About Mike
In the fall of 2009, following a career in national sales and marketing, Mike took a weekend intro class in woodturning, absolutely loved it! Mike set up a lathe studio at his home, joined Central Ohio Woodturners (COW), and turned over 1000 bowls his first year while experimenting with winged shapes and natural edge forms. Upon seeing Mike's large winged diamond forms COW asked Mike to demonstrate his methods, after which two experienced turners humorously shared, "Mike, we're concerned for you, we think you're turning these large crazy shapes because you don't know what you're not supposed to be turning." As Napoleon Hill said, "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." Or more humorously, "I have great faith in fools, self-confidence my friends call it." ~ Edgar Alan Poe.
Subsequently, Mike has honored requests to demonstrate and teach, to share safety and methods turning large winged "Big Air" and other subjects for chapter clubs of the American Association of Woodturners.
Design Influence: Multi-cultural studies in wisdom, ancient and contemporary, inspires my imagination and energizes my efforts to explore and evolve timeless concepts into innovative elegant positive forms that uplift our spirits. I'm a student of the illimitable and inimitable positive potential within each of us, and I hope you enjoy seeing and sensing the uplifting spirit of positivity in my work.
Link to selected quotes: craftsmanship_quotes.docx
Mike is a member of: American Association of Woodturners, Central Virginia Woodturners (served 6 years as VP/Programs), Southern Highlands Craft Guild, and Staunton Augusta Art Center.
Awards Include:
Award of Merit - 2023 Winter Park Sidewalk Art Show
2nd Place - 2023 "When A Tree Falls" exhibition, Delaplaine Arts Center
Award of Honor - 2023 Halifax Arts Festival, Daytona FL
3rd Place overall - 2022 Fall Foliage Art Festival, Waynesboro VA
2nd Place overall - 2022 Art In The Park, Staunton VA
1st Place Wood - 2021 Fall Foliage Art Festival, Waynesboro VA
Award of Distinction - 2021 An Occasion For The Arts, Williamsburg VA
Outstanding Contemporary Work, Any Medium - 2021 Bath County Art Show
Awarded the 2020 Featured Maker of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild
Juror's Award, BlackRock Center For The Arts, MD - 2020
Outstanding Merit Award, DeLand Fall Art Festival - 2019
Outstanding Contemporary Work of Art, All Medium - 2019 Bath County Art Show
Best in Show, 2019 Arts in the Park, Staunton VA
Best in Show, Best in Class, 1st Place Free Form, 1st Place Lidded Box - 2019 Annual Woodturners Competition, Professional Division, Richmond VA
1st Place "Lidded Box", 1st Place "Free Form" - 2018 Annual Woodturners Competition & Exhibition, Professional Division, Richmond, VA
International Arts & Craft Design Awards: Certificate of Excellence 2017
Best in Show - VMRC Juried Art Exhibition 2017
First Place Wood & "Student's Choice Award" - Waynesboro Fall Foliage Art Show 2017
First Place 3D Sculpture - Rockbridge County Art Fair, Lexington, VA 2017
Best in Show, 1st Place in Free Form, 1st Place in Lidded Box, 1st Place in Bowl - Annual Woodturners Competition & Exhibition, Richmond VA, Professional Division 2016
First Place Sculpture - Bath County Art Show, Hot Springs, VA 2016
First Place Wood - Fall Foliage Art Show, Waynesboro, VA 2016
First Place Lidded Box - Richmond Woodturners' Annual Turning Competition & Exhibition, Professional Division, Richmond, VA 2015
First Place Lidded Box; First Place Free Form - Annual Turning Competition & Exhibition, Professional Division, Richmond, VA 2014
First Place Sculpture - Bath County Art Show, Hot Springs, VA 2014
First Place Lidded Box - Richmond Woodturners' Annual Turning Competition & Exhibition, Professional Division, Richmond, VA 2013
Recent exhibitions Include:
2023 Smithsonian American Fine Craft Show
"When A Tree Falls" - Deleplaine Arts Center, MD 2023
VMRC Art Exhibition VA
"Handcrafted Fiber & Turned Wood" - BlackRock Center for the Arts MD
Southern Highland Craft Guild Artists Select Exhibition at the Appalachian Regional Commission DC
"Gauge & Grain" - Art Speaks Gallery VA
"Wood & Glass" - Foundation Woodworks, Asheville NC
"Speaking with Wood" - Staunton Augusta Art Center VA
"Fluidity & Geometrics" - Southern Highlands Focus Gallery, Asheville NC