Art on Main vendor has unusual form of expression:
Woodturner crafts spinning wood into artwork and crafts.

GWEN KODAD

With sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, the first day of fall was perfect for exploring the crafts on Main Street in Fort Mill. Several hundred people stopped at Art on Main to eat barbecue, enjoy an apple dumpling, listen to the music and visit the booths of artists from all over the Carolinas.

While there were many arts and crafts displayed on the street, the unusual work of local Fort Mill woodturner John Benton, captured everyone's attention.

Woodturning is the craft of shaping a spinning piece of wood into an object such as a bowl or a box. Art on Main was John's first show, and much to his surprise and delight, he won first place in the master craftsman division.

John started woodturning about two years ago when he began exploring ways to use wood from his landscaping jobs.

"I'd be on a job where we had to take down a tree maybe lightning struck it or it was in the way of construction. I hated to see all that wood going to waste," he said.

So he took his interest in woodcraft and attended classes in Charlotte. As his interest grew, what originally began as a "stress relief" hobby grew into something more. Attending classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C., solidified his commitment to what he regards as a developing art form.

So he took his interest in woodcraft and attended classes in Charlotte. As his interest grew, what originally began as a "stress relief" hobby grew into something more. Attending classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C., solidified his commitment to what he regards as a developing art form.

"I like to take a piece of wood and find out what's inside. You look at the shape, the form, how to present the grain. It's all a learning process. I'm not interested in doing the same thing over and over again." John has recently begun what he calls "thin turning," making wood so thin that it becomes translucent when a light is placed behind it.

He had not sold work in a show, relying on word of mouth for business, but he said the house was full of his creations and his wife Teena, told him he needed to find a way to reduce the inventory.

John believes woodturning has taught him some important life lessons. "Woodturning takes patience. You can't rush it. If you do, you mess it up. You have to slow down, take your time and appreciate what you're doing. That applies to life as well."

John puts his mistakes up on a shelf in his workshop. "They help remind me what will happen if I get in a hurry. I just look up, and there's that lesson sitting there." And sometimes, what seemed to be a mistake turns into something else. "I made this little box out of magnolia wood, and it was just ugly. So I put it up on the shelf. About three months later, I started looking at it and decided that with a different finish and some additional work, it might be just fine. I took it with me to my woodturners meeting and it was a hit!"

He noted that the lessons learned about patience extend to his wife as well. "She's very supportive. This takes a lot of my time, but she knows I love it, and she understands. And she has to put up with the mess I make. You can just imagine how much dust this produces." If you're interested in woodturning, the Charlotte Woodturners Club welcomes new members from anywhere in the area; meetings and events are free and open to the public. For more information, about John, his work or the Charlotte Woodturners, go to his new Web site. And to learn more about folk art classes or special events at the Folk School, visit www.folkschool.org.

Copywright@ 2006 The Charlotte Observer

BILL HENSON

Woodturning is the craft of shaping a spinning piece of wood. Simple. It’s one of those things you learn about when you take shop classes in school. But that sells the craft short when it is pursued by an artisan, a person taking his or her work to a higher level. While John Benton first learned woodturning during his shop classes in his early years in school, he entered this realm of artistic endeavor about two years ago. He still has the ardor of a new love, learning and constantly exploring his personal abilities, but he has the skills of a master.

Finely crafted, turned, and carved pieces (especially those from native woods) had attracted the attention of John and his wife at museums and galleries. He decided to give it a try and visited the Charlotte Woodturners club (which actually meets in Fort Mill). A piece of Norfolk Island Pine was offered as a prize, and well-known local woodturner, Bill McInnis, said he would teach whoever won it how to turn it. “He not only taught me how to turn wood, he taught me patience,” says Benton. “You must have patience — it is a slow, tedious process.”

From another woodturner, John Jordan, who has pieces in both the Smithsonian and The Mint Museum, Benton learned how to orient the wood in the lathe to draw out the potential, as well as how to utilize the grain of the wood to achieve different effects. “That sparked my interest, and I enrolled in the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, outside of Murphy [almost as far west as you can go in NC]. “We all roomed and ate together, and visited other crafts together. There were no electronics at the school — nothing to distract us from exploring. I learned many effects for embellishing the wood,” Benton explains. “It was almost a life-altering experience.”

In Benton’s case, the path he traveled while learning the basics only helps to barely describe his current skill level. John Benton creates cups with stands so small, so carefully balanced, they appear to be rising, almost floating. His wooden bowls might be no more than the thickness of a piece of thin, deli-sliced cheese, slightly less than 1/8-inch. They are meant to hold air and the imagination of the viewer. John Benton is constantly looking for a piece of wood with potential — one that has interesting burls, twists and flares in the grain, or the possibility for turning an unusual shape. His raw materials often come from the trees and large branches people are removing from a landscape, either by design or because they were felled when a storm spoke too loudly and with a heavy hand. John’s eyes hunt for the potential art hidden inside something that is normally destined to become mulch or firewood. When John is finished with the wood, instead of creating a blaze to warm the body on a chilly night, he applies the heat of an artist’s passion to produce the flames of creativity. And the viewer is warmed in a different way as his or her mind dances with those flames. Some woods take on unexpected characteristics when turned and worked by hands filled with skill. John explained that Norfolk Island Pine is prized by woodturners because it can be taken to a very thin level. Then, when it is properly treated, it becomes a translucent golden color, almost to the point you can see through it. The wood resembles amber or animal horn, and the imperfections and grain lines turn into embellishments. When the artwork is properly lit through the piece, you might need someone to remind you that it’s wood. With many of his pieces, Benton removes all but the hint of the wood, leaving only the pattern that the wood revealed to him as he worked. He describes the process as “following the grain” to pull the structure of the design out of the wood. In this way, because the art medium is dynamic and changes as the artist works, there must be a synergistic understanding between the artist and the medium, and a willingness on the part of the artist to allow a vision to drift as the artwork unfolds. The artist cannot be rigid and force the artwork into his preconceived notion of the finished piece. Rather, he must find the finish point and know to recognize it when it appears. “My palette is almost unlimited for each piece. I have texture I can work with. And, after all, it’s only wood. If I make a mistake I can always find another piece.” But, when you view the artistic quality and understand the precision of the work required to achieve that quality, it is clear that John Benton makes few mistakes. Just stunning artwork.

Copywright@ 2006 YC Magazine