DAKOTA WOODTURNERS

PO Box 243

Bismarck-Mandan, North Dakota  58502

Chapter #115 of the American Association of Woodturners and member of the Dakota West Arts Council and Mandan Arts & Gallery Assn, serving woodturners of western North Dakota

Stuart Batty grew up in the city of Newcastle in northeast England. He began woodturning at age 10 and is a third generation woodturner. Under the expert tutelage of his father, Allan Batty an internationally recognized woodturner, Stuart learned to make spindles and a variety of other production turning articles. These techniques have been used and passed on through apprenticeships for centuries in Britain.

 Stuart started working as a full-time production woodturner and teacher in his father's woodturning studio at the age of sixteen. At nineteen he started working for Craft Supplies Ltd. in England, which was the largest woodturning supplier in the world.

During the six years he worked for Craft Supplies, Stuart was the company's in-house woodturning teacher and demonstrator. He also set up Craft Supplies first sawmill, and was in charge of importing over 300 exotic woods, which were sold around the world. Stuart also developed and tested woodturning tools for Robert Sorby who at the time was Craft Supplies Ltd. sister company.

 Over the past twenty-seven years Stuart has taught over 3,000 amateur and professional woodturners. He has demonstrated and taught in twelve countries, including over 180 different American Association of Woodturning clubs across the USA.

 Stuart's style of work is greatly influenced by his background as a spindle turner with precise cuts and sharp detail. He uses very simple tools and grinds to create his pieces. His work is "pure" lathe work, with no carving or surface texturing. Stuart's artwork has been sold through prestigious galleries across Europe and the USA. He also has artwork displayed in the permanent White House collection.

 Stuart believes we have only tapped the possibilities of what can be made on a wood lathe and the only limiting factor for most woodturners is their skill level and imagination. With production woodturning as his background, Stuart's foundation in woodturning helped him develop the push cut style and other techniques like negative rake scraping. These techniques allowed him to produce very delicate high-end pieces for galleries.

This information was copied from the following web site:  http://www.djmarks.com/stuartbattybio.asp

Rex Burningham was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and reared in Bountiful, Utah. He worked as a carpenter for four years after completing high school. He later attended Brigham Young University on an athletics scholarship for football. While at BYU, working on a degree in technology education, Rex was introduced to woodturning by Dale Nish. During this time he also worked at Craft Supplies USA, a woodturning supply catalog, as an assistant in the woodturning courses. Working alongside some of the world's best-known woodturners, including Dale Nish, Rude Osolnik, Richard Raffan and Ray Key, gave Rex the chance to learn from the best.

 After completing his degree, Rex taught woodworking and drafting for three years at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. His work has been published in several magazines and is co-author of the book Turning Pens and Pencils. He is currently displaying work in several galleries and participates in several exhibitions each year. Rex is a nationally recognized woodturner, teaching and demonstrating throughout the United States. He has given many national and several international presentations at workshops, conferences, and symposia including the American Association of Woodturners National Symposium, the Alan Batty Woodturning Symposium (UK), the Rocky Mountain Woodturning Symposium, the Utah Woodturning Symposium, Craft Supplies USA, Georgia Woodturning Symposium, and John Campbell Folk School of Arts and Crafts.

Currently, Rex is Vice President at Craft Supplies USA. While working for Craft Supplies USA he has the opportunity to research and develop many of the pen kits and woodturning accessories offered today. The combination of his woodturning skills and his love of research and developing woodturning products make him feel like a kid in the candy store!  

The preceding information is from Rex’s Web Site  -  www.learningturning.com  - which you can visit for additional information.  You can also go the to following link to see a short video of Rex in action turning a project which you may see at the April Symposium. 

  http://videos.americanwoodworker.com/video/Wood-Turning-A-Bowl-Wood-Turn-10   

Cindy Drozda comes to us from Boulder, CO.  She started her woodworking career at age 19 working in a player piano factory for five years and then working in cabinet shops until 1992 when she decided to go into business for herself.  Cindy first started turning in 1984 and it continued as a hobby until 1998 when she made it her full-time occupation.

Cindy is noted for Finial Boxes and the tentative plan is for her to demonstrate these at our symposium.  She notes on her web site she strives to “give 110% during her demonstrations, providing techniques, tips, tricks and ideas” interacting with all the participants.  Hand outs and sources of supply for her projects are also provided to the participants. 

Part of her stated philosophy is  “ The more we are exposed to different methods and ideas, the more we expand our own horizons.”  This has been a goal of the DWT’s in holding our symposiums, exposing our members to various demonstrators and their unique prospective and woodturning projects.  Cindy’s appearance will undoubtedly fulfill this goal promises to be one of our best demonstrators ever.

The above information was gathered from Cindy’s web site:   http://www.cindydrozda.com  Take some time to visit this impressive web site for additional information and a galley of her work.