Fall Art Walk: Art of Wood Exhibit

Just a quick note that the postcards for the Guild's "Art of Wood" show at the Placer on Nov. 12th, will be ready to pick up next Tuesday evening, Oct. 26. All members who would like to help us promote our exhibit are welcome to come pick up a handful of the cards, to send to your customers, family and friends. We appreciate your help getting out the word.

For more info and to pick up the cards, call Tim at his shop 449-2730.

Art of Wood Annual Exhibit 2009

We'd like to invite everyone to attend our 6th annual Art of Wood Exhibit on Friday, November 13th, at The Placer, in Downtown Helena. The exhibit will be open during the 2009 Fall Art Walk from 6 to 10 pm.

Guild members, please remember to bring appetizers or dessert between 5 pm and 6 pm, so we can continue our tradition of having the best spread on the ArtWalk.

See you all there!

How to Grow as a Woodworker: Invite a Critique

Our Guild had the pleasure and honor of being critiqued by three excellent commentators Tuesday evening, November 12. The three "jurors" this year were Liz Gans, co-director of the Holter Museum of Art, Janeen McCarvel, interior designer at Boxwoods, and Richard Notkin, a ceramics sculptor and former resident of the Archie Bray Foundation. Liz, Janeen and Richard shared their personal responses to the variety of functional and art objects crafted by our woodworkers.



This is the second year we have had a critique during the run of our woodworking exhibit, and it was again educational and inspiring to hear from three very different people who are all so knowledgeable in their fields.



Richard Notkin asked of the group, "How do you challenge yourselves?" I am not a woodworker, though I feel blessed to be married to a woodworker. Even so, I really resonated with Richard's question because I make a living as a designer and artist, and that's something I ask myself constantly. How not to become stale with my designs and my artwork? For me, being the recipient of a critique has been something of a challenge most of my life. It ain't always easy to be open to criticism, even if the criticism is constructive. If you really put your heart into your work, you are personally invested in it. And it's easy to take a critique too personally.

So .... I would say in some ways, the members of the guild who attended Tuesday night's critique were challenging themselves. And hopefully everyone took away something positive from the critique -- perhaps more self confidence, a renewed commitment to growth in your work, or maybe an affirmation that your woodworking is going in a good direction.



I hope the guild continues to invite critique as a regular part of our annual exhibits and as a way to challenge ourselves to look critically at our own artistic growth.

all photos Copyright © 2007 by Maureen Shaughnessy

Art of Wood Opening Reception a Success

Click on the arrow to start the slideshow. To see larger versions of the photos, click on the photo itself. Thanks for looking!

2007 Art of Wood Exhibit Opens

Maureen shot some photos while we were setting up the show at the Myrna Loy Center on Friday. Please enjoy this slideshow as a preview of what you can see in person during our exhibit from November 2nd through the 30th.



We will add more photos to this slideshow as we process them. There will also be a continuous-loop slideshow at the opening reception the evening of November 9th, with photos from all Guild members. If you are a member of the Guild and have not given Maureen photos of your work, please get your (digital) photos to her by early next week (Nov. 5th or 6th) -- now is your chance to show off your woodworking.

Art of Wood

Copyright by Maureen Shaughnessy

We would like to invite the public to attend the opening reception of the Helena Woodworkers' Guild Annual Art of Wood exhibit, at the Myrna Loy Center. The reception will be held from 6 to 10 pm during the Fall Downtown Helena Art Walk on November 9th, 2007. Please join us in enjoying delicious appetizers, desserts, wine, punch and live music throughout the evening.

The exhibit will be open to the public from November 2nd through the 18th during Myrna Loy box office hours (generally opens around 1 pm) Although some of the furniture you will see in the exhibit is not for sale or in private collections, if you see something you would like to own, you may contact the woodworker (through materials at the exhibit or their member galleries on our website) to find out about commissioning a piece like it.

The Helena Woodworkers' Guild has 20 members, ranging from hobbyists to professionals, from inexperienced (but enthusiastic) woodworkers to seasoned studio-furniture makers. Anyone with an interest in woodworking (sculpture, furniture, cabinetry, turning, carving, building) is welcome to join our Guild. Come to our opening and visit with some of our wood-artists who will be in attendance. Or come to one of our meetings to find out more about what we do as a group.

We will be updating our website and members' galleries in the coming days and weeks. Please bookmark our site and check back for updates. Thank you for your visit!

October Guild Meeting

Since our usual Monday meeting day falls on a holiday weekend, we are holding our October meeting on Thursday instead. Please come Thursday, October 11 at 5:30 pm.

Dave Ashley is hosting this month's meeting at his shop, Helena Hardwoods (3290 Centennial Drive just off of Highway 12 on the way to East Helena.) Dave usually provides something from his grill, so come prepared for deliciousness. Please bring a snack and/or beverage to share.

Dave Ashley is giving a talk on kiln-dried wood -- our main topic of the evening. Also on the agenda is a bit of planning for our annual woodworking exhibit at the Myrna Loy.

We will be asking who is going to contribute their work for the exhibit, and how many pieces. New members, we also need your bios and a photo of yourself for the exhibit. All members participating in the exhibit must give Maureen the information on each piece by October 18th. That would include titles, description and price (if the item is for sale.) This information will be printed on title-cards to accompany each piece.

We are also printing up 4x6 postcards as invitations to the show. Each participating guild member will have from 30 to 50 postcards to mail as you wish. The remaining postcards will be available at the exhibit reception for visitors to take home with them.

Our website will be featured on the back of these postcards, so if you would like to have photos of your woodworking included in your member "gallery" and slideshow, please get the photos to Maureen by October 18th. That gives her time to format and upload your photos to the Guild website.

You can drop your stuff by Tim's house at 721 Broadway, or email your information and photos to Maureen: maureenshaughnessy (@) gmail (dot) com
(that's code so the web "bots" don't find her and deluge her with spam)
You can also call Tim Carney if you have any questions or trouble getting your info to Maureen. Thanks!

Setting up our 2005 Exhibit at the Myrna

2005 Exhibit -
Originally uploaded by withthegrain.