Meet Turning Grace
'Every day is spent looking for unique and beautiful pieces of wood that will help me create a truly special piece. The best and most exciting find is an old piece of wood that can be brought back to life and machined on the lathe into something relevant today.
Being an artist seemed wonderful, but I lacked the creativity or experience. Our family enjoyed attending art festivals and open studios at The Umbrella Community Arts Center here in Concord, Massachusetts. Secretly, I thought how wonderful it would be to participate as an artist alongside the many talented painters and sculptors. After a couple years an idea slowly emerged to give wood turning a try and made the move to enroll in a beginner’s class in a town nearby. When the instruction session was finished, I drove home excited to show off my own wood bowl. After about six months of talking about the new experience of transforming a piece of wood into a beautiful creation, my family dramatically revealed a fully-assembled Rikon lathe in our garage on my birthday. It was fun starting with small items such as pens and pencils. Then I tried my hand at wine bottle stoppers and openers. The feeling of creating something was addictive, exciting and satisfying.
At some point during this process there was an “ah ha” moment where wood turning became my “thing.”'
