turning.

Yesterday members of the Stateline Woodturner's Club, a chapter of the American Association of Woodturners, gathered at ESSA for a morning of wood turning. We had about 20 members present to use 10 lathes. Those who were not turning were helping others.

All are in love with our wonderful woodshop, which I continue to polish and organize and prepare for summer classes.

Most of the woodturners are of a certain age, by which I mean that very few very young people are involved. We know that young people have great need for the skills of mind that come from the process of shaping something from wood. When you stand at a lathe, you are not only shaping wood to new form, you are controlling your thoughts and shaping them in new dimensions.

I am reading "A Forest Journey" (a second time) as it is about the rise of human civilization and its relationship to the forests. Much of what is now desert had at one time been lush forest, and all that we are now is the result of having conquered that resource again and again, building from it and burning it to the point that much of it is now gone and the land left barren. A Forest Journey begins with the epic of Gilgamesh ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh ) in which he kills the protector of the forest and enables the rise of man and of civilization.

As our own story is so closely connected with that of our forests, engaging in the creation of something from wood is an excellent means to learn more about ourselves. When we shape something from wood, and do so with loving intent, for the purpose of creating useful beauty, we do more that simply make stuff. We become participants in the restoration of a human culture that shows respect for creativity, for the environment, and for each other.

Yesterday's meeting was an example of that.  More photos are  on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/douglasstowe/

Make, fix, and create...