Rolly Munro

One of the great things about living in Kerikeri is that Rolly Munro lives very close to me. In the last few weeks my woodturning friend from France and I have had a couple of very nice catch-ups with Rolly and Leigh and it is awesome to be able to learn about so many things from this very talented and passionate artist. Be it wood and wood types, wood turning, artistic thinking or metal work, every second spent with him and his equally talented wife and partner Leigh is balm to the soul. 

150th Royal Easter Art Show ASB Showgrounds Auckland

17 April, 2019

Journey Woodturning is at ASB Showgrounds.

Back in New Zealand and on a whim decided to apply for a late entry to the 150th Royal Auckland Easter Art show.

Very humbled to have been awarded two 1st prizes for my Trembleur in the Ornamental section and my Boule de Canton in the Smaller than 95mm section. See more here.

As always some superb works entered by some of the best in NZ.

Well done to Troy Grimwood for taking best overall woodcrafter. Well deserved my friend!

#RoyalEasterShow #Eastershow #Art #Auckland #Winner #Humbled#Woodturning #Woodporn #Journey #troygrimwood @ ASB Showgrounds

World Wood Day 2019

30 March, 2019 – Graz, Austria

Last adventure in Europe before I returned to NZ.

Went to World Wood Day in Graz in Austria with another student from Ecole Escoulen where we met up with Jacques Vesery and Andy Chen and our teacher from Ecole Escoulen Joss Naigeon

We were fortunate to be given some time on the lathes by Andy to demonstrate some of our new turning skills. Really enjoyed the event and Graz.

Went to the UK and spent some time with Shirley Sinclair and Jonathon Cuff at the Daniel Collection and once again blew my mind.

End of an amazing 7 month adventure, good times, hard times, sad times, fun times. Learnt a lot about myself, life, people and of course wood turning.
#worldwoodday #graz #wood #woodturnings #travel #adventure#recordpower @ Graz, Austria

Last Week of formal tuition – Ecole Escoulen

8 February 2019

Last week of formal tuition before revision and the two weeks of practical exams at Ecole Escoulen wood turning school in France. This week we had Joss Naigeon again and we focused on learning how to produce items in production lots for sale. Space is an issue for me as I am flying back to New Zealand so I focused on making some jewellery and shawl pins.

Trembleur

January 31, 2019 – Ecole Escoulen

The French call them Trembleurs. And trust me, they tremble. A LOT! I broke one for each one I succeeded in making when starting out.

Finally managed to make my final project for the week, 600mm high and 2mm at its thinnest. Made from Hackberry and Olive ash for the stand and top.

#woodartist #woodturnings #wood #woodporn #art #trembling #french#patience

@ Ecole Escoulen – Tournage sur bois

Boule de Canton / Captive Spheres

January 23, 2019 – Paul Texier & Jean-Claude Charpignon

This was the week that I had been looking forward to the most! I had heard of Paul Texier and seen his videos on YouTube before coming to the school. To be taught by the master of wood turning the Boule de Canton (Captive spheres) was a dream come true. As an unexpected bonus we also had Jean-Claude Charpignon teaching us with Paul. 

See more about Jean-Claude here.

See more about Paul here and view his videos on YouTube here.

January 20 – Ecole Escoulen

Class with Alain Mailland

20 JanuaryAiguines, France

This week we had Alain Mailland at Ecole Escoulen wood turning school in France again. We learnt so much! Carving, texturing, steam bending, finishing and turning. The man is a legend and an awesome teacher.

The blue purple coloured thing is the prototype for what will be my end of course exam piece.

The fish and tree flower still have many hours of carving, sanding and finishing to go.

The Viking bowl is one of my favorite pieces I have created that was bleached outside and sandblasted.

The natural edge vase is green Blueberry that was turned and sandblasted.

And I made some small bowls just because I wanted to play with different stains and finishes.

January Update – Ecole Escoulen

Happy 2019!

Best wishes for 2019 to all my friends and followers. The end of 2018 left me unable to update FB and my other channels so here is a summary of what I learnt and experienced in November and December at Ecole Escoulen wood turning school in France:

We had Nat Groeneweg, Thierry Bertheas and Jean-francois Escoulen teaching us.

We went on a couple of road trips to see different artists who were previous students of the school or teachers.

Learnt so much I am not sure I could explain it all in one post. I’ll let the pictures tell the story instead.

Thierry Bertheas taught us different colouring and painting techniques with acrylics and very many different ways of texturing. This is a really satisfying way of expressing your style and experimenting with colours and textures.

Really enjoyed learning how to carve and make Jewelry from rare woods from a master at her craft, Nathalie Groeneweg.