There’s no telling what a gifted, enthusiastic band of local woodturners might accomplish if they set their minds to it. Just ask any member of the award-winning Finger Lakes Woodturning Association.
Last summer the club entered an original collaborative piece in a competition sponsored by the American Association of Woodturners 25th National Symposium — to be judged by their woodturning peers from across the nation. The entry scored a first place award.
Their piece — “Polyrhythm” — was the brainchild of club secretary Bruce Trojan, and is an abstract, mostly turned wood sculpture consisting of 85 different parts, 73 of which were turned out of various wood species on lathes by 24 members of the club. The piece required hundreds of work hours to design and build.
“The beauty of doing this project has been the excitement and camaraderie it has generated among many of the club members,” said Trojan. “It has brought a lot of us closer together. Winning an award from the AAW was nice, but constructing the piece as a club has been the true winning experience.”
An initial concept and drawing was completed in November 2011, and was followed by the construction of a model from hard foam insulation. Volunteer members of the club were assigned the first set of parts at the club’s monthly meeting in February and the second set of parts at the March meeting. Several other members embellished these wooden parts with additional ornamental turning, painting, burning, dyeing and gilding.
Many of the techniques used to make the parts were taught at club demonstrations and workshops, and both beginning and experienced club members participated in the project.
Trojan, lead designer and builder of the work, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. He described “Polyrhythm” as a visual interpretation of the intermingling of many musical rhythms performed simultaneously, and used the music of Miles Davis (jazz) and Charles Ives (classical) as a basis for the original concept.
“This is a musically-themed 3D work,” said Trojan. “The drums and brass bells are obvious clues, but included are also likenesses of a piano keyboard, string bass neck, strings and tuning gears, a music staff, timpani mallet, blue notes and even the top stem and flag of an eighth note — all these add to the musical motif.
“The myriad of arcs, arches and spheres represent the intertwining of polyrhythmic activity heard in music. All of these elements may not always be so clear and that is the fun of the piece. All of the parts are connected.”
