Passing the Torch

 Picture this.... it's the fall of 1978, and I'm finally starting the meat of my woodworking studies in college.  

Ohio University (in Athens, Ohio) in the late 70's was idyllic. Seriously, you couldn't ask for a better collegiate experience. Surrounded by rolling hills of trees, the liberal arts college was situated on a river, with much greenery... pure heaven. It was about a three hour drive from my folk's house, and a very easy drive, at that!

 Almost all of my studio classes were held in Seigfred Hall - a four story tomb that was built into a hillside. 

Enter from the back and you were on the ground floor. (Park there and you were sure to get a ticket!) That's where the wood shop and ceramic studios were located, as well as the sculpture and life modeling classrooms. Here are some of the ceramic kilns and the entrance to the sculpture lab.

Enter from the front of the building and you were a few floors up, an elevator ride away from the woodshop and ceramic hub. 

Nearly every single week,  a random artist would paint or decorate the inside of the elevator, so you never knew what it was going to look like from week to week. It was fascinating, and I suspect the inside of that elevator is inches smaller now than it was when I was there. Think of hundreds upon hundreds of layers of paint, paper mache, posters,  decoupage, plaster, and more. It was a site to behold!

Seriously, this was a PERFECT art building to develop your style. You can read about it here. 

Everyone has a favorite teacher, or at least a mentor who helps us along the way. I had two - both were sculptors. David Hostetler was a folk artist of international acclaim, but we knew him as an amazing spirit. 

 David's work is on display all over the world, and his class - Functional Sculpture as Furniture - gave me my start on making the artistic pieces that I still design and build today.  Seriously - it was mind blowing.

Mike Cunningham was a metal sculptor.  It's funny, his family owned a very popular music store in town, where you could buy everything from a piano or guitar, to sheet music and violin strings. It was THE music hub in town, and all the years that I studied with Mike, I never knew his family owned it. He didn't want to wind up as the owner of a music store, and he told me that that was a big disappointment for his parents when he didn't take it over.  I could relate on some level - my folks owned a restaurant and I knew that I never wanted to permanently end up in the restaurant business. Kindred souls, Mike and I were.

Mike took me under his wing around that time - and of the best things he taught me was about Fine Woodworking Magazine. This magazine was first published in Winter of 1975, 

so I was a few years late to the party. But - despite being a poor college student, I managed to buy all of the back issues, and subscribe to it. And ... considering I'm still a subscriber - that's almost 50 years of devotion. 

This isn't an understatement - this magazine did as much to influence my work and teach me things that I didn't have access to back at Ohio University, as any college professor did.  

Years later - I would meet some of my idols that I'd read about in the magazine - like Tage Frid, 

or Roseann Somerson, or Wendy Maruyama, and many more. Unfortunately - I missed my opportunity to meet James Krenov, Wendall Castle and Gary Knox Bennett... but I felt like I "knew" them from reading their numerous articles in the magazine. 

Fine Woodworking taught me about using Watco Danish Oil - a finish I still use to this day. And taught me tablesaw techniques like cutting box joints, or how to make a 5 panel door. I swore - if I ever was on Naked and Afraid - all I would need is a tablesaw and I could survive anything. 

All of this is to say - I hit a crossroad in my life last week. 

Someone approached me about acquiring my nearly 50 year collection of Fine Woodworking magazine, and after much soul searching - I agreed. Honestly - the magazines took up almost nine-feet of space in one of my bookcases. And since I'm not teaching as much as I used to - I just don't need access to all of those articles. Plus - everything is available in different forms nowadays - both on disc and online. No need to keep nearly 200 pounds of magazines anymore!

So I packed them up in my truck, and handed them to an upcoming woodworker. She's already texted me that she's losing herself in each issue. I can still feel the thrill of reading about angled tenons or tapered dovetails, or bending wood, or... the list goes on and on. 

So thanks Taunton Press - for all the years of education and entertainment. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just passing the torch to some new blood.