Dear AAW Member, March 2008

It is my honor to write the March letter from the Board to you, our AAW. The AAW Board members, Executive Directors, and a hundreds Richmond region chapter members have spent months working on Symposium preparations. My letter focuses on the 2008 symposium.

In February we visited the Symposium site. I¡¦d only seen Richmond from I95 and from a Woodturners Anonymous meeting. I was pleasantly surprised by the city up close. The convention center is a great facility!

The 2008 Symposium will be the best ever. Keep checking the web pages in the coming weeks for more information on demonstrations, rotation grids, special interest nights, and opportunities to win a lathe from Choice Woods.

Here are some ways to get more out of the symposium.

• Participate in ReTurn to the Community. Support the Children¡¦s Hospital of Richmond, a private, nonprofit hospital that serves children from birth through the age of 21. WANTED: Any toy that kids can play. Suggestions include finger tops, pull string tops, toy cars and trucks, as well as rattles¡K.I urge your club to make a combined club contribution. This lets people who cannot attend the symposium turn a toy. Bring a sign to label your club¡¦s donations.
• Volunteer a few hours of your time at the symposium. Each year AAW members volunteer their time to make your symposium a success. This year we need 195 Room Assistants to help the demonstrator and videographers and 100 Assistant Instructors for the Youth classes. In addition volunteers are needed to run the instant gallery, sell AAW merchandise, and run the registration desk. To Volunteer Visit http://hockenbery.net/volform.htm
• Plan your July club meeting to feature presentations by your club members, who attend the symposium. Each will bring home techniques, tools, photos, stories, and ideas to share. Enable your whole club to benefit from their experiences.
• Participate in the EOG auction. Donate a really nice piece or buy one. If you are like me, you can only drool over a Bonnie Klein and Jacques Vesery collaboration, but there are many marvelous turnings at prices we can afford. The proceeds go to the education fund.
• Take advantage of Special Interest Night. These are sessions put on by AAW members for other AAW members who have similar interest. See more on SIN at the end.
• Visit our first symposium Resident Artists: Louise Hibbert and Sarah Parker-Eaton. Watch as they create a new work of art during the Symposium.
• Bring your work to display in the Instant Gallery! Be part of the largest exhibition of turning on the planet! It¡¦s all about your best work whatever it might be.

I hope to see you or one of your toys in Richmond.

Happy Turning,

Al Hockenbery

SPECIAL INTEREST NIGHT

Special Interest Night (SIN) is a set of member organized and run sessions that bring people with common interests together. We launched SIN in 2007 at the suggestion of Carl Voss ( see page 10-11 of the winter 2007 journal) and it was terrific. SIN will be Friday 20 June, 7:30 to 9 PM.

Ed Davidson posts the current SIN schedule at

http://www.woodturner.org/sym/sym2008/sin2008.pdf

If you want to propose a session, see page 21 of the spring 2008 journal and contact me.

AAW provides the room. You provide the program.

Sessions coming back from 2007 include: Collectors of Wood Art, Ornamental Turning, Segmented Turning, Hollow Turning, Pen Turning,

Sessions new for 2008

Box Turning

Box turning has become quite popular among AAW members. This is an opportunity to meet an network with other box makers. There will be a special section in the instant Gallery devoted to boxes.

Education Opportunities - taking the next step

All about where and how to increase your skill level. A few good classes will do more to increase your enjoyment of woodturning than all the toys in the trade show. Come find out what course might work best for you.

Woodturning and Disabilities

CONTACT Rich Alderfer to help!

Rich is looking for:

• Woodturners interested in helping others with disabilities.
• Disabled turners who can teach others, or identify their own needs.
• 3 Medical & Education professionals who turn wood and work with
• the disabled.
• Turners with disabled family members.
• Turners who create aids to assist persons with disabilities.

If you want to propose a session

see page 21 of the spring 2008 journal and contact me.