AAW Exhibit 1

I was one of 11 people invited from the whole membership of the American Association of Woodturners to take part in a special exhibit entitled "Maple Medley: an Acer Showcase. There are two parts to the show, the invited section, and the section in which woodturners submit pieces to be juried for the show. It will premiere at the AAW Convention in Hartford Conn. in June 2010 and afterwards will tour galleries in the US for a year. My piece is entitled "The Gods Will be Crazy". I used a medley of different species of Maple, to illustrate how the plans of the gods can be thwarted by man – (or how man’s thirst for power will lead him to defy the gods). When the invitation to participate in Maple Medley arrived, I was awake two nights trying to figure out what to make. I had been reading a series of books by Bernard Cornwell in which he re-interprets the legends of King Arthur. In these books, Merlin is the most powerful Druid in the whole of Britain. He is fighting to preserve his religion in the face of a strong and growing presence by Christians. He feels the gods have forsaken the Druids and are allowing the Christian take over because his people had lost most of the gifts given to them by the gods. These were the 13 treasures of Britain – including the sword, Excalibur, a magic cauldron, a vest, and other items. Each harbors great powers, which could be used to change the course of history. His quest to find and use these treasures is thwarted by his own people in a struggle for power in which he is killed. I realized this could be used to illustrate man’s troubled relationship with power.