago, after 32 years of managing outdoor operations at Heavenly Ski Area, I decided to pursue segmented woodturning. My previous years of wage earning provided me the financial freedom to feed this passion and my wife was/is very supportive. She also still works part-time at the local community college after a long career as a high school teacher. When I’m not traveling and teaching or at my computer, then I’m usually in my shop working on various projects. Most of what I “turn”, I attempt to sell; fortunately most of it eventually sells. I guess that makes me a “professional” segmented woodturner. I’m also an author. My book, “The Art of Segmented Woodturning” has far surpassed my expectations, and I’m most honored by its success. My next big project is to acquire the skills to produce a series of “how to” DVD’s. I have a lot to learn before seriously pursuing this goal.
I’ve just recently put things in motion for my newest venture. With the support of Marc Adams at the Marc Adams School in Indiana, I am organizing the first ever “Segmented” Woodturning Symposium. It is scheduled for November 14 to 16, 2008. The details are still in the works, but you heard it here first. Curt Theobald and Bill Smith have agreed to join me. Stay tuned for more info.
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