THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
Time to dig out your pencils, dust off your calendar and start filling in some dates for activities. The Programming Committee has been meeting and working on activities for the OVWG. To start off we plan to have a "get reacquainted" picnic on Saturday, July 24, 2021. It will be a time to socialize, exchange tall tales and maybe show off a few of the pieces you have done over the past year and a half. We also plan to have a "swap meet" time for you to bring in some things (tools, materials, etc) that are not being used by you and make them available to someone else.
The following month we are planning to have a Demo Day at the Learning Center. We will have stations set up in the shop and maybe even outside, weather permitting. For this we are asking members to volunteer to do a short demonstration of a process, project or tips on how to do a procedure. You can do a "one-and-done" demo or repeat the same demo a few times. If you are willing to do a demo please let David Wright, Ron Hanssen, John Jackobs or John Shannon know. We cannot have a Demo Day without demonstrators.
In September we will have our first meeting with a professional demonstrator. We went back and started contacting demonstrators that were scheduled before the shutdown and are working to reschedule those that are available. To kick off the season, we will have Donna Banfield. Donna does beautiful embellishments and will inspire you to add some wow factors to some of your work. She will have a Sunday Hands-On session as well as a three day class. Details will be added to the calendar as soon as they are finalized.
For October Nick Agar will be our professional demonstrator. Nick is known for his many talents in the woodturning world, especially with respect to the use of texturing tools and airbrushing. In addition to his demonstration he will have a Sunday Hands-On class and a three day class. Again details will be added to the calendar as they are available.
Since our normal meeting date for November is the Saturday before Thanksgiving we will not have an in person professional demonstration but are working on plans for maybe an IRD (interactive remote demonstration) or a video broadcast of a demonstration. Stay tuned for more information. For December we are looking at a more social type event with possible contest and gift exchange, like we have done in the past.
With the start of the New Year in January we have Kirk DeHeer as our professional demonstrator. Kirk was scheduled to be with us in 2021 but was cancelled due to the pandemic. Planning is still underway for the remainder of the year and announcements will be sent out as events get finalized.
I know it has been a long time since we have been able to get back together with our meetings and watch in-person demonstrations, but that time is almost here. The Programming Committee still has a lot to do and will continue to add events and activities. There are plans to get back to our own home-grown demonstrations and classes soon.
The events and meetings mentioned above will soon be added to the website calendar. Sign up ability will be announced as soon as the contracts are finalized with the demonstrators and we have a list of the projects and techniques they will cover in their classes.
Thank you for your support as we go through this recovery process. Stay tuned for future announcements and provide us your input to help with the planning for events and activities for the OVWG. |